Convert to Cut path frustration

[Shane Warnick]

Soooo,
I have a drawing that I made that consists of several designs overlayed. Basically a rectangle with some silhouettes that hang over the edge, with some text along the inside top and inside bottom of the rectangle, and another design in the middle of the rectangle situated between the text. I broke and converted the inside portions of the overhanging designs into lines so they would stay attached and maintain detail, cleaned up the design removed all the intersections smoothed it out, then linked everything to make closed paths (everything turns green) then I grouped everything. Now comes the frustration. When I select convert to cut path and click on the outside edge (a continuous closed path all the way around the design) it will only convert the outside edge, and does not convert anything inside the design, nor does it ask me if I want to automatically convert holes inside the design. I have drawn another test design (circles inside a square with a few random point a to point b lines) and it works fine. Time for me to learn something. I need to know what I am missing. I have to be overlooking something that is preventing this from staying grouped when it tries to convert to cut path. Any idea's??
Thanks in advance
Shane

[M & N Steel CNC]

What program are you using?

[Shane Warnick]

design edge version 4.33 i believe (the latest update)

[Craig]

Shane, Design Edge, as good as it is, sometimes get confused when converting to cut paths especially when it has to convert a lot of paths. Try converting the inside pieces first the working your way out. You can later reorder the cut paths to make sure it cuts correctly. Craig Johnson

[Shane Warnick]

Thanks Craig. Sounds like I am doing everything correctly it is just another "feature" of the Design Edge software. Guess I will be learning how to reorder cut paths in short order. Has not been an issue up to this point but apparently I will be doing this sign manually.

Just out of curiosity is this something that you see on a regular basis, or is it more the exception than the norm? Also, does there seem to be some sort of tipping point that causes it to fail to function properly in this regard that you have found, or is it just a random thing that sometimes it works great, sometimes not so much.

Thanks in advance for your time on this.
Shane

[Craig]

Shane, you are right Design Edge has lots of ?Features? and most of them are good. I use a repurposed PC in my shop to run Design Edge. Now it meets the specs that Plasmacam recommends but just barely. And I have learned to be sure to save my work BEFORE I do a ?Convert to Cut Paths? so I don?t lose work when a complex conversion kills Design Edge and tells me ?My program has died and would I like to send an error report? like sending a Design Edge error report to Microsoft ever did me ?Diddly Squat?.

A more powerful PC with more memory might solve my problems but I just work with what I?ve got.

I have only used Design Edge for plasma cutting so have no experience with other software but like Dirty Harry said ?A man's got to know his limitations?

Craig Johnson

[Shane Warnick]

Craig, I appreciate all of your input. I have chased down the issue, and I learned something, so all was not lost. If I can learn one thing a day..... regardless, thanks again for your time. See post below regarding what I figured out.

[Shane Warnick]

I appreciate everyone looking, just wanted to let you know I figured out the problem. I was up until 4 am last night (insomnia I guess) so I was doing some drawing, and I was kinda fried / eyes were tired. Long story short I had a point on the drawing that was apparently not close enough to actually touch but was close enough that it was just called a solid line (this was caused by my setting the gap distance to jump to 0.1" i am sure). Regardless, I was manually converting the drawing to cut paths and when I did the outside (the last one of course it only converted part of it, then I realized what the problem had to be and was able to zoom in and find and fix the gap. After that, BAM it converts the entire drawing normally to cut paths. Should have probably just kept looking. Perhaps someone else will be able to learn something from this, I know I sure did. Thanks for looking and you guys all stay safe.
Shane

[jimcolt]

I am guessing you have a bunch of open paths inside. If you want to cut open paths....you may have to check the "no" box when the software asks you if you would like to automatically convert inside paths......then click each path you want to cut (starting inside) in the order you prefer, then click on the outside last. You can manually do all of your starting points this way.

Jim Colt

Soooo,
I have a drawing that I made that consists of several designs overlayed. Basically a rectangle with some silhouettes that hang over the edge, with some text along the inside top and inside bottom of the rectangle, and another design in the middle of the rectangle situated between the text. I broke and converted the inside portions of the overhanging designs into lines so they would stay attached and maintain detail, cleaned up the design removed all the intersections smoothed it out, then linked everything to make closed paths (everything turns green) then I grouped everything. Now comes the frustration. When I select convert to cut path and click on the outside edge (a continuous closed path all the way around the design) it will only convert the outside edge, and does not convert anything inside the design, nor does it ask me if I want to automatically convert holes inside the design. I have drawn another test design (circles inside a square with a few random point a to point b lines) and it works fine. Time for me to learn something. I need to know what I am missing. I have to be overlooking something that is preventing this from staying grouped when it tries to convert to cut path. Any idea's??
Thanks in advance
Shane

[Joe Jones]

I love designEdge. It is "quirky" and the tech support is, well .... but once you get to know the program, you realize just how powerful it really is!

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk7y47ff