sheetcam.com

Hello Everyone, I am new here and want to learn more about Sheetcam software. I seem to have problems with DXF Files having path problems. What are the best ways to design these to eliminate the problems from the start. See attached file I have someone who wants to cut but is having path problems running Sheetcam TNG. Can anyone help me? Thank you.

Could you upload a job file (file->save job) with everything set up ready to post process. I'll take a look and try to figure out what is going on.

Hi Les, Thank you so much for your reply. Please see attached. Thank you.

I really need the job file (File->save job) rather than the g-code. With the job file I can use your settings to test out exactly what is happening.

Ok, I hope this works. Please let me know.
Thank you
Brian

Did the last file work?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I took a look at the job file and the drawing is tiny, only 4mm across. Was it supposed to be 4" across? When you import your drawing a box pops up with a number of options. Try setting the scaling to inches.

Ok, maybe I did something wrong when saving the file, let me look into this.

Les could you look at this file? Also curious if you ever got a Mac Version of Sheetcam? Please let me know what you think of the attached.

I opened that job file and the first problem was "Inside Offset" was selected. That puts the cut on the wrong side of the lines. Play with all three settings and you'll see how it works.

The 2nd problem, which I see with many files, is the detail is too small and you get spaces where the torch kerf width cannot "get through". Example imagine a cut is on the inside of an hourglass shape. If the kerf width is 1.5mm but the neck of the hourglass is only 1mm, Sheetcam will not allow the cut to pass through there. There's some examples of this on your drawing.
I've never actually just let a file run like this, I've always corrected the drawing first. So I went and had a play to see what Sheetcam does in this situation. Taking the hourglass example again, it seems Sheetcam splits the internal cut into 2 separate cuts. Only 1 start/pierce point is shown on the screen for 1 of the 2 separate cuts. However, looking at the generated gcode, Sheetcam actually creates 2 separate cuts, turning the torch on/off for each one.

You could scale up the entire drawing until the small kerf width problem is gone, or you could modify the areas of the drawing so the overall size remains the same.

Ok thanks, I really appreciate the input, I will give this a go.

As mancavedweller says, your main problem was the offset in the wrong direction. Warnings such as those you were getting are are just a heads-up to let you know some of the cuts may not fit. You can safely ignore them if you wish.

I don't have a Mac version so at the moment you have to run the Windows version under a virtual machine such as VirtaulBox or Parallels. Some people have had success using it with WineBottler.

Ok, thanks for the input on the file & Mac use.