[ROBTRONIX]

Hello everyone I need some help if anyone can.
I am making some raised lettering stamps in Mastercam and I'm having trouble creating the geometry necessary to program these parts.

Creating these wireframe seems tedious so I've been trying to figure a way to make the lettering using solids, and surfaces but I cannot find the right approach.
I've tried solids extrude .04 tall, thin wall .04 both directions, and a draft of 45 deg's inward, it works but doesn't create a nice bevel on the ends of the letters.
I've also tried sweeping various 45 deg lines along the contours to make surfaces but it seems you still have to manually go back in and fudge in the corners.

Isn't there a way to create letters of this sort almost automatically?
I have access to Mastercam, Cadkey, and possibly Solidworks down the road.

We are making lots of variations of these type of stamps and its taking too long to create the geometry.


By the way the overall specs of the letters are
.40 W X .75 L X .04 tall
.04 wide per side of centerline w/ 45deg. bevel all around the letters.

I'm having alot of trouble in the corners of certain letters getting the blend to look crisp.
If anyone can help with a better approach it would be soooo much appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

[ROBTRONIX]

If any of this is unclear I will try to possibly post a picture.
If I can figure out how to do it using our cad software.

Can you attach files on this forum?

[ger21]

How about using something like this. http://www.armanisoft.ch/webdesign/elefont/Elefont.html

[ROBTRONIX]

Thats a cool little program, but I need a way to create them dimensionally in a cad software. An approach if you will.

Thanks alot though.

[scubanick]

i dont understand the bevel u are wanting
but i will draw something up and see if we are on the same page a lil later

[lakeside]

you may want to look at Wingraver pro 2004 it's not a bad little program and will do raise lettering. I have the 2002 copy and find it very helpfull here a link http://www.microcimm.com/wingpro2k.html

[bbergami]

You might want to look at VCarve Pro.

[Tony Mac]

Hi Rob,

Can you post a picture / sketch of what you require along with the font etc. and we can tell you whether VCarve Pro might be suitable.

Are you looking for something like this?



For use as a stamp the design would simply be mirrored.

Tony Mac

[ROBTRONIX]

Tony Mac

Yes thats almost exactly what Im going for except the lettering needs to go to a sharp point on top, to be able to stamp sheet metal.

I've managed to come up with the lettering through trial and error using solids in Mastercam. Its a little hoakey but it worked.
Check the attached file

Can this software you talk about do lettering like this?
How much does it cost?

[Tony Mac]

Hi Rob,

What you are looking for is constant height characters based on a single / stick font, often referred to as Ridging, and afraid the VCarve Pro doesn't do this.

If you have a font that has a constant width / stroke then we may be able to do something. But most fonts have a varying width / stroke, that results in the center-line of the character being machined to a variable height because the cutter is a constant angle.

I hope this kind of makes sense.

Good luck,

Tony

[Tony Mac]

Hi Rob,

Is this what you are looking to engrave?

The numbers are 0.1" high and engraved 0.060" deep.



Tony

[gun_maker]

How about something like this. The orange area can be raised or lowered. 45 degree angles on all the letters.

[Tony Mac]

Is this the type of engraving that's needed?



Tony

[chronon1]

How about using something like this. http://www.armanisoft.ch/webdesign/elefont/Elefont.html

I found this to be a cool little program - when i imported the dxf into kcam, i noticed several 'triangle' type patterns in which the tool path seems to be cutting at the same height as the letters - i didnt try it on styrofoam yet but can anybody see anything wrong with this pattern ?

from some various free cads .. looks like different interpretations of the dxf from elefont

CADS from left to right : x11 cad, A9tech, CAD-STD-lite and the far right is the actual Kcam import which appears to closley resumble CAD-STD-lite.