Thanks in advance!
Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
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modonnell
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Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
Hi guys! This is my first ever design. My husband does all the cutting, and he is out of the state for a week so I don't get to try it out for a while, but I was wanting some advice. I think it looks a little awkward - I haven't mastered the "straight" lines yet. If you have any advice for this project or future projects, I would appreciate any words of wisdom!!
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
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Loyd
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
Looks like a good start to me! What program are you using to draw in? I notice a little problem with the parallel lines but you are gonna do great! The openings you have on the 4 and 0 and the o in welcome are not needed imho. I use a program called DeltaCad as my main drawing platform, extremely easy to learn and use. I then import it into PlasmaCam, and do the finishing touches.
Loyd
Loyd
De inimico non loquaris sed cogites
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
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Loyd
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
After zooming in and kinda workin' over your file....did you do this in a program like Paint? You did a really good job of trying to get those lines straight. It is very hard to do in a (assuming) program like that.
Loyd
Loyd
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De inimico non loquaris sed cogites
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
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plasmajoe
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
If this is your first crack at doing a file for cutting, you are on the right track. I agree with loyd, you will do well. As far as free hand drawing, ( I am assuming that is how you made your file), it takes time and effort. I free hand draw my stuff also. For your fonts you can go see www.fastcamusa.com and look up their program called Fontgen. You can download a trial version for free for 5 or 7 days I cannot remember it has been so long. It works real good and can do any fonts you have on your computer or upload into your system. It generates a Cam file or a DXF your choice. Hopes this helps you out, keep up the great work you will make your husband proud to cut your files.
Plasma Joe
Plasma Joe
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ericandmollie
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
Hey Modonnell,
Nice job putting together your first Vector Image!!! I have a few suggestions that might help you out in the future....
I attached a image of your DXF that you posted. I marked it up to show you what I mean. Loyd mentioned that you do not need a gap in your number 0 and number 4. The cut out numbers will be a lot stronger if you close the gap up. Also, you have a lot of open contours, which means that lines are not matching up. Refer to the JPEG that I posted, and you will see a whole bunch of red squares. All those squares are open lines. If you zoom in to those areas, you will see what I mean. This is a big factor when it comes down to machining the part out of metal, since your start and stop point is different, the contour might tab itself in, and not come out.
When it comes down to drawning parallel lines, most CAD programs has a feature called horizontal line, vertical line, and offset. These are the commands that are most useful when drawing things to cut out. They are guaranteed to be straight left and right (horizontal), and straight up and down (Vertical). Then you can offset that line to the left, right, up, or down a certain distance. Then you will have parallel lines. Another useful feature to most cad programs are something called construction lines. These are fake lines that help you draw something out, but are not real lines that a machine will cut. Mostly just reference lines, that you can insert a line on and it will snap to construction line.
Another command I like to use is the TRIM command and BREAK command. The Trim command will extend two different lines or arcs and make them join each other instead of adding a line to meet another. The less lines in a DXF, the better it cuts on a CNC. The Break command will cut up a line or arc in many different pieces. So you can draw a horizontal line across a drawing, and then break it up where you want to erase, then you will have a straight line that matches heightwise across the drawing.
I hope I did not confuse you anymore then you are now. There are wonderful people here at PlasmaSpider that will answer all of your questions if you have anymore......
Eric
Nice job putting together your first Vector Image!!! I have a few suggestions that might help you out in the future....
I attached a image of your DXF that you posted. I marked it up to show you what I mean. Loyd mentioned that you do not need a gap in your number 0 and number 4. The cut out numbers will be a lot stronger if you close the gap up. Also, you have a lot of open contours, which means that lines are not matching up. Refer to the JPEG that I posted, and you will see a whole bunch of red squares. All those squares are open lines. If you zoom in to those areas, you will see what I mean. This is a big factor when it comes down to machining the part out of metal, since your start and stop point is different, the contour might tab itself in, and not come out.
When it comes down to drawning parallel lines, most CAD programs has a feature called horizontal line, vertical line, and offset. These are the commands that are most useful when drawing things to cut out. They are guaranteed to be straight left and right (horizontal), and straight up and down (Vertical). Then you can offset that line to the left, right, up, or down a certain distance. Then you will have parallel lines. Another useful feature to most cad programs are something called construction lines. These are fake lines that help you draw something out, but are not real lines that a machine will cut. Mostly just reference lines, that you can insert a line on and it will snap to construction line.
