Creating a cut file from Inkscape to sheetcam

[adbuch]

Dave I ended up getting the last error because I forgot to select a layer .
My guise is layers will help when doing other operations such as scribing? I haven’t tackled doing scribe and plasma in one operation yet I need to ghet through the basics lol.
Tom,
I got a little lost can you maybe show the complete steps?

AJ - I did finally figure out how to create the separate layers Tom was showing us. It was just trial and error until I got it down. Here is the Sheetcam file with separate layers so that you can select one (or more) at a time for simulation and/or post processing to create your g-code. Click on the link below to go to my google drive to download the Sheetcam file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uoDX3y ... sp=sharing

part numbers.jpg (35.08 KiB) Viewed 1675 times

part numbers.jpg (35.08 KiB) Viewed 1675 times

[adbuch]

[adbuch]

[adbuch]

Here is the link to the google drive slide show for this process.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fZZMEzdiSB4BUCNT8

David

[acourtjester]

Here is a video showing colors in Inkscape about layers for SheetCam, not an expert just things I use.
Have fun
Tom

[adbuch]

You can open multiples of SheetCam and move parts between them to separate if needed (bad cut do over). Save part as a job then open in other SheetCam screen.

move parts between 2 sheetcam instances.jpg (53.8 KiB) Viewed 1651 times

move parts between 2 sheetcam instances.jpg (53.8 KiB) Viewed 1651 times

Tom - how are you moving parts between two instances of SheetCam? Do you mean you are copying from one and pasting into the other, or simply opening the same file twice and then editing one of them to delete parts? If you are indeed copying and pasting, then please show us exactly how you are doing this.

Thanks,
David

[ROKCRLER]

I have Qcad but I don't like it because I like to be able to resize and size things with inches not percentages.
Is there a measuring tool in Sheet Cam?

In QCad or any CAD for that matter, you can scale by dimensions instead of percentages... took me a while to figure that one out.

Take the dimension you want and divide by the current dimension to scale up or divide the wanted dimension by the current dimension to scale down

[adbuch]

Mo - That's exactly what I do when drawings sometimes open in Design Edge in mm. They come in really large, so I select the drawing and scale by a factor of 1/25.4 to get it to inches. Also can just double in size by scaling by a factor or 2. Any scaling factor can be used. Inkscape has a similar tool. It's under "Object, Transform, Scale".

David

[acourtjester]

With Inkscape you can copy and paste, but with SheetCam you need to remove (selected) the unwanted parts from the original (new parts in the upper right drop down menu has a delete function) and then save it as a .JOB. The .JOB file will only have what you have left. Then you can open it (.JOB) in a new SheetCam to plan a new or add other parts/drawings for a totally new G-code planning section.

[adbuch]

With Inkscape you can copy and paste, but with SheetCam you need to remove (selected) the unwanted parts from the original (new parts in the upper right drop down menu has a delete function) and then save it as a .JOB. The .JOB file will only have what you have left. Then you can open it (.JOB) in a new SheetCam to plan a new or add other parts/drawings for a totally new G-code planning section.

Tom - thanks for that clarification! Nice to know for future reference.

David

[adbuch]

Here is a video showing colors in Inkscape about layers for SheetCam, not an expert just things I use.
Have fun
Tom

Tom - it look like you were either adding fill or stroke color to some of the objects. How did this help you when you imported the file to SheetCam?
Thanks,
David

[acourtjester]

It put that color number in the title of the drawing part when planning the Plasma operation. Stroke colors

2 color in inkscape.JPG (12.09 KiB) Viewed 1622 times

2 color in inkscape.JPG (12.09 KiB) Viewed 1622 times

2 color inkscape.svg

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2 color inkscape.svg

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[adbuch]

Thanks for that clarification Tom!!
David

[Fastyankee]

This is all awesome stuff. The scaling thing was going to be my next questions for the fab table. It would be nice to be able to do different size tables by just scaling the drawing up or down. Sure beats redrawing the whole thing.
I just created a multi process file in sheet cam jewel scribe and plasma. Did this by creating two layers and than selecting different layers for each process so we will see how that turns out.
So if I put different colors on the different parts they will import into Sheet came with the same name in layers. That's good to know.
Very helpful when You have several parts and only need to just cut one part from the drawing with multiple parts by just selecting that layers name.

[adbuch]

This is all awesome stuff. The scaling thing was going to be my next questions for the fab table. It would be nice to be able to do different size tables by just scaling the drawing up or down. Sure beats redrawing the whole thing.
I just created a multi process file in sheet cam jewel scribe and plasma. Did this by creating two layers and than selecting different layers for each process so we will see how that turns out.
So if I put different colors on the different parts they will import into Sheet came with the same name in layers. That's good to know.
Very helpful when You have several parts and only need to just cut one part from the drawing with multiple parts by just selecting that layers name.

