Re: Corel draw 12 hpgl-plt file not true curves?

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Rutledge" <gary4321@...>
wrote:

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>
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> Jimmy,sure enough the plotter setting was 1016, changed to 99999
> (YEAH) increased size of drawing (it's very easy to scale on danplot)
> copied to floppy, to machine, works great as far as appearance with
> test pencil drawing. I suppose I had this setting all along on my old
> corel 11 and didn't remember to set on the new software. I really
> appreciate your help.
> Tom Caudel, I found the free demo but haven't tried it out yet. Looks
> like something worthwile for my needs. Was woundering if there is
> any way to eliminate the DOUBLE lines you get with Corel, if this
> software deals with that issue. Thanks for your help also Gary
> Rutledge
>

Double Lines? I use CorelDraw for production (plasma and routing)
cutting and I never have problems with double lines. Are they stacked
on top of each other or offset?. If you switch to wireframe view in
Corel (View/Wireframe) do you see two lines? If you click on an
object and delete it is there one under it?

Some times if you import a DXF from another program it will come into
Corel and stack all the layers.

DXF does not export lines with width (lines have no thickness). When
you export using HPGL you probably will need to select the text and do
a Convert to Curves. Don't use the Covert Outline to Object
Option...it converts any line with a width (including hairlines) to a
closed object with a finite width....bad for CNC or engraving.

Since DXFTool does it's operations on a temporary copy of the file you
don't have to do anything like Convert to curves on text. You can
leave it as text in Corel drawing. Only rule is you can't have two
closed objects overlap and you can't have a line loop over itself
(twisted node). Some of the clipart out there is pretty ragged and
has some of the problems listed.

If you want to send me your CDR that puts out double lines I will be
happy to take a look. E-mail address in on the website. I used to use
HPGL a lot even with SheetCAM but once we got DXFTool I never use HPGL
for anything.

A lot of CNC'rs don't consider CorelDraw a valid tool for real CNC.
Maybe CAD is better if you are doing milling of machine parts or
drawing buildings but for anything decorative (engraving included) you
can do things in seconds that would take you hours in CAD. There are
thousands of quality clipart designs (most are for the sign industry
and are in AI (adobe Illustrator) or EPS (Encapsulated Postscript).
See www.vectorart.com for some interesting collections.

Dirty little secret. CorelDraw works pretty good as a simple CAD
program. It works to 4 or more decimal places, Allows quick
construction of shapes and is one of the best vector editing tools
around. It may not be as easy to learn if you already have a
background in CAD than if you are just starting out.

I started out using my table top engraver/router with a rotary table
engraving metal and wood pens and pencils. I started with a
Microkinetics set of drives and their DOS based Engraving software
that only took PLT (HPGL) files. It didn't take me long to get
frustrated with that setup. That was several years ago and before
there was MACH (or even Master 5) and the cheapest CAM program was
hundreds/thousands of dollars. If you haven't tried SheetCAM do
yourself a favor and take it for a spin. It makes any 2D or 2.5D a breeze.

I teach a 2 day class on how to do decorative artwork and cut files
using CorelDraw -> SheetCAM -> MACH. Most of my students are
struggling with the software side of CNC. They leave knowing how to
get from an idea to the plasma or router table quickly. I can't make
you an artist in two days but I can show you how to "cheat" and make
everyone THINK you are an artist! (:-)

Sometimes it's just knowing where to hit the pipe with the hammer that
has value!

TOM C
Happy New Year