Ramblings from an old man

[mauriceman]

First, I'd like to thank all the contributors to this forum. It's very interesting reading about all the different directions this hobby entails. I do all vector engraving on wood so my bias is in creating artwork of line drawings and text.

Here are several ideas that would enhance my engraving experience.
1) The file name of the artwork loaded into T2LASER in the top title bar.
2) Showing the laser power and feed rate settings established on the main screen, on the laser control window. This would avoid having to go back to the main screen to check settings (short term memory loss?).
3) Add using color to change feed rate as opposed to laser power in DXF engraving. Most of my work is at full laser power to speed jobs up, being able to slow feed rate for a small section (to make them darker) would be handy.

Just some thoughts. Overall, T2LASER works great for me. Thank you ZAX and all the contributors.

[Zax]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I like all those ideas, would adding the file name and laser power / feed rates to the overlay be acceptable?

I will add a menu setting to use DXF colors for feed rate. The easiest way to achieve this would be the same % method, so a red line would use 80% of set feed rate etc. How does that sound?

[mauriceman]

Sounds like a winner! 20% increment feed rate changes is more than adequate and using the "header" for additional info works for me. Thanks.

[Zax]

OK, added to my "to-do" list for the next release. Thanks!

[Zax]

Take a look at the attachment to this post...

http://benboxlaser.us/index.php/topic,1392.msg16807.html#msg16807

#2 is a little more tricky as you can actually load the laser control screen without the main design window being open (it's a command line switch), also you can see the feed rates in the g-code. I added it to the overlay, which may help.
#3 is also added and seems to work OK.

Black is 100% feed rate.
Red is 80% feed rate.
Magenta or Orange are 60% feed rate.
Blue is 40% feed rate.
Green is 20% feed rate.
Yellow is RAPID feed rate.

So if you have rapid at 2000 and regular feed at 200, you would get:
Black 200
Red 160
Orange 120
Blue 80
Green 40
Yellow 2000

I wasn't sure how to handle yellow as the power percentages are based on min and max, so yellow is laser minimum but that doesn't apply here. I considered using the same method but that is likely to cause problems as the default would be rapid feed rate so this is what I came up with - feel free to tell me I'm wrong and offer a better solution.

[mauriceman]

The color vector speed settings are sweet. Works like a charm and the settings overlay helps a lot. I posted a pic of my new laser build in PROJECTS. I'm quite the happy camper. Thanks, Zax.

The issue of size anomalies going from Inkscape to T2LASER can be minimized by opening the DXF back up in Inkscape, resizing and then saving as DXF again. Inkscape really bogs down opening a complicated DXF but it gets the size really close the second save.

[Zax]

I'm glad the changes helped.

Yes, I just looked at your machine thread. It looks great.

I can save from Inkscape and open directly in T2Laser and the sizes are very close (there's some minor conversion error due to the way Inkscape keeps everything in px rather than mm internally).

I can't explain how the 2nd save is correct, that's weird, but have you checked to make sure your settings match my DXF conversion document?

[mauriceman]

It's never off that much to begin with. The re-opening, tweaking size and re-saving just gets it that much closer. I will re-read the document you mentioned to see if I'm missing something. I just fail to see why the pixel resolution enters into the vector equation., but I guess it does. No biggie. I hear Illustrator is 96 ppi. It's sooooooooooooo confusing sometimes going from Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape and sometimes Turbocad, but, it keeps me from getting Oldtimers disease.

[Zax]

OK, if it's close that's probably just their conversion.

TurboCAD is 100% accurate using mm, and my usual program of choice.