Nestlite - Open Paths

[ross]

hi guys im new to this whole plasma game weve recently got a hypertherm 2000 plasma at work along with a cnc controller now i can cut basic shapes no problem but more technical stuff i have to use a program called nestlite which converts images to cnc files . ive tried to cut some of the shapes which i downloaded of here but my program keeps saying the profile is open so wont let me output it as a program . can any one shed any light
help is much appreciated !!!!

 

[SignTorch]

no clue, can't even find a program named nestlite

some of the files have open paths - often there will be two versions of a file - one name ends with = and it has all closed paths - while files with names ending with ~ have some centerline cuts that are open

most of the files are drawn fairly small around 8 inches across - not nearly big enough for plasma cutting - and various software makes various "corrections" that result in errors - whether that is a matter of incorrect settings or faulty software or poorly designed software is hard to say

if you can save the file at the point where it says there are open paths then post it here then that might shed some light on the problem - otherwise you'd be extremely lucky if anyone happens to know what's wrong let alone what to do about it

 

[ross]

thanks for the reply !!!
i may have got the name of the software wrong it may actually be called shapenest for windows .
i have a full copy of alphacam 2014 also but for some reason my cnc wont pick up programs which i save on disc . so my usual method is i do all my drawings on alphacam then i output it as a dxf file . open the dxf file using shapenest in which i then create a profile and output it as a cnc file load it up and press go but for some reason when i try using a dxf which i downloaded "gun bow rack " it says the profile is incomplete and has 270+ openings ???

 

[SignTorch]

the DXF in "gunbowrack=.zip" from this web site has 91 closed paths - the last paragraph of my previous post would be the only way to draw any conclusions

if that is Shapenest from Computerised Engineering Services, then their web site mentions

in the Options>Import dialog.
Profiling. If this is set to Automatic, then after all the entities from a DXF or ESSI file have been loaded, the system will attempt to combine them into profiles. Use this option when you are sure of the pedigree of the import file. When the option is set to Manual, the import function will end after the individual entities have been imported. You can, of course, still activate them all and choose Automatic from the Profile menu.

In lots of software "auto-correction" means "auto-corruption" - turn all that off for SignTorch files - they don't need any automated correction (i.e. corruption) - normally they do need to be scaled up for plasma - not sure what "profiling" means but if it does not include or follow scaling to an appropriate size for the machine, tool and material than that could be part of the problem - that file is drawn like 14" x 11" - that does not mean it can (or should) be cut that size or that that size is ideal for any purpose in particular...

 

[ross]

Thanks alot m8 you have been a great help . I managed to cut my first detailed part yesterday .
I followed these steps and scaled the part to 400*400mm and it came out great so thanks alot . Is there a donation page so I can return the favour ?? Cheers

 

[SignTorch]

you're welcome, there's a donate link at top of cnc art requests section,

glad you got it sorted....