[victorofga]

scorch

i just was discussing someone, and said him it can make pocketing, conturing and vcarving.. so looks like the all function works what really need for basic operations..
just keep going with your wonderful work..

[Wade]

What python did you use to build this? I'm working on another problem, where it won't save cleanup g-code. Not sure what's causing it. But I'm trying to save cleanup after doing a calc v-carve, on a flip normals. It doesn't do anything, not even a message box.

Exception in Tkinter callback
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Tkinter.pyc", line 1410, in __call__
File "f-engrave-110.py", line 2906, in Write_Clean_Click
File "f-engrave-110.py", line 3871, in menu_File_Save_clean_G_Code_File
File "f-engrave-110.py", line 2643, in WRITE_CLEAN_UP
TypeError: float argument required, not str

[scorch]

I build the windows exe with Python 2.7.2.

[scorch]

What python did you use to build this? I'm working on another problem, where it won't save cleanup g-code. Not sure what's causing it. But I'm trying to save cleanup after doing a calc v-carve, on a flip normals. It doesn't do anything, not even a message box.

I see the problem. I will get a fix out soon.

Scorch

[Wade]

Yha, I just found it.

self.gcode.append("G1 Z%.4f" %(depth_val))

depth_val is a string everywhere else.

[scorch]

I think I have fixed all of the issues you have posted today. Version 1.12 is available on my we page. F-Engrave Home You may need to refresh your browser to see the new links.

To get a new line in the g-code preamble or postamble insert a pipe character "|"

Let me know if anything else causes you problems. Thanks for being the Version 1.10 guinea pig.

(I switched the depth_val to a string in the latest version to fix some compatibility issues. I guess I missed one of them.)

EDIT: I rolled to version to 1.12 because I missed a couple of items in Version 1.11.

Scorch

[Wade]

OK, clean save works now. Space before gpre works. Arc fitting enable works.

You pipe character works good on the g-code save, at line 2233. You just need to copy it down to 2599, clean up g-code save.

Interesting, I've never looked at python much. It's not too bad to read for a C++ guy.

[scorch]

Yep, I saw that I missed the cleanup g-code stuff so V1.12 is already on my web page. I also added the pipe option to the g-code postamble for completeness.

(I was mad that I had messed up the cleanup code so I rushed a little to much getting the fix out.)

Scorch

[Wade]

Did outside letter carve (flipped normals), then V cleanup, then cleanup with a 1/2 flat bottom end mill. I'd like to do a better job of cleaning up between the letters. Could I plot a clean up with 1/4 bit, and tell it to search only 1/2", so it doesn't retrace the 1/2" bit too much?

[scorch]

Did outside letter carve (flipped normals), then V cleanup, then cleanup with a 1/2 flat bottom end mill. I'd like to do a better job of cleaning up between the letters. Could I plot a clean up with 1/4 bit, and tell it to search only 1/2", so it doesn't retrace the 1/2" bit too much?

Yes, That makes sense.
Scorch

[hickory-Wa]

scorch
I have been using f-engrave-1.02 and dmap2gcode for several months now and I am very appreciative of your generosity. Earlier this week I downloaded f-engrave-1.12 hoping that the cleanup routines would work for me now. Unfortunately, they do not. I have opened a PBM file, performed the v-carve calculations and saved the .ngc file. When I push the calculate cleanup button the popup says the program is preparing to calculate the cleanup, works a little while (seconds) and then blinks as if done with the popup gone. When I then push the save cleanup button (either one it doesn't matter) a flag appears that says that cleanup must be calculated before it can be saved.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions that I might try, or am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance.

[scorch]

@hickory-Wa
I recently found out that the "Cut Depth Limit" option is messing the cleanup calculations. If you keep the "Cut Depth Limit" option set to zero and use the v-bit diameter to control the depth it should work. Just tweak the "V-Bit Diameter" value until the "Max Cut Depth" matches the depth you want.

I will put out a new version in the next day or so with the issue resolved.

If the cleanup options still do not work with the "Cut Depth Limit" option set to zero be sure to re-post so I know that there may be another problem.

Scorch

[scorch]

F-Engrave Version 1.13 is now available: F-Engrave

(The only change for this version is the fix for cleanup operations when using the "Cut Depth Limit" setting.)

Scorch

[hickory-Wa]

Scorch your support is amazing. I didn't try your suggested workaround to the problem of Cleanup functions not working when a max cut depth is specified as you had the Version 13 on the street before I saw your response. So, I loaded the new version and it appears to perform beautifully. I do have one more question. At the end of the cleanup calculations, the program plots a combined portrayal of the three tool paths. After you save all g-codes and close the session, is there a way to recall the combined tool path portrayal? It would be a help when deciding which version of a project you want to carve.

Thanks for your great support.

[scorch]

@hickory-Wa

No, there is not any way to display the tool paths again in F-Engrave after they have been cleared from the screen (without running the calculations again).

You can open a previously saved .ngc file to recover all of the settings used to create the .ngc file. Then to generate the plots you would need to run the calculations again. The main .ngc file contains all of the settings including the cleanup operation settings. The cleanup "_clean" .ngc files do not contain the settings data so opening them will not import any settings

Scorch

[hickory-Wa]

Thanks Scorch. I was afraid of that. Maybe I can print screen to save the ones I want. Again Thanks for your generousity and quick responses.
Hickory-WA out.

[sliptonic]

Hi Scorch,

I've just changed my OS from PClinuxOS to Linux Mint (a fork of Ubuntu). I've tried to install F-Engrave and everything works fine untill I get to TTF2CXF. When I try to install it I get the following errors:

russell@russell-SATELLITE-C870-13V ~/F-Engrave-1.02_src/TTF2CXF_STREAM $ make install
g++ -o ttf2cxf_stream -lm -I/usr/include/freetype2 -lfreetype ttf2cxf_stream.cpp
/tmp/ccKRmCrC.o: In function `convertGlyph(unsigned long)':
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0x47a): undefined reference to `FT_Get_Char_Index'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0x492): undefined reference to `FT_Load_Glyph'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0x4c7): undefined reference to `FT_Get_Glyph'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0x543): undefined reference to `FT_Outline_Decompose'
/tmp/ccKRmCrC.o: In function `main':
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0x9cd): undefined reference to `FT_Init_FreeType'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0xa0d): undefined reference to `FT_New_Face'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0xdc2): undefined reference to `FT_Get_First_Char'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0xdd8): undefined reference to `FT_Get_First_Char'
ttf2cxf_stream.cpp.text+0xe1b): undefined reference to `FT_Get_Next_Char'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [linux] Error 1

I have the latest g++ and libfreetype6-dev installed. Any ideas?

Russell.

Was there ever a resolution to this? I'm seeing the same error on the new (13.04) Ubuntu.

[scorch]

I was never able to duplicate the problem. I don't know if Russell was able to fix it or not. It appears that libfreetype6-dev is installed but there is some problem with linking the freetype library.

When I have time I will try downloading Ubuntu 13.04 to see if I can duplicate the problem.

Scorch

[scorch]

Was there ever a resolution to this? I'm seeing the same error on the new (13.04) Ubuntu.

I was able to replicate the problem in Ubuntu 13.04 and now I have a solution. :banana: Wow, Ubuntu 13.04 is really different. I had to Google how to get a terminal window to open in 13.04. It kind of reminded me of Windows 8. I can't find things in Windows 8 either.

Here is the fix.

In the Makefile Change line number 10.
from:
" g++ -o ttf2cxf_stream -lm -I/usr/include/freetype2 -lfreetype ttf2cxf_stream.cpp"
to:
" g++ -o ttf2cxf_stream ttf2cxf_stream.cpp -lm -I/usr/include/freetype2 -lfreetype"

I will incorporate this into the next release to avoid future problems. I do not plan to make a new version just for this fix because I think is is needed rarely. (Also the people that need this fix are probably skilled enough to find it here via Google)

Scorch

[ocadmiral]

Scorch,
First off, a HUGE Thank You for this program! I have been learning with some signs for myself, and have found the program very easy to use. I am currently running the 1.13 on my windows machine (to generate the code from the .bmp files) and then save it to a flash and got to my mill in the garage. I am running LinuxCNC and love it. I have run across an issue that I think may be program related in the cleanup part. I did a house sign and set the v-carve to "flip-normal". I used a 1/4" 90deg. v-bit. For the cleanup i use a .125" square bit (works great for getting in to the smaller places). The issue is that the cleanup was spot on for parts and off (missed cleaning up the waste) by about .125" for other parts.

The second part of is that I am trying to figure out how to clean up only the inside of this sign and not the outside as that is just air or will be trimmed off.
I have tried this a could of times at different feed rates and there was no difference.

I have included the vcarve file and the clean file here.

Thanks for checking it and for the great would on this program.
Joe