Preparing file for lasercuting. I have no clue.
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I have turned my model in cutable peaces for the laser.
The laser cutter I will be using is:
It has an Engraving area of 610mm x 457mm (this is all I know)
Unfortunately If I just use layout to export it as pdf (turning all the lines red and the faces white)the laser-cuter will apparently start zigzagging around the contours of the pixels and will take ages to cut (I only have an hour to do this).
Where do I go from here?
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That's probably because sketchup could not draw "real" circels and curves.
Did you already tried with a DXF format?
Did you set the render method in layout on RASTER ? -
@dieter10 said:
That's probably because sketchup could not draw "real" circels and curves.
Did you already tried with a DXF format?
Did you set the render method in layout on RASTER ?Dunno its my first time at Doing this... I have no idea what I'm doing. I saved it autodesk just incase (apparantly theyll help at the lab with autodesk), but I have no idea which is the correct way to do this through layout.
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And what kind of format does the lab want? I did something like this and I took a dxf format but the machine software could not read it, so we needed to convert everything in pdf format with a specific line with and color.
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You need somehow to tell the machine the continuous loops for each cut, AND what is an external cut and what is an internal cut: so that the cut leaves the right amount of material behind - like you might manually saw a cut on one [correct] side of a marked line, and not centrally on it, or else you'll cut too much off.
This is usually done by layering a DXF or similar file by inner and outer loop polylines.
You also need to know what data and acceptable formats the machine might be expecting, before you can have a hope of extracting the correct data from your SKP for its use... -
I used the same machine a 60W type, it was used to cut plexi 8mm thickness. The laser software was not able to cut inside of outside the line, thats theoretical not correct. The machine just cutted on the line ...
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@tig said:
You need somehow to tell the machine the continuous loops for each cut, AND what is an external cut and what is an internal cut: so that the cut leaves the right amount of material behind - like you might manually saw a cut on one [correct] side of a marked line, and not centrally on it, or else you'll cut too much off.
This is usually done by layering a DXF or similar file by inner and outer loop polylines.
You also need to know what data and acceptable formats the machine might be expecting, before you can have a hope of extracting the correct data from your SKP for its use...I got some information, successfully printed it out... however it is not ideal at all. After exporting into DWG 2004 format. The laser just started cutting stuff randomly, it did not cut a single line continuously (this could be an issue where I should had welded the lines prior exporting). This of course results in much slower cutting times.
The studio used Lesercam 2D Design 2010. It pretty easy to use. Ofcourse other questions arise, how do I make the lasercutter engrave a large surface area instead of a line? What do I do in sketchup if I want to engrave an apple in a peace of mdf?
Yes the machine apparently prefers vectors.
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I'd split my DXF data for general CNC use 'by layer' - into welded curves forming 'outer-loops' and those forming 'inner-loops' [if there's a cutter bit and you need tolerances the bit goes on opposite sides of the cut for the two types], 'holes' [<~5mm diam for drilling rather than cutting], 'pockets' or 'engraving' or 'recesses', where the 'depth' is indicated in the layer-name itself - and finally 'reference tags' - where the ref can be engraved onto the top face if desired - which can be useful later on when you are trying to assemble complex similar looking multi-part...
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@tig said:
I'd split my DXF data for general CNC use 'by layer' - into welded curves forming 'outer-loops' and those forming 'inner-loops' [if there's a cutter bit and you need tolerances the bit goes on opposite sides of the cut for the two types], 'holes' [<~5mm diam for drilling rather than cutting], 'pockets' or 'engraving' or 'recesses', where the 'depth' is indicated in the layer-name itself - and finally 'reference tags' - where the ref can be engraved onto the top face if desired - which can be useful later on when you are trying to assemble complex similar looking multi-part...
I didnt quite get that. In lasercam u simply recolour the lines you want, to be cut and the ones that you want to be engraved. However Engraving an area (1cm x 1cm) requires you texture this area (apparently this can be done in autocad.
I could export a PDF as vector lines from sketchup, or I could save it as DWG. I havent thought about the idea of playing around with multiple layers as I don't know if lasercam reads layers as layers or if It just mashes everything into one (it would save a lot of time if it could read layers though)
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