--- In mach1mach2cnc@..., "dk32544" <scoutxx@c...> wrote:
Well, thanks for all the great info. Looks like what I need to do
is just
get some drawing software and start practicing. Which leads me to
my
next question.
For the near term future I'll be doing simple shapes - brackets and
such. I guess most 2D shapes are simple, but I won't be doing much
metal art until probably next year. So what software should I buy
to
start out with: Corel Draw, Quickdraw, or something else? I have
heard of some problems with Corel Draw for this type of work, but
don't
remember what the issue was. P.S. I already have the ruler but I'm
not
sure if it's Windows XP compatible. lol.
Scout
Scout, Don't tell anyone but I use Corel for virtually all of my
drawings. Even though I have copies of several CAD programs I always
end up using Corel. You can draw things to .001 easily and for
generating 2D shapes and working with vectors it is hard to beat.
There were some problems with versions 10 (and 11 possibly) not
exporting correct DXF files. Some programs would not read them.
Version 9 is what I still use although I plan on upgrading to 12 soon.
I use a CAM program that has no problems importing several of the
Corel formats. I don't know if there are issues with MACH2 importing
the Corel DXF files but you can just as easily export in HPGL (.plt)
format and bring that into MACH2.
I like the interactive scale and rotate functions in Corel so that
once I draw a design to scale I can create a sheet the size of my
material and layout the parts anyway I want. A Ctl-D allows you to
duplicate all or part of an object and you can setup what you want
the offset to be so you can easily step and repeat. The weld and
trim tools are powerful ways to build complex objects from squares
ovals and other objects. Here is an example:
YOu need to cut out a sign for a customer. You let him choose from
any of the hundreds of fonts that come with Corel. You quickly do
the layout even wrapping text around arcs or circles, but how do you
keep the centers of the letters like the "A" or "O" from falling off
into the water? Just turn the text layout into curves (Convert to
Curve), draw a small rectangle (one click and drag), move to over the
top of the area where it overlaps the center of the letter and the
outsie perimeter of the letter and click on "Trim" and bingo it build
a connector (sprue) to the center.
This is heresy but IMO Corel will do everything all of the dedicated
CAD packages will do for simple 2D or 2.5D work and and some things
they won't. It's nice to be able to show a customer a shaded drawing
of your purposal then build a cut file from the same drawing.
