New to this, need help with assembling letters

[Tooours]

There's a girl in our shop office, she's getting married next week and wants her last name cut out. Our plasma CNC has preloaded files we use for burning simple things. I'm trying to expand the capabilities a little by getting images and font's and so on. How do I get font's and assemble them to form words? I'm sure this is as basic as it gets, but I'm fresh outta the box new. Thanks in advance!

[ben de lappe]

Welcome Tooours.
You are correct, fonts are a basic starting point and it takes a little practice to develop the techniques necessary to make them look nice. Simple enough, if you give the last name I'll be happy to type it out and scale for you, saving as .dxf or .svg or whatever you may need. There are many types of fonts and places to get them though depending on software you may not be able to use them all. One site, DaFont.com I believe, as well as other sites online have many fonts for download. You may be able to purchase fonts on discs for use with your system, will take a little more information on what you have to work with and investigation on your part which you have just begun. Fresh, right out of the box. My CAD software only operates with True Type, Vef, Win fonts and a couple of others. In these formats I can type cursive fonts, perform basic "weld" functions, editing what is required to have the lettering cut out of the material as in this last name piece or have the lettering cut into the material as in a sign. Search this site with the search function in the upper right corner of the page, I as well as others have uploaded a few nice fonts. You should be able to download these and play with them, enough there to get you going.

[radicalrescue]

man u hit the mother load when Ben chimes in .he is the go to man on this site.. just post a pic of what u r lookin to do an he can set you right

[Tooours]

That's for sure! Brust that's the name I'm gonna try to get something going for. I downloaded some dxf files off of the forum to try and upload into the esab plasma CNC, and it sees the file, just doesn't allow it to open. The company I work for bought this behemoth and was gonna moth ball it or sell it, a guy at worked convinced them to set it up. After they set it up, they were gonna have someone come and give us a crash course in basic functions of it, but he couldn't get security clearance. So we only mess with the preloaded programs. Trying to change that! Thanks for the help and it looks like I'm in the right place to start trying to expand this things capabilities.

[ben de lappe]

Here is the name Brust in three different fonts, one of which I took the liberty of adding a little "detail" to. These are around 24"-26". Hopefully once you get your machine issues straightened out this may give you a little something to play with.

As much as I would like to help I have ZERO experience with your system or why it will not work with differing files though I'm confident that if you post your troubles in the proper forum surely someone with the right experience will see it, not so much here getting help with fonts.

Let us know what you run into, how you progress...next thing you know you'll be typing fonts, editing letters and cutting pieces on your own.

[jimcolt]

While you don't mention what model ESAB or what cnc control is on it.....most of the "Industrial" cnc plasma machines will not directly accept a .dxf file......dxf. is a part drawing and it needs first to be converted to a cut file that adds the kerf compensation, the lead ins, lead outs, the machine code (G Code) files that give the CNC speed/direction and proper start/stop signals for plasma, height control, etc. The conversion is done with CAM (computer assisted manufacturing) software (also know as: Post Processor, Nesting). I'm sure that your ESAB came from the factory with some sort of CAM software that is used on an office computer. Input the .dxf file into that software and push all the right keys and then you will have a cut file that can be inputted to the ESAB machine. This file will have a suffix like .cnc or.dwg or something maybe proprietary to their controller.

Most of the "Entry Level" and "Light Industrial" grade machines that are discussed on this forum (lower cost machines for hobby and light production) have cnc's that have the ability to input a .dxf file right at the machine....and the resident CAM software on the machine handles the conversion to a cut file.

Why don't most "Industrial" cnc plasma's have the ability to input a .dxf file? Because on most industrial shop floors....the last thing you want the cutting machine operator doing is spending his/her time punching keys at the machine (converting, nesting, editing, etc.)......you want the operator to load material, cut material, unload parts and scrap.......repeat!. The ability to input .dxf files on high production machines is intentionally left out for productivity reasons.....all of the file conversion is done in an office, the ready to cut, nested file that will cut a full sheet is then moved to the machine via wireless or "sneakernet" (carrying a USB stick with the file to the machine). Jim Colt Hypertherm

That's for sure! Brust that's the name I'm gonna try to get something going for. I downloaded some dxf files off of the forum to try and upload into the esab plasma CNC, and it sees the file, just doesn't allow it to open. The company I work for bought this behemoth and was gonna moth ball it or sell it, a guy at worked convinced them to set it up. After they set it up, they were gonna have someone come and give us a crash course in basic functions of it, but he couldn't get security clearance. So we only mess with the preloaded programs. Trying to change that! Thanks for the help and it looks like I'm in the right place to start trying to expand this things capabilities.

[tnbndr]

"sneakernet" (carrying a USB stick with the file to the machine)