Double (and sometimes triple) cuts

[Mfdchief]

Hello,

I have been cutting for a little over a year now and use Corel X7 to design with. It seems whenever when I design something from scratch and then when I cut it the torch wants to cut the same path again and sometimes 3 times. The ready to cut files cut fine so obviously I'm missing something in cleanup. The files look good in Corel and I reduce nodes but this baffles me. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[motoguy]

You probably have overlapping entities. 2-3 of the exact same lines, stacked on top of each other. Open the file in Corel, and click on one of the lines that is being cut several times. If you click on it (not enclose it in a box...just click on it) and press delete, is it still there? If so, try again. And again. If it eventually disappears, you had multiple stacked entities, and were deleting them one at a time. Use your "undo" to put the last one back, and now you have an idea of how many times you need to do this on the other overlapping areas.

[WyoGreen]

Like motoguy says, you've probably got overlapping lines. I'm not sure why, but Corel Draw seems to like to stack lines on top of each other when doing certain types of operations on a drawing. If you select your Shape tool to edit nodes, then zoom way in on one of the offending lines, you'll see more than one dotted line with nodes contained within the line. You can delete the extra lines like motoguy says, but be aware that sometimes these extra lines are invisible (that is they have no outline width), and you will have to assign them a width to see them. I sometimes click on the individual curves under the layer in the object manager tool to see if there is more than one object selecting in the same place. (I hope that makes some kind of sense)

Steve

[acourtjester]

Not sure if this will help but I have used SheetCam to solve similar problems. When you plans a cut SheetCam will attach a start point for the cut path.
Use the scroll wheel to magnify the cut plans and look for multiple start point on lines, you can use the nesting tool to move around screen in the magnified image. You can use the contour tool to separate paths to another layer, you can un-check the new layer and it will disappear from the image. You may be able to see other layers (lines) that are under the one you remove. I have used it to find open paths, if you cannot move the start point it is open. I have also used this to find and remove random dots in the drawing sometimes when I remove a new layer I find these random dots. SheetCam wil assign a start point to a random dot and when you cut, the g-code has a pierce point on the dot even if its been cut in another path.

[Mfdchief]

Thanks for the replies, I tried what motoguy suggested and may have found one area that was a problem. I am going to re-cut the piece tonight. I have never tried SheetCam but will take a look at it. I know this is operator error so I need to refine my skills obviously. Thanks again for your suggestions.

[Larry83301]

When I find a file that has this kind of problem I copy the chain that has a problem and paste it to another layer, then turn that layer off and delete the offending layer.


Larry

[motoguy]

Sorry, yes, you can select the move the offending entities to a different layer in sheetcam, and deselect/deactivate that layer as well. If I find a problem in sheetcam, I prefer to go back to the "base" file in CorelDraw, and correct it there. Next time I cut it, I don't want to have to remember to make mods in sheetcam.

[hacnwac]

I am no corel expert and I am using x5 but if you are using the fill tool to create a colored part or to see if it is a closed loop it will make exact duplicates over your original drawing and these need to be removed before exporting.
Mark

[acourtjester]

Its a wonder anything gets cut with all the "booby traps" around

[Gamelord]

Most of the time when you get double cuts it is because you don't see/realize that there are phantom objects is in your image. When you trace an item, you trace both the item you want to cut out AND The white background areas. When you export you think it is just cutting everything twice but what is really happening is that the torch is first cutting out the black area (what you want cut), then it is going back and cutting the white area (the background). The white part seems invisible because it is white laying on a white background with no outline. Looking at it you only see the Black. To fix this, the easiest way is to first fill in the cut pieces with a color (I usually use black) then select all the black pieces. DONT JUST DRAW A BOX AROUND THEM OR YOU WILL SELECT EVERYTHING, EVEN THE WHITE PIECES. Instead, hold the SHIFT key and click on each piece you want to cut. Once they are all selected, CUT them out of your drawing by using the CUT icon (or right click and select CUT). Then press CTRL +A buttons, this will select everything that is left on your drawing, even if it is not visible. Hit the DELETE button to get rid of all those phantom pieces. Then hit PASTE to paste your cut piece back onto a clean worksheet. This will make sure you ONLY have the pieces you want to cut. Then export and have fun!

Hope this helps.

[Mfdchief]

Wow, you guys are great...as I said it was operator error in the design. I found I had an extra layer behind the original after using the smart fill tool. Thank you hacnwac! Gamelord, your solution makes complete sense and I will have to watch that with original designs. Who knew the members that create the nicest files to share have to go to all the work to make sure they cut good. Thanks again to all.