Startup Issues

[David Brasfield]

On to this evening's Corel problem.

I was trimming away at unused nodes, happily deleting along - one by one (still haven't figured out how to group a bunch for deletion). I was clicking the node with the mouse, then using the D key to delete. All of a sudden, each press of the "d" key brought up a grid tool from the poly items on the left side bar.

I gave up trying to get it back to normal.

Anyone have any idea what keys I bumped to cause this behavior?

Thanks,
David

[James Stokes]

I can not answer that but I can tell you how to reduce nodes.
Take your curser and select the curve you want to reduce, It will light up. Then take the curser again and sweep select on the selected curve, all of the nodes you select will light up. Look at the top of the screan, the reduce nodes box will activate. Hit the slider button there and you can adjust the slider to reduce nodes.

[James Stokes]

I tried to make screan shots to describe.

[David Brasfield]

I can not answer that but I can tell you how to reduce nodes.
Take your curser and select the curve you want to reduce, It will light up. Then take the curser again and sweep select on the selected curve, all of the nodes you select will light up. Look at the top of the screan, the reduce nodes box will activate. Hit the slider button there and you can adjust the slider to reduce nodes.

That makes sense. Thanks, James.

It looks like I will have to "restore menu defaults" again to get the "D" back to normal Evidently I keep accidently customizing the various menus/tool bars.

David

[Peck Sidara]

if you haven't owned your EXT for too long, talk to your rep and see what he can do in regards to a credit or a refund. Epilog has a recommended flow rating and a drawing of the ideal exhaust system in the manual. There's just so many routes you can go. It's just a matter of what you're willing to spend.
OMG.
Well, Peck, maybe I can expect a refund? The recommended specs supplied by Epilog were woefully inadequate, and I mentioned this several times, in my postings regarding my myriad exhaust issues, which continue to be ongoing. I spent, all told, $6000.00. I still don't have enough exhaust. The bigger tables must be much more difficult to exhaust. I've seen the smaller beds, the specs supplied by Epilog were the SAME as for the small beds. I followed Epilog specs for the first installation, then went to the big noisy blower, both on the roof. Epilog sent me a new front grate. It helps, a little bit. I still have smoke hanging in the cabinet. The only way to improve it would be to make all material thicker, or at least further down in the bed, so that the ports are more opened. I need to make a thick false bed. That's my next fix.
IF I'd known how much exhaust I actually required when I first bought the machine, I would not still be having these issues today.

I don't mind spending $$. I do mind wasting 'em.

sorry, needed to rant.
Thanks
Barb

Barb, I think the key word is "rep". If David hasn't had his system w/ exhaust for that long, it was suggested that he contact his rep to see what they could do for him.

I've not been blind to your situation and if you recall, we worked off-line for several weeks looking for a solution. I stayed in contact until additional panels were delivered here at the factory, shipped and installed on your machine. Upon my follow up email/PM, we were in agreeance that it did not increase the exhaust flow by 100% but *did significantly improve the flow more than 50% or better*.

The "solution" was to install the panels, monitor the flow/amount of dust/smoke/debris build up, consult with your "HVAC friend of a friend" and to keep me in the loop.

I've answered your question in regards to a refund/reimbursement several months back via PM.

If you'd like to continue working on a solution or are looking for some additional suggestions, please contact me offliine via email or at 888.437.4564 ext. 236.

[Scott Shepherd]

David, look at Virtual Segment Delete for trimming with some more ease. It's in the Crop Flyout (3rd one down on the menu on the left). I think that'll help you in the future.

For the D question, it's probably a caps lock issue. Capital "D" is the shortcut key for the Graph Paper Tool. Make sure caps lock isn't on.

[David Brasfield]

David, look at Virtual Segment Delete for trimming with some more ease. It's in the Crop Flyout (3rd one down on the menu on the left). I think that'll help you in the future.

For the D question, it's probably a caps lock issue. Capital "D" is the shortcut key for the Graph Paper Tool. Make sure caps lock isn't on.

Thanks for the tip! I don't think I would have ever thought to look under the crop flyout.

On the D issue, caps lock was the first thing I checked. Lower or upper case, when I selected a node, the grid tool (on the poly flyout I think) popped up over the cursor.

Thanks,
David

[James Stokes]

The virtual delete tool just deletes lines not nodes.

[Scott Shepherd]

Yes, I was referring to the tools commonly missed by people coming from CAD. Trim is one of those features that's so easy in CAD, yet a bit hit and miss and often confusing in Corel (as well as a lot of graphics programs).

[Richard Rumancik]

I mentioned oberonplace.com earlier - they have an add-on called CurveWorks. It is supposed to have a trim feature that can find intersections.

Also I see it has a radius feature. Can CorelDraw X4 fillet a corner without an add-on or is the filleting operation still missing?

[David Brasfield]

Hi, Guys.

Well, I just finished a project, and it looks great, but I feel like I have regressed about 2 decades.

