Lasing ("Lasering") straight from a SolidWorks Drawing - sort of blurry??

[evolDiesel]

Does anyone have experience lasing (or "lasering") parts with a part number straight out of a solidworks drawing?

We have found in our first day that we are getting better results just doing it straight out of Microsoft Word. [In SolidWorks > Document Properties & Print Options] We reduced line weight as far as we could (.007"), turned up resolution, used "high quality" - no matter what it seems to be printing the number a little blurry, especially in comparison to MS Word.

Any ideas? Any tricks? We thought about pumping the drawing out as a PDF and then printing that.

This laser shows up just like a printer in Windows; I'm sure we're missing something obvious so I figured I would come to eng-tips and find someone who's already been down this road before

Thanks guys!

Jack



Jack Lapham, CSWP
Engr Sys Admin
Dell M6400 Covet (24 Season 8, Ep 22)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800, 2.93GHz, 1066MHZ 6M L2 Cache
8.0GB, DDR3-1066 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
1Gb nVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M (8.17.12.5896)
W7x64 | sw-01: 55.92
SolidWorks 2012 sp3 x64 & EPDM sp2

 

[ctopher]

I re-read your post a few times, I'm not clear what problem you are having.
Is it with part numbering, drawing or model issues, or printing problems?
What is "lasering"?
Can you show a screen shot of the issue?

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[berkshire]

Are you etching a part number onto a finished part using a number from a Solidworks drawing sheet?
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[evolDiesel]

I should have been more clear:

Here's a picture showing how clear the number is when printed from MS Word, versus a SolidWorks 2012 drawing.

The Manufacturing Engineer that I'm working with should be signing up and posting the make and model of laser.

Jack Lapham, CSWP
Engr Sys Admin
Dell M6400 Covet (24 Season 8, Ep 22)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800, 2.93GHz, 1066MHZ 6M L2 Cache
8.0GB, DDR3-1066 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
1Gb nVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M (8.17.12.5896)
W7x64 | sw-01: 55.92
SolidWorks 2012 sp3 x64 & EPDM sp2

 

[Updraft]

Jack,

Are the fonts and sizes the same between MS Word and SWX?

What is the file format you are sending to the laser? I assume you are sending a doc/docx from MS Word. From SWX are you sending a part or drawing file? If a SWX drawing have you tried saving as a pdf and sending the pdf to the laser?

- - -Updraft

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You probably need to use a single line font in SW. Most TTF fonts used by SW are closed loops, which is probably forcing the laser to follow the complete loop. In other words the laser is cutting the outline of each letter.

 

[evolDiesel]

Interesting, CorBlimeyLimey; Same for Updraft.

We were printing various font sizes between both MSWord and SWX. We were printing straight from .docx and .slddrw.

I will look into trying both ideas (A) PDF and (B) single line font and get back here.

Jack Lapham, CSWP
Engr Sys Admin
Dell M6400 Covet (24 Season 8, Ep 22)
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800, 2.93GHz, 1066MHZ 6M L2 Cache
8.0GB, DDR3-1066 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
1Gb nVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M (8.17.12.5896)
W7x64 | sw-01: 55.92
SolidWorks 2012 sp3 x64 & EPDM sp2

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

http://eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=156322

http://eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=135407

http://www.dafont.com/

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

http://www.mrrace.com/CamBam_Fonts/

http://www.mrrace.com/CamBam_Fonts/CamBam Stick Fonts.zip

 

[ctopher]

Oh, I see.
I agree about the single line font.

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[SnowCrash]

I was never satisfied with laser images from solidworks. We would make a dxf and open it on corel works, then print to the laser from there. I can now do a pdf directly from a solidworks drawing and work with that. It is important to select a single line font.

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2011 SP 4.0
HP Pavillion Elite HPE
W7 Pro, Nvidia Quaddro FX580

 

[berkshire]

I used to find that, if Corel was used for fonts, there would be extra bits that had to be taken out in the toolpath post processor to clean up the image, before it went to the machine.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor