Hello Forum: As stated above I new to this world of CNC, I'm a just newly sort of retired 65 year old. But as I'm not ready to pack it up just yet I went out purchased a lot of cool CNC equipment, welders, graphic software which included Sign Touches Super Bundle which I'm very pleased with! I have a lot of questions as you may well have expected, but for now I have only two. First, I have a friend that is big into his train collection and wants me to cut him a train trestle bridge. I found one which I'll attach a file of, but the problem with it is that when I scale it up to 34" and 44" long it ends up being approximately 18" and 24" tall. And I need it to be only 10" but no more 12" Tall at those lengths? The second part of this question is what needed to be done to avoid this problem in the first place so it would scaled correctly in the first place? And last but not least which graphic software would be the best for a old timer to able to learn and user friendly? Like Corel Draw vs Adobe Illustrator for vector graphics?
SignTorch
Artist
first, that .pcm file can only be opened in plasmacam software - other people can't open it to help - if you have the advanced design upgrade (it think) then you can export a .dxf file - then more people can open a .dxf file and help
I haven't used plasmacam in a long time - so I don't remember how the scaling works exactly - but I know for any design that contains arcs - you can only scale proportionally - or else arcs would become ellipses - and so lots of CAD/CAM software will only scale proportionally - so you cannot change the height without also changing the width - in that case the only way to decrease the height would be to trim off some of the top and or bottom parts - or add on to the sides - like maybe frame it in a wide oval shape
In corel draw (and illustrator) - you can scale non-proportionally (because they're not strictly for CAD/CAM and they don't even support true arcs) - the downside is their DXF format (without arcs) is not always ideal for CNC - however they can save DXF with splines (instead of arcs) which plasmacam can open (afik) - so you can go either way - whereas lots of CAD/CAM software does not support splines correctly - in that case you need special plugins for corel and illustrator to export DXF (with arcs) that is more ideal for CNC
I use corel draw - it's very good for fast sign layout combining shapes and text - but it would be a lot to learn if you're still learning to use plasmacam - to answer your question - I'd think in your case plasmacam is best for an old timer to start with - because you have to use plasmacam software for cutting anyway - and that's hard enough to learn by itself - and plasmacam has good drawing capability - so it's not like you have to have another design program
I haven't used plasmacam in a long time - so I don't remember how the scaling works exactly - but I know for any design that contains arcs - you can only scale proportionally - or else arcs would become ellipses - and so lots of CAD/CAM software will only scale proportionally - so you cannot change the height without also changing the width - in that case the only way to decrease the height would be to trim off some of the top and or bottom parts - or add on to the sides - like maybe frame it in a wide oval shape
In corel draw (and illustrator) - you can scale non-proportionally (because they're not strictly for CAD/CAM and they don't even support true arcs) - the downside is their DXF format (without arcs) is not always ideal for CNC - however they can save DXF with splines (instead of arcs) which plasmacam can open (afik) - so you can go either way - whereas lots of CAD/CAM software does not support splines correctly - in that case you need special plugins for corel and illustrator to export DXF (with arcs) that is more ideal for CNC
I use corel draw - it's very good for fast sign layout combining shapes and text - but it would be a lot to learn if you're still learning to use plasmacam - to answer your question - I'd think in your case plasmacam is best for an old timer to start with - because you have to use plasmacam software for cutting anyway - and that's hard enough to learn by itself - and plasmacam has good drawing capability - so it's not like you have to have another design program