[acourtjester]

Hi Fastyankee question in a video that may be of interest to you.

[adbuch]

Tom - I just went back and took a look at the original svg file he posted. I find no duplicate parts (one copy on top of another) in his drawing. Also he did not provide a SheetCam file, so I assume you created the SheetCam file you show in your video from the svg. I expect that you have inadvertently created the situation you show in your video. But it's good to know that we have interested members checking on these files and looking for possible problems that could create frustration later in the processing steps. Thanks for taking your time to look at this file.

David

[acourtjester]

Thanks David here is the original file I downloaded form here, I only broke the drawing apart and worked with the boxes at the top in the other video I posted. May have been demons (swamp creatures in Florida) in my PC . I just look at the original and it seems to be the sequence of turning on and off of the layers that cause what I what seeing and showed in the video. the bottom 2 color layers, odd in my video there are more color layers then the original!! I better get dome bug spray for the PC.

18x27 welding lift table.svg

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18x27 welding lift table.svg

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bottom 2 colors.JPG (16.27 KiB) Viewed 1565 times

bottom 2 colors.JPG (16.27 KiB) Viewed 1565 times

[adbuch]

Thanks David here is the original file I downloaded form here, I only broke the drawing apart and worked with the boxes at the top in the other video I posted. May have been demons (swamp creatures in Florida) in my PC . I just look at the original and it seems to be the sequence of turning on and off of the layers that cause what I what seeing and showed in the video. the bottom 2 color layers, odd in my video there are more color layers then the original!! I better get dome bug spray for the PC.
18x27 welding lift table.svg
bottom 2 colors.JPG

Tom - I will have a look at setting the Inkscape stroke colors for outside cut, inside cut, and holes and see what I come up with in SheetCam using his original file you have just reposted. I'll get back later this evening.

David

[tcaudle]

I turn off import colors as layers and do it manually . Selecting the objects and placing them on a named layer . That way you can move cuts around and change order and how each one is cut . To do it right with colors you have to use the fill and stroke tools in Inkscape and change the line colors (not he fills) and group them like that rather than just letting Inkscape use a defautl outline color. YOu can't see line thickness or colro in the Outline view mode in Inkscape. I find it easier to ignore line colros in Inkscape and control the layer process in SheetCAM.

[adbuch]

I turn off import colors as layers and do it manually . Selecting the objects and placing them on a named layer . That way you can move cuts around and change order and how each one is cut . To do it right with colors you have to use the fill and stroke tools in Inkscape and change the line colors (not he fills) and group them like that rather than just letting Inkscape use a defautl outline color. YOu can't see line thickness or colro in the Outline view mode in Inkscape. I find it easier to ignore line colros in Inkscape and control the layer process in SheetCAM.

Great information Tom! Either way will work, and it is probably a good idea to remain consistent which ever method one chooses.

David

[adbuch]

I think I might like just numbering the parts and then assigning layer names corresponding to the part numbers. This file as 10 parts, so there will be 10 layers. When I imported the svg file to SheetCam, it was automatically placed onto Layer 1. So I just created the new layer for each individual part with the corresponding layer number for that particular part.

David

[adbuch]

I do something very similar with Plasmacam Design Edge, which it the software I use for cutting with my Plasmacam DHC2 table.

David

[adbuch]

Thanks David here is the original file I downloaded form here, I only broke the drawing apart and worked with the boxes at the top in the other video I posted. May have been demons (swamp creatures in Florida) in my PC . I just look at the original and it seems to be the sequence of turning on and off of the layers that cause what I what seeing and showed in the video. the bottom 2 color layers, odd in my video there are more color layers then the original!! I better get dome bug spray for the PC.
18x27 welding lift table.svg
bottom 2 colors.JPG

Tom - I will have a look at setting the Inkscape stroke colors for outside cut, inside cut, and holes and see what I come up with in SheetCam using his original file you have just reposted. I'll get back later this evening.

David

Tom - I used layer names instead of color names for the example I showed just above. I expect you might have made a minor mistake when you were arranging your color layers. It's easy to do, as this all can get pretty confusing (at least for me) with all the various layers, cut paths, etc. I'll bet if you try it again you will find your mistake.

David

[Fastyankee]

After following Davids advise I went back in Inkscape and changed the original SVG because I did find a few things that Dave pointed out and I did correct but there were no duplicate layers.
I think its great that there are people here willing to collaborate and share there knowledge.
I went from being totally frustrated to really learning the process and programs. Thank you all !
AJ