[TonyW]

Hey all,

Got a question, didn't see this asked before far as I could tell. I've seen this since V24, and now it is an issue with me. Has anyone been able to direct the generated engraving tool path so it makes better sense? Example: I have 20 aluminum blocks on table. I am engraving the inlets for valve ports. (IN, OUT, PILOT, etc.). Blocks are 10 inches apart on Y axis, in 4 vises, 5 per vise. When it goes to engrave the OUT ports, it goes the the first block in vise and engraves the O. Then it goes to the middle block and engraves another O. Then to the right side and engraves an O in word PILOT. Then goes back to first block and does the whole word, second block whole word, etc.

Question is, how does BobCAD figure out where to go and WHY?? Seems easiest to me to just engrave the whole word in order, then move to next word. Usually this hasn't bothered me 'much' as I was doing single words here and there. Now it is being used in production and there's way too much wasted time and travel moving all over the vises doing one letter here and there. I don't see an option of telling it anything as far as start position, etc.

Anyone have this problem and have you been able to fix it? I did report this to Bobcad couple times back in V24, and once in V25. Has not been fixed.

Help?

[Jasonaz1]

Hi Tony,
I'm a newbe and don't know much about most software. If Bob-cam uses g-code then simply edit the code.

[jrmach]

Such a great answer.

[RAF.]

A single Engrave feature for each word (IN, OUT, PILOT, etc.) and then a work offset for each block position is how I think it would have to be done. That way it will engrave the whole copy at each block before moving to the next block.

[Force]

Hi Tony,
I'm a newbe and don't know much about most software. If Bob-cam uses g-code then simply edit the code.

That is what I do but for long strings it can be very time consuming.

It reminds me of the early Autocad (and others) where they plotted out in relation to when the lines/features where drawn. The pen would hop about all over the show.

[BurrMan]

You could try the profile feature, unless your using the 3d engrave.

[bobcad guy]

you mean he should " workaround" what bobcad is doing? say it aint soooooo.

[TonyW]

JR: +1 hehe

RAF: For me that would be too time consuming. I have over 75 different blocks to program, with 20 blocks each x 2 sides I am however doing what you said already. I have 4 different work offsets, one for each vise of blocks. Don't think my machine would understand 20 work offsets for each individual block. Not a standard controller.

Burr: Thanks, gave that a try and thought it was the fix. But for some reason profiling didn't like capital P or T. Did not finish the entire letter. Missed the leg on P, and half the top of the T.

For now what I tried was to remove all geometry, then reselected geometry by clicking on each word in the order I wanted instead of dragging a box around all the words. Seemed to help a little. Still does 2 random O letters, but then moves from word to word after. Stopped jumping all over. Seems to have a thing for the letter O.

Anyone else got something in mind to try? Reporting it once again to Bobcad, hopefully they can address it soon.

[jrmach]

Tony,,,

When selecting Geometry,select in the order you want it to be machined.Pretty simple,,unless I am mis-understanding something.

[Fastest1]

Everybody has a thing for an O.

[TonyW]

Tony,,,

When selecting Geometry,select in the order you want it to be machined.Pretty simple,,unless I am mis-understanding something.

Yeah, went back to doing that. I had forgot seemed to help a little, but not entirely. Just reported to BobCAD again, hope they can fix it. WAYYY to much time and wear on my machine.

[jrmach]

As far as Fonts go and not machining all of the letter,,yeah,,they can be a pain.There is a lot more "complexity" to a Font than meets the eye.Burr has explained it many times.A quick search of this Forum will show many ways to "fix" them.
And no,,this is not a work-a-round for BoB,,this is a "Font" problem.
If you can give a sample of the P or T ,can take a look at it and see if can fix them.

[TonyW]

As far as Fonts go and not machining all of the letter,,yeah,,they can be a pain.There is a lot more "complexity" to a Font than meets the eye.Burr has explained it many times.A quick search of this Forum will show many ways to "fix" them.
And no,,this is not a work-a-round for BoB,,this is a "Font" problem.
If you can give a sample of the P or T ,can take a look at it and see if can fix them.

Yep, I remember all the fun with fonts in past. They did fix that problem in V25. I had the problem with the P and T only when I tried to do a profile feature instead of an engrave feature. As for the font example, i'm just using the Bobcad font HELV, all capital letters for words IN, OUT, and PILOT, .125" high lettering.

[jrmach]

The "o" does seem to make pick order not work.You reported that too ?

[shred]

The "cut closed round shapes first" engraving scheme has been in since at least V23. Have you tried exploding the text into lines and engraving that? IIRC that helped one day when I was fighting the cutting order.

[TonyW]

No, didn't mention the O. I have seen it do same thing with a couple other letters. But I will reply to the email they send and include the O issue.

[RAF.]

I just ran a test with the word OPEN in 4 different locations with Bob font and a Windows font in 3D engrave. It did each word at one at a time with one feature for each word and just using 1 offset with a large work piece. It ran fine completing each word before moving to the next.

Using V25-996 update

[TonyW]

Running V25, Build 996 also. RAF: WHats your secret? hehe. I attached the file i'm working on. Just use the Engrave Text - Vise1 in the cam tree. It's better now, but still picks a couple O's at random.

Shred: Just finished trying what you suggested. Exploded the text, then ran engraving feature. Jumped around even more O's. So I then left it exploded, tried running the profile on it then as Burr suggested. Same thing. Profiling misses parts of the T and P. Guess I will just have to live with it for now unless someone sees something in my file.

[RAF.]

Here is my G Code and it seems to work on this end I was having trouble with your post so I ran it in mine.

[TonyW]

Here is my G Code and it seems to work on this end I was having trouble with your post so I ran it in mine.

Thanks RAF. I tried it and see what you said about each feature. Seems to be something with choosing more than one word because as soon as I added the opposite word PILOT to each of your features, it started jumping around again, back and forth on each block. Guess I will have to look at doing it a little different if it becomes a problem on the larger blocks I do. CRUD!