[kolias]

The attached MastercamX5 drawing indicates my control panel I would like to cut out of a 1/8” thick Aluminum piece 21”x8.5”. Presently this panel is made out of 1/4" plywood to get the cnc going.

I made 2 drawings out of this, one to cut all the openings for the pushbuttons / switches and the other to do the engraving for all lettering.

I have no problem creating the toolpath for the drawing with all the openings but I stumble with the drawing for the engraving of all letters.

So I select my postprocessor, then the Engraving toolpath and then I have to select the graphics. If I select the chain command and select each letter the verify toolpath looks like hell and I don’t think its correct. If I select the window and draw a window around each block of letters again it doesn’t work.

How do you go about to do this engraving?

[Al_The_Man]

I get my panels done with a local Lamacoid engraver and reverse engraved, use it with a thin aluminum backing, there should be engravers in most large cities.
The advantage is you can pick the front and legend colours.
Also does not wear off or fill with grease etc.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn...cs_panels.html
Al.

[kolias]

Sound good this reverse engraving Al, didn't know about it and I will try to find out more locally.

However most of the fun is when you do things yourselfe

[Superman]

I made 2 drawings out of this, one to cut all the openings for the pushbuttons / switches and the other to do the engraving for all lettering.

Why 2 drawings ?
- create another operation with different parameters, you can post an operation seperately or combined
- you could program a part to go thru many different machines ( lathe, mill, wire ) or multiple set-ups, all in same single file

I have no problem creating the toolpath for the drawing with all the openings but I stumble with the drawing for the engraving of all letters.

So I select my postprocessor, then the Engraving toolpath and then I have to select the graphics. If I select the chain command and select each letter the verify toolpath looks like hell and I don’t think its correct. If I select the window and draw a window around each block of letters again it doesn’t work.

How do you go about to do this engraving?

I assume you know how to make Mastercam do a contour beside the geometry ?
- for engraving, you need to alter the operation parameters to make the cutter follow only on the top of your selected geometry.
- this is done by turning OFF the Compensation type ( Control, Computor, Wear etc ) & also the Lead in/outs.

[kolias]

I know about different operations / parameters but it is just my preference to have two drawings. Perhaps will be better with one drwg and I may do this.

I also know about a contour toolpath but don’t understand what you mean “do a contour beside the geometry”. Also I do have the Comensation OFF and the Lead in/out is not ticked.

My main question for now is how do you select all the text to be engraved; with one window for all text, one window for each text or with Chain (I tried the Chain but have to pick each letter of each title and is prone to mistakes – thought this may be the wrong thing to do)

Thanks for your time Superman

[txcncman]

I select letter by letter (contour by contour) to force the cut order I want, not what MasterCam thinks is best. You can always go back into the geometry and rearrange the chains (cut order). But why not just do that in the first place?

[kolias]

I select letter by letter (contour by contour) to force the cut order I want, not what MasterCam thinks is best. You can always go back into the geometry and rearrange the chains (cut order). But why not just do that in the first place?

I'm only about two months into with MC and the 800 page manual has almost nothing about engraving and how to select letters.

What do you mean by rearrange the chains? How can I do that?

[txcncman]

See if this helps:

[kolias]

See if this helps:

Now I get it, thanks. Its easy to select each letter in one word but time consuming in many words but glad I know now how to do it