Need some help getting Corel - Text issue/problem solved for my father.

[donald bugansky]

Hello All,

Back to my engraving after some time off, so good to be back in the shop!

I recently upgraded to Job Control X and love it! I have an issue to solve in trying to help out my father with bringing one of his old tools back to life.

He has a old router sign contraption that uses little acrylic 2 inch wide by 3 inch tall rectangles with a letter "path" of a single letter on each individual rectangle. You just place the letter on a track to spell out your word and then a stylus follows each letter (which is connected to linkage that guides the router.

The letter "path" is a very narrow groove that the stylus follows to guide the router in routing out each letter of the sign.

He lost a number of the letter rectangles and wants me to make him new ones on the laser if possible. I thought I could just make 2by3 rectangles and cut a groove with the laser.

I thought I could either semi cut a groove by cutting down the power and possibly lowering the laser head somewhat to cut a wider path (for the stylus to follow).

My problem is that I can't figure a way to get the 3 inch tall text letter to just a "skinny" groove/stroke item. When I try to get larger letters in Corel, they become "fat" and I need a slim path, not a fat letter.

Is there a way to get Corel to make a "path" (or stroke) down the center of the letter that I could change to red-hairline so the laser would cut it (somewhat) to create the groove i need to make these 3 inch letters?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Blessings, Bugs

Trotec Speedy 300 75W
Job Control X
Corel X4
Macintosh

[Kev Williams]

Your talking about pantograph master copy type in acrylic. You might be able to get away with lasering some new letters, but getting a cut that a stylus will follow freely will be a trick.

Your first problem seems to be too thick of lettering. Not sure what type of font you're trying to duplicate, but what to try is going online to some free font sites and search "thin" fonts. Many are plenty thin enough for a stylus. "Swiss thin" is similar to Arial, which is simple block font. However, the problem with most fonts is going to be consistency of the line widths. Another problem is going to be the draft of the cut. The stylus is cut at around a 22 degree angle, and the path it's to follow should be cut close to the same angle. Cutting a stylus path straight down can create tight spots or loose spots. You might be able to compensate by adding some outline thickness to subsequent cuts at less power to try an create an angled cut.

Also, be aware that each letter blank needs to be sized to the width of the letter for correct kerning

[Mike Null]

You can also try drawing the letters in Corel then if you need more width you can outline or contour them.

I have made patterns for my old NH pantograph and it will work but need to be careful.

[Mayo Pardo]

If I understand what you want to do, then you need to get fonts that are called single line fonts, typically used for engraving with spindles.

The plastic templates I'm familiar with did not use single line fonts - they looked similar to Vag Rounded or Vogue (I think both were available in Corel).

Something like this set on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Milescraft-220...mplate+letters

It may not be the same exact style or height but there were several others available if the Corel fonts mentioned above don't work for you. Your version of Corel also has a group of fonts called Engravers Fonts which may be another option if you want a single line. According to the info on another forum, they need to be manually installed - they don't install automatically.