Can't changer Exterior Contours to interior

[Buckmaster1967]

Hello,
Working with Sheetcam 6.1.74. Can't seem to get a cut line set to interior contour. Sheetcam automatically set the contour to Exterior, I need it set to interior. Normally I can just use the Edit Contours button, and set the lines to any layer I choose. Can't get that to work on this files for some reason. See picture of the red letters that needs to be set to yellow (Interior) .I am sure it is something simple, been banging my head on this for 60 minutes. Any ideal what would cause this?

[djreiswig]

I'm guessing you have an open path somewhere that is making the letters into an exterior offset.

[Buckmaster1967]

I'm guessing you have an open path somewhere that is making the letters into an exterior offset.

Thank you, I will check that.

[Buckmaster1967]

No luck with finding an open path.

[djreiswig]

If you turn on the path ends button it will put little white dots on the path ends. If you see a pair of white dots close to each other that is where your problem probably is.

[Buckmaster1967]

Any other file, I can select the whole file and set everything to Interior contours and then select the lines I want Exterior. As you can see, when I select the whole file and changed everything to interior cuts, the red letters and cuts in the heads stays Exterior cuts. Can't find any open paths in the file. Anyone have any ideals how to fix this?

[djreiswig]

If you upload the file, I or someone else can probably take a look at it.

[Buckmaster1967]

If you upload the file, I or someone else can probably take a look at it.

Great! I am sure it's something simple.

[Les Newell]

What you are seeing is correct. Imagine three concentric circles. The outer one will be outside, the middle one will be inside and the inner one will be outside again. In other words SheetCam would see those circles as a disc inside a washer.
If you look closely at your drawing you have the same situation. The text 'AW D. RICH' will fall out so SheetCam assumes that is what you want and marks them as outside. If this is really what you want, move the text to another layer and cut it first.

[Buckmaster1967]

What you are seeing is correct. Imagine three concentric circles. The outer one will be outside, the middle one will be inside and the inner one will be outside again. In other words SheetCam would see those circles as a disc inside a washer.
If you look closely at your drawing you have the same situation. The text 'AW D. RICH' will fall out so SheetCam assumes that is what you want and marks them as outside. If this is really what you want, move the text to another layer and cut it first.

Thanks for taking a look. I need to text to be inside cuts. Need to figure the layer thing out. Thanks again.

[Les Newell]

Is this sign going to be attached to a surface? That arch section with the text is going to fall out. If you want the sign to be free standing it won't work.

[adbuch]

This is what your file would look like cut "as-is". There are problems, as Les pointed out. Perhaps you need to modify your design and/or develop a strategy for doing layered cuts for some of the parts so that all letters cut and none fall out.
David

[Buckmaster1967]

Thank guys,
This will be a wall hanging sign. The (AW D. RICH) needs to be an inside cut so the letters drop out, leaving the Eagle holding a sign with cut out letters. What is the yellow line in the bottom picture?

[djreiswig]

Looks like rapids to the pierce points.

[Les Newell]

As I mentioned before, that whole arched section that the eagle is holding will fall out. Most of the inside of the eagle's head will also fall out. You have drawn the sign so that there is no support for those parts. If you can have independent supports for those areas you can still make the sign as-is.

To get an idea of what you will end up with go to Options->job options->Material and turn on 'Use drawing'. Select your part and layer. Now you will see how much of the sign that will be in one piece. The rest will fall out and need to be separately mounted. It will be clearer if you turn off 'Show input paths' and disable your operation.

Maybe some of the guys who have experience with sign making could chip in with their opinions but that sign looks like it could be troublesome to cut. You have a lot of very detailed cuts there. Thermal distortion is likely to be a big issue. In your cut operation go to the 'cut path' tab and enable 'Minimise thermal distortion'. This will help a bit.

If you plan to use something expensive such as stainless I'd suggest making a test cut in steel first.

[beefy]

Is this any good ?

Jamie Green (cut ready).svg

(163.82 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

[adbuch]

Looks like rapids to the pierce points.

Yes - you are correct.
David

[adbuch]

Is this any good ?

Jamie Green (cut ready).svg

Nice job Keith!! That is perfect!
David

DOJ by Keith original image.jpg (91.79 KiB) Viewed 1003 times

DOJ by Keith dxf.zip

(435.54 KiB) Downloaded 44 times

Cut paths in red, rapids to pierce points in yellow

[beefy]

Cheers David.

I normally use Coreldraw, but the original SVG file would not import without the "C" screwing up. So opened it in Inkscape where it came in fine, then saved as EPS to bring into Coreldraw for editing.

Coreldraw costs a lot of money and yet I had to rely on the free Inkscape to help me get the file in Coreldraw. No wonder the Coreldraw section of the forum is going quiet.

[adbuch]

Hey Keith,
I converted your SVG to DXF using Convertio free online file converter. I tried first with Inkscape, but the resulting dxf had some problems.
https://convertio.co/

I have CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7 but really haven't used it much. Lately my go-to programs for vector editing relating to plasma cutting have been Design Edge and Inkscape. A friend brought over a small 3D printer for me to try out - it's a Voxel (rebranded FlashForge Adventurer). I have been using Fusion 360 to create some solid models to print, and have actually printed some useful parts for prototyping some mechanical assemblies. This is my first experience with 3D printing. You can see some more photos of the parts at the link below.
David


https://photos.app.goo.gl/rFfvSXhWYA1du58E8

[Buckmaster1967]

Is this any good ?

Jamie Green (cut ready).svg

Very nice! Thank you! I still have a lot to learn.

[Buckmaster1967]

As I mentioned before, that whole arched section that the eagle is holding will fall out. Most of the inside of the eagle's head will also fall out. You have drawn the sign so that there is no support for those parts. If you can have independent supports for those areas you can still make the sign as-is.

To get an idea of what you will end up with go to Options->job options->Material and turn on 'Use drawing'. Select your part and layer. Now you will see how much of the sign that will be in one piece. The rest will fall out and need to be separately mounted. It will be clearer if you turn off 'Show input paths' and disable your operation.

Maybe some of the guys who have experience with sign making could chip in with their opinions but that sign looks like it could be troublesome to cut. You have a lot of very detailed cuts there. Thermal distortion is likely to be a big issue. In your cut operation go to the 'cut path' tab and enable 'Minimise thermal distortion'. This will help a bit.

If you plan to use something expensive such as stainless I'd suggest making a test cut in steel first.

Thank you. Learning as I go.