Convert bitmap logo for CNC metal cutting

Metal Shop
1

I have a complex bitmap logo that I want to prep for cutting on the Dynatorch CNC plasma cutter. I’ve pasted in the image into Corel Draw and it did a great job of converting to outlines. After setting outline color to black and removing all fills, I get the result shown below. Note that this isn’t the actual target image, but is representative of what I want to do.

Is there any utility that will assist in adding the supports/struts to do things such as anchoring the letters to the surrounding background? This is the same as one would find in a stencil set to used in spray painting letters. In addition to that I’d like to be able to set the width of the outline cuts that silhouette the letters and other features from the background. Google searches haven’t been fruitful yet.

image
image1556×856 262 KB

I can change the outline width in Corel to get a step closer to what I need. But there are still additional steps needed.

  • adding the support struts
  • removing larger cutout areas to make it look good (this is an artistic/style step)
  • generating the closed polygon paths that can be used by the cutter.

image
image767×863 87.3 KB

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

2

You can take your Bitmap & convert it into an SVG. Then you can bring the SVG into Sheetcam & add tabs to keep your letters from falling out.

2 Likes
3

Didn’t know that or had forgotten. I’m about to need that function too. Many thanks Tim.

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4

Can I install Sheetcam on my local PC so I can add the tabs before coming in to DMS? My logo is fairly complex, so would be nice to be able to add the tabs beforehand.

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5

Yes, you sure can. @satter did prep on his sheetcam at home. I believe he saved it as a project file then opened at the computer at the space to export the G-God’s. Make sure you import the correct tool set that I created for sheetcam. It’s available on the Committee drive.

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6

Awesome, thanks for the help!

7

I forgot to add that you can put tabs on in sheetcam. To convert bmp to svg I used Inkscape.

I think I need to edit another video for the tabs section, I made one but I don’t remember how far I went with it.