So last night I received an email from a Ponoko staff member mentioning that I should be prepared that my laser cutting job is not going to be pretty.\u00a0 After looking at the objects he mentioned being messed up I’m realizing it’s going to be pretty ugly all over.<\/p>\n
Almost every place that there happens to be a circle there are between 10 and 20 duplicates.\u00a0 The staff guessed that the layout had been imported from another program before getting finished in the layout software I used.\u00a0 Their guess is that conversion added all the extra elements.<\/p>\n
The good news is that I can systematically go through and delete elements until there are none left and then undo the deletion on time to get a single object back.\u00a0 Due to being in a rush to meet the deadline for the voucher giveaway I didn’t test for dupes \/ double lines as well as I should have and missed all the circles and a couple spots on some of the vector text because I was more focused on all the connections of the various pieces touching each other.<\/p>\n
The good news is the making cost is going to be 1\/10th to 1\/20th the original cost at this rate!\u00a0 The bad news is I’m going to have to wait another two weeks probably….<\/p>\n
So why did this happen?\u00a0 Originally this was designed for a CNC process against a piece of metal.\u00a0 When I converted to trying to make this using Ponoko’s laser cutting service it needed adjustments when I imported the data file.\u00a0 My assumption is fr a CNC machine this would start in one location, mill around the edge of the circle and then drop .1 mm I guess.\u00a0 It would then mill around the edge again and drop again and again and again until it made it all the way through the material.\u00a0 The software used that process and generated a dxf file with those paths in it.\u00a0 When it came into the software I had to use to finalize it for use @ Ponoko many of the shapes I replaced.\u00a0 I didn’t replace the circles and one area of vector text.<\/p>\n
At this rate it might be worth upgrading to the Prime account this month to submit the replacement file to get fast turn around and lower per minute costs on the laser for the prototype.\u00a0 Then when I get it back and review the results I can make some adjustments and remake or finish the remaining parts and another project quickly and get it all done in the same month cheaper.<\/p>\n
After several hours of deleting duplicate circles I’ve chopped 1\/2 of the making cost off.\u00a0 I’ve still got a bunch more work ahead of me but it’s getting to a point where I will likely want to go through the full “pre-flight” check in illustrator trying to delete pieces one at a time and then search for random anchors and duplicate curves.\u00a0 From everything I’ve seen all of the dupes are curves while the straight lines are fine.<\/p>\n
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So last night I received an email from a Ponoko staff member mentioning that I should be prepared that my laser cutting job is not going to be pretty.\u00a0 After looking at the objects he mentioned being messed up I’m realizing it’s going to be pretty ugly all over. Almost every place that there happens to be a circle there are between 10 and 20 duplicates.\u00a0 The staff guessed that the layout had been imported from another program before getting finished in the layout software I used.\u00a0 Their guess is that conversion added all the extra elements. The good news \u2026 Continue reading