Al Hooton wrote: > I was surprised to run into this, as my expectation was that these arcs > would have been represented by equivalent G2/G3 arc moves instead of a > series of G1 moves. So, I started digging into the code behind every > open-source package I can find, including OOdraw, inkscape, qCad, > pstoedit, hp2xx, dxf2gcode, codeg, and probably some others I'm not > remembering right now. I have also reviewed every vector-based file > format ever invented. I consistently run into the same problem as I try > to build a software tool chain: somewhere between the cad/drawing > package and the g-code generator, one of the apps is converting arcs or > splines to series of lines. > > In my most recent attempts, the source drawing (OOdraw or inkscape, > exported to pdf, svg or dxf), has every corner radiused more than enough > to allow for the tool to make the cut. Unfortunately, I can't get those > radiused corners all the way down to g-code as arcs. > > I'm a Qcad user - a paying one, at that (free software *is* worth paying for!)
Qcad and CAMexpert from ribbonsoft.com, both operate using DXF files. The DXF file format specifies arcs and circles in terms of...well, arcs and circles. Basically, points, radii, endpoints and angles...I'd have to dig up the spec, which can be found with a little web-searching. CAMexpert has the added ability to output gcode, by use of a config / script file. In the demo version, there are several different configs, and I know one type outputs G2/G3 commands for arcs, while another uses an option to turn arcs into line segments of a specified length. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