Another command I like to use is the TRIM command and BREAK command. The Trim command will extend two different lines or arcs and make them join each other instead of adding a line to meet another. The less lines in a DXF, the better it cuts on a CNC. The Break command will cut up a line or arc in many different pieces. So you can draw a horizontal line across a drawing, and then break it up where you want to erase, then you will have a straight line that matches heightwise across the drawing.
I hope I did not confuse you anymore then you are now. There are wonderful people here at PlasmaSpider that will answer all of your questions if you have anymore......
Eric
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Last edited by ericandmollie on Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ericandmollie
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
I hope you don't mind, but I fixed it up a little, if you want to download and take a look at the fixes. I closed the letters and open contours and straightened out the lines.
One more question: How did you draw out the Welcome font? The reason I ask, is that the Welcome part was reasonably straight. The numbers part came out less straight. If there were two different methods you tried, then go with the way you drew out the WELCOME.
Eric
One more question: How did you draw out the Welcome font? The reason I ask, is that the Welcome part was reasonably straight. The numbers part came out less straight. If there were two different methods you tried, then go with the way you drew out the WELCOME.
Eric
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modonnell
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
Wow guys - THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I drew it all out in the PlasmaCam software. The numbers and the welcome were both from the Draw > Font command using fonts that were already on the computer - the numbers were a little more "script" which is probably why they didn't turn out very clean. The flur-de-lis desgins came from something that someone posted on here a while back.
THANK YOU to both of you for cleaning them up and fixing my mistakes - it looks awesome and I can't wait to get it cut!! I've found that these designs take a lot of love, but they are well worth it. Thanks for the tips - I am looking forward to doing some more designs soon!
modonnell
I drew it all out in the PlasmaCam software. The numbers and the welcome were both from the Draw > Font command using fonts that were already on the computer - the numbers were a little more "script" which is probably why they didn't turn out very clean. The flur-de-lis desgins came from something that someone posted on here a while back.
THANK YOU to both of you for cleaning them up and fixing my mistakes - it looks awesome and I can't wait to get it cut!! I've found that these designs take a lot of love, but they are well worth it. Thanks for the tips - I am looking forward to doing some more designs soon!
modonnell
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anvilhead
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
design concept is good ....I would make the numbers wider (like the 1) so that they will have a bigger base connecting to the bar that has WELCOME on it. Also a heavier number will show up better on the house. The 7,0 and 9 seem to be too light IMHO.
There is plenty of room at the top - and the top is where you want to be. Whenever you do a project - do the hardest part first and the rest will be easy.
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hinesigns
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
All good answers. The address seems to overpower the message. Maybe decrese the height of the #s or increase the size of the word welcome. In Plasmacam there is the use of the F7 to draw straight lines.
Get at it . Looks like you are well on the road to a lot of de$igns.
Get at it . Looks like you are well on the road to a lot of de$igns.
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Loyd
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
That is what I am missing the eye of the "signmaker". I tend to focus on the little bitty stuff and not the overall things.
Good advice!
Loyd
It is not that we are so ignorant, we just know so much that isn't so!
Good advice!
Loyd
It is not that we are so ignorant, we just know so much that isn't so!
De inimico non loquaris sed cogites
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
Do not wish ill upon your enemies, plan it.
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anvilhead
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
as far as the numbers being too big - remember that when 911 needs to be called (hopefully not) you want the first responders to have no problem reading the house numbers - if they miss the WELCOME part of the sign you can welcome them in person because they were able to find your house because your house numbers were large and bold enough to be easily seen .....IMHO.
There is plenty of room at the top - and the top is where you want to be. Whenever you do a project - do the hardest part first and the rest will be easy.
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DumOleBob
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Re: Welcome Sign - Pointers? Advice?
Nice first attempt!
When drawing straight lines in plasmacam (parallel to the table edge) hit your F7 key to set Orthogonal snaps. That'll keep your lines straight.
Pls post your origninal PlasmaCam file (in .pcm). I think any problems results from converting it to a dxf then reconverting it to a .pcm. Anby time we stack a changew of file type upon another file type we will be a little more degraded.
Oh, you don't need to attach the holes in the #s 4 or 9.
When drawing straight lines in plasmacam (parallel to the table edge) hit your F7 key to set Orthogonal snaps. That'll keep your lines straight.
Pls post your origninal PlasmaCam file (in .pcm). I think any problems results from converting it to a dxf then reconverting it to a .pcm. Anby time we stack a changew of file type upon another file type we will be a little more degraded.
Oh, you don't need to attach the holes in the #s 4 or 9.
