# Having Cad, Cam, Mach3 Problem



## TomS (Jan 3, 2016)

I'm having a problem with a eMachineShop CAD drawing and D2NC generating usable gcode for Mach3.  For background I made a drawing that included text but I cannot get D2NC to generate code for the letter "S".  All the other letters were no problem except for a few glitches.  These other glitches are I cannot select all of the letters to make one gcode file ( had to select smaller groups of three letters) and a few of the letters have "islands".  I'm using a 1/16" end mill and selecting the pocketing routine in D2NC.  I've restarted Mach3 as well as D2NC but this hasn't helped.  Tried grouping all of the letters as one word instead of individual letters and that didn't work either.   Is it a software issue or my drawing?  I've attached a screen shot of my drawing.

If I can figure out how to attach .dxf and .stl files I'll post those as well.

Thanks,

Tom S.



EDIT:  I've attached a .dxf and .stl file.  Hope I did it right.


----------



## middle.road (Jan 3, 2016)

The font file that you are trying to use may not be encoded properly.
Try this:
Substitute  good ol' 'Courier' font. and if not then 'New Courier' and see if the GCode looks OK.
You may need to go with a different font that encodes correctly.
Just my 2¢ worth from dealing with fonts over the years......


----------



## TomS (Jan 3, 2016)

middle.road said:


> The font file that you are trying to use may not be encoded properly.
> Try this:
> Substitute  good ol' 'Courier' font. and if not then 'New Courier' and see if the GCode looks OK.
> You may need to go with a different font that encodes correctly.
> Just my 2¢ worth from dealing with fonts over the years......



Thanks.  I'll give it a try.  Unfortunately I've machined all of the letters except "S" so I guess I'm starting over.  LOL.  

Tom S.


----------



## middle.road (Jan 4, 2016)

They can be finished off by running them through again.
You/we can convert the 'S' letter to 'curves', but it is possible. Just need an origin point that's solid.
I once ran over (60) signs where the 'R's came out as P's. Had to add the leg to the R's in the word '*Source*'

What did it currently do in the S position?


----------



## TomS (Jan 4, 2016)

middle.road said:


> They can be finished off by running them through again.
> You/we can convert the 'S' letter to 'curves', but it is possible. Just need an origin point that's solid.
> I once ran over (60) signs where the 'R's came out as P's. Had to add the leg to the R's in the word '*Source*'
> 
> What did it currently do in the S position?



D2NC would not move past the Offset screen.  After importing the .dxf file I select All Elements and click Next.  Then I select Bottom Left as the origin point then press the Offset button.  I click on the Pocket button then input my cutter diameter and click on the letter "S" then click Offset.  All of the other letters generate a tool path within the boundaries of the selected letter(s) but for the letter "S" I get a large white circle and I can't move to the next screen to input the parameters to generate gcode.

I've loaded D2NC on two computers and I get the same result on both which tells me it's not a D2NC issue.  I believe the problem lies with my eMachineShop drawing.  I've tried several work arounds but so far haven't found anything that works.

Tom S.


----------



## jumps4 (Jan 4, 2016)

what windows operating system are you using? d2nc has trouble in 64bit with certain video drivers.
you can create text directly in d2nc click "cad" then select "text"
zoom in close on the letter s and make sure it is not an open line or there is a left over spec of a line in the area maybe.
the problem is the line not d2nc normally 
Steve

P.S.  to send a dxf file, compress it into a zip file format first


----------



## middle.road (Jan 4, 2016)

I just imported the DXF file into an older version of Visio and it came through fine.
The 'S' is a bunch of nice arcs, and zooming in I don't see anything errant.
One odd thought I had is that only the 'S' is made up of only arcs, all the other letters 
are made up of lines and arcs....


----------



## TomS (Jan 4, 2016)

jumps4 said:


> what windows operating system are you using? d2nc has trouble in 64bit with certain video drivers.
> you can create text directly in d2nc click "cad" then select "text"
> zoom in close on the letter s and make sure it is not an open line or there is a left over spec of a line in the area maybe.
> the problem is the line not d2nc normally
> ...



I'm using Windows 7 64 bit.  So that might be the problem.  I'll try using the text feature in D2NC.

Thanks Steve.

Tom S.


----------



## TomS (Jan 4, 2016)

Tried the D2NC Text feature using my Windows 10 computer.  Doesn't work for any text.  The program locks up.  I'll keep trying.

Tom S.


----------



## TomS (Jan 4, 2016)

Fixed the problem, sort of.  I removed the "S" and it now works.  Not sure why it didn't work but Steve may have hit on it regarding the video driver issue.

BTW - could not get the D2NC text feature to work.  It may be me and not the program.  I'll play with it some more.

Thanks for your help.

Tom S.


----------

