 | Tutorial HPGL with Coreldraw |
| See how simple it is to go from a drawing to milling.
Draw a line drawing with CorelDRAW, like this: |
| Use Corel export to PLT (HPGL) file and save as usbcnc.plt.
With USBCNC, select load, the select file types HPGL Files (*.plt). After pressing open, you’ll be prompted with this dialog: |
| Red parts are drawn clockwise, green parts are counterclockwise.
Open paths are blue.
You can show the direction by setting arrow size to a value.
You can modify the origin, e.g. of you want the lower left part of your object to be x=0, Y=0, then press the lower left button.
Set the attributes using the attributes button: |
| Cutting depth and feed rate |
| ZDown =-3 |
| ZUp = 2 |
| Plungera te | FeedRate |
| Multipass | | Make bridges |
| | | | The thickness of our wooden board is 3 mm, Z equals =0 is defined at the upper surface, so we will mill 3 mm deep. |
| | | This is the Z value to which the machine will move to between the objects. | | This is the speed with which the Z axis wil move downwards into the material. | | | This will be the milling speed. | |
| | | We want to mill the board in 3 passes with last pass is 0.2 mm | | | We don’t want the inside triangle shaped parts to fall out when finished, so we want bridges in each straight line. The width of the bridge is set to one millimeter and the final Z value of -2 mm. This is easy to cut out with a knife. |
|
| | Also set the attributes for the ouside layer, of course, here we do the tool compensation on the outside. Press OK (twice), the G-Code is generated and loaded. After it is loaded, we go to the graph screen, press “update” and then “fit”: |  | |
| | | | | | | Isn’t that easy!? | | | Now use the tutorial before this one to actually mill/engrave the part. | | |  | | | There is a small drawback with the use of HPGL files, the output accuracy is just the same as it would be on a plotter, you will see this particularly with small items on the drawing. | | Also tool compensation is not possible, because generally, HPGL files do not use arcs, but small lines in stead, since tool comp cannot be done on sharp inside corners. | | Happy engraving! | | | See also the manual, capture 2.6. | | |
| |
| |