An open path is is a big no no in most of the work I do. Evidently, it doesn't matter much if you get close enough in Corel.

I spent a couple of hours trying to draw a circle, then add a few nodes, and break part of it off, close the path, and extract the subpath. No matter what I did, I could never get it to let me break it out, even though I could select just the closed path/vector (red). So I ended up hacking up two circles, throwing away the parts I didn't need, and leaving the ends "dangling" just so I could have two different line sizes in the same circle. Too weird.

Again, I am sure there is an easy way to do it, but I couldn't find it.... Oh, and that doesn't count the two times Corel crashed, once before it completely died, it decided to put the font pull down window on the screen, but unconnected to the tool bar in any way.

I have been on some steep learning curves before. I sure hope this one is worthwhile.

I would upgrade to X4 if it would solve the weirdness, but somehow I think not.

Getting the laser to do what I want has turned out to be the easy part.



David

[David Brasfield]

I mentioned oberonplace.com earlier - they have an add-on called CurveWorks. It is supposed to have a trim feature that can find intersections.

I took a look at the curves package. I think it would definitely add some functionality to X3 that I am missing.

Thanks,
David

[Barb Macdonald]

Hi all
Peck, I am not trying to start anything new. I have had this issue since I got the machine. Talk this over with my rep. I have a lengthy paper trail of what has happened.
I did everything possible to supply my Abigail with the proper exhaust power. I am on "holidays" right now, nowhere near my shop. Don't want to think about it right now!
I think my machine has some excellent qualities, but I do feel I was let down by my sales rep., and by tech support, in regards to this issue.
When I e-mailed you re: the improvement after installing a new front grate, I believe I said it had improved. The extent to which it has improved is hard to measure, since I have no means by which to compare. I am not a big fan of "testing", I did a LONG run of reverse-blue gravoply, and when I did my requisite cleaning, the blue was all over the encoder strip. It depends on what you're doing.
My hearing has suffered, since I got Abigail's big exhaust. My next option, I guess, would be to install a second blower right behind the machine. As I have already mentioned, the coffers are low, and I spent enough, already!!
A good buddy has the 18x24 table, he has more bends and kinks, and elbows, running from his exhaust, and he has a hard time lifting stuff off the bed when the exhaust is on. I've never had that problem, but I WISH I DID!!
I love Corel, I've found it similar to our old CASmate software, which is still going strong.... Best way to learn Corel is to play with it for hours and hours.... But I have zero experience with CAD.
Thanks to all the creekers....

B

[David Brasfield]

Hi all....
Thanks to all the creekers....

B

Hi, Barb.

I promise I won't try to chase you down.

I just wanted to be sure that you had read my post to you where I talked about noise and certain types of motors. If you felt up to answering my questions in the post, I might be able to help you with a solution.

If you have had a chance to followed my thread, you should see that my mistake was my confidence in the rep's understanding of what I needed, not in my misunderstanding the physics of the issue. The system I will have installed within the next couple of weeks should literally make the doors on the machine hard to open when it is running. It will also be QUIET.

If you want some third-party help that won't cost you anything, then let's rehash your issues once again, even though I know you must hate that by now. I believe that I can help you with a simple change that will fix your problem with exhaust.

If not, then I certainly wish you all the best, and I hope that you won't give up. I hate the idea of you giving up on a business with decent potential just because of an airflow issue. I know that I am only an electrical/electronic engineer, but I have a very good understanding of physics. I'm not going to suffer with airflow problems, and my fix for my situation will cost less than $320, and NOT kill my hearing.

David

[Scott Shepherd]

Barb's issue is one that's been going on for some time. This is the exact time Epilog needs to step up to the plate and pay whatever to takes to resolve this issue completely.

I don't know the details any more than anyone who's read the posts does, but this is the exact type of service that caused our sales rep to buy our machine back. It's a known problem and the customer is suffering poor performance.

It's obviously not something tech support can answer, it's an engineering issue. I've said it before, I think Epilog's tech support is excellent, but the next level up from tech support, they fall way short. The next level up needs to be as customer oriented as their tech support is.

I've had that level on the phone and asked when my problem would be resolved and I was told, and I quote, "We're not going to play that game. It'll be done when it's done and we're not going to put a date on it". Well, we don't partially pay for machines when we buy them, we pay in full, for a machine that works as sold. Any poor performance or hidden cost to make it work as advertised needs to be dealt with in a much better manner, in my opinion.

Barb's sunk thousands and thousands of dollars in and tech support has done all they can do, but yet the problem still exists. Now what? Wait until she stops complaining?

If I wasn't clear enough, let me be crystal clear. Peck (not in service any longer) and the tech support guys do a great job, but it's not tech support who's letting this drag on (in my opinion). Anyone can stock a warehouse full of parts and send parts out next day. That's not the most important part of a company's reputation. It's how they treat those customers when the parts don't fix the easy stuff is what counts, and in this case, from a distance, it looks like they are failing.

Step up and make it right. Not two weeks from now, not a month from now, not 3 months from now. Now.