Re: Optimizing cutting paths - The proof

Hi Fred, list,

You are correct in stating that a 'right click to "Save Target As" ' is
the proper way to save files to be downloaded. You were able to open
BOTH the original DXF and CCD files on John's http page and load them
into Vector? I was not (9.0.017; two different machines). Did you make
any "page 350" DXF settings? Perhaps you could email me a ZIP of your
working dXF and CCD "loco" files.

I was able to open the DXF in my demo BobCad and FlashCut. I looked at
the start of the file, OK. I see "STANDARD" in the "ENTITIES" section,
which I haven't seen before. A new AutoCad DXF vers.? That's bound to
happen. Otherwise it's LINE, ARC and CIRCLE (as far as I looked).

I picked up on the mm scale. No problem to "cut, paste" with a scale
factor. However, my scale factor of .03937000787... got displayed as
.0394; I assume Vector maintains the precision inside. And your
comments on DXF's faults in regards to chain/gap and general accuracy
reflect what I had heard before. No blame on Vector here!

If you're saying that chain/gap DXF file problems are exacerbated by the
mis-matched scales, then what about a program to "adjust" the floating
point parameters IN the dXF file before being loaded into a CAD program
or DXF to Gcode converter?

As you've mentioned, ZIP's are definitely the way to go. PKZIP and
PKUNZIP are readily available.

The Loco files and the Harley files have made interesting test/study
cases for DXF computability and file transmission. Although I may never
"cut them", I find it quite useful to have them available for study.

Alan KM6VV


Fred Smith wrote:

>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> > Hi Chris,
> >
> > Yeah, love 'em. I was able to get the Gcode from FlashCut into
> Vector
> > CAD/CAM, AFTER I removed some spaces between the X, Y, I, J's, and
> the
> > value. I keep forgetting that Vector doesn't like that. Not hard
> with
> > a text editor. The arc statements were mostly fine.
> >
>
> Alan and others,
>
> When transferring files over the internet, it is important to
> understand that ascii files are subject to lightning strikes,
> wiretaps, any kind of static might affect the transmission of the
> data around the world. Therefore if you try to use an ascii format
> to define a drawing it might have a problem.
>
> As far as transferring files like DXF or IGES, that are ascii based,
> it is usually better to point to the link in hypertext and right
> click to "Save Target As", than to click on the link, load the file
> as text in your browser and then try to File-Save it. If you get a
> file that the only way is to display and then save, open it in an
> editor an dmake sure that the first lines are not blank. Often just
> removing the first blank lines will make the file usable.
>
> However, this does not fix the really bad problem of file
> corruption. The best way to transfer files over the internet, based
> on cost and general availablility is to use the .zip format, as
> invented by the folks at PKZIP. There are free to low cost
> compression programs available. This format has built in cyclic
> redundancy checking and generally will not even unzip if the file is
> corrupted. Equally as important, a text based file form like DXF or
> IGES will be about 1/10 the size when compressed. This makes very
> large files managable and easily transferred over the internet.
>
> One last comment about John's file, it is metric, and it opens fine
> in Vector. For best results, if you are normally using Vector in
> Inch mode, start a new file, change the units to metric, then either
> merge the DXF file into the new file or open it directly. The chain
> gap/general accuracy settings in Vector change when switching from
> metric to inch and viceversa so a file opened in the wrong units may
> appear corrupted or the wrong size or both. This is a problem with
> DXF, not Vector. Many older versions of DXF did not have a units
> definition, and there was no information to indicate the scaling of
> the file upon opening it. I believe the newer versions have added
> this capability, but there are a gazillion files and software
> programs still making files that do not contain a scaling definition
> parameter.
>
> Best Regards, Fred Smith- IMService
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