Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

ArcEye
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11 Jun 2012 16:39 - 26 Oct 2014 22:39 #20816 by ArcEye

Multi-line text engraving g-code generator was created by ArcEye

Hi

I have recently been using my small CNC mill to do a large batch of drag engraving of small brass trophy plaques.

Each plaque requires 3 lines of different text, and each plaque differs from the last.

Lawrence Glaister's engrave.py program is excellent, but for this sort of work very time consuming because it only outputs one line at a time.
This requires you to cut and paste several files, each of one line of text, remove unwanted bits and ensure that the text line offsets produce the required output.

I don't normally program in python, but saw no merit in re-writing a perfectly good python font parsing routine into C, just for the sake of it, so slithered into my limited python mode.

The result is a command-line program (yes, old habits die hard, but they are the most flexible and powerful) which takes a plethora of switches (nearly all of which have sensible defaults) which will automatically generate code for engraving up to 10 lines of text

There is built in help
Just invoke engrave-lines.py -h
and get
engrave-lines.py G-Code Engraving Generator for command-line usage
(C) ArcEye <2012>
based upon code from engrave-11.py
Copyright (C) <2008> <Lawrence Glaister> <ve7it at shaw dot ca>
engrave-lines.py -X -x -Y -y -S -s -Z -D -C -W -M -F -P -p -0 -1 -2 -3 ..............
Options:
-h Display this help message
-X Start X value Defaults to 0
-x X offset between lines Defaults to 0
-Y Start Y value Defaults to 0
-y Y offset between lines Defaults to 0
-S X Scale Defaults to 1
-s Y Scale Defaults to 1
-Z Safe Z for moves Defaults to 2mm
-D Z depth for engraving Defaults to 0.1mm
-C Charactor Space % Defaults to 25%
-W Word Space % Defaults to 100%
-M Mirror Defaults to 0 (No)
-F Flip Defaults to 0 (No)
-P Preamble g code Defaults to "G17 G21 G40 G90 G64 P0.003 F50"
-p Postamble g code Defaults to "M2"
-0 Line0 string follow this
-1 Line1 string follow this
-2 Line2 string follow this
-3 Line3 string follow this
-4 Line4 string follow this
-5 Line5 string follow this
-6 Line6 string follow this
-7 Line7 string follow this
-8 Line8 string follow this
-9 Line9 string follow this
Example
engrave-lines.py -X7.5 -x0 -Y12.