I am working with a Solidworks DXF file that has closed outline characters that I would like to fill on the laser marking step to make them solid. I can’t figure out what setting or process I need to employ, in looking through the available menu items. There are other closed and open outlines that I don’t wish to fill, so I am selecting the characters and can group them, but don’t see how to actually fill them. Any input available? Thanks –
Move the shapes you want to fill to a separate layer, and set them to “Fill” instead of “Line”
Select the shapes you want to fill. Place them on their own layer by clicking one of the layer colors at the bottom of the screen. Select fill in the cuts/layers window. Adjust your settings.
Well, duh – Thanks for the guidance. Somehow I had overlooked the drop down menu on cuts/layers where FILL resides…
OK, the filled characters look good. I was shocked, however, at the behavior of the software and laser, even in the face of optimization allowance such as “reduce travel moves”, where the laser is driven from one side of the part to the other, about 13", at the feed rate for the marking.
I had hit Start to begin the run, and didn’t think to check the time estimate for completion since this was just a small change to the existing program I had generally proven out already, then when I looked at the time, I just thought “Must be a mistake in the software time estimate”. Estimated time was now 6.5 hrs instead of about 1 hr. I have character groups around the face of a 14" diameter circular object, much like a clock face, and I’m sure there is a way to speed this up, rather than having the laser traversing from one side to the other at the marking speed. It is running bi-directional fill at least.
I have since looked further into the settings for the layer where I have the character set, and it isn’t clear to me what I will see change if I select Fill Groups Together or Fill Shapes Individually, rather than Fill All Shapes at Once, which was my 5.5 hour choice. I would like for the system to complete a group of characters, and move at rapid speed to the next close group.
Any pointers and/or input appreciated.
If your file is not proprietary, upload it and let us take a look at it. 1 —> 6.5 hours increase means either the settings got changed or the 1 hour was not realistic.
There are a lot of settings to play with that impact the run time. If someone finds a combo that dramatically reduces the time, then they will let you know what those changes were.
I like the offset fill . Nice effect, fairly fast fill and by adjusting the spacing you can get a wide variety of results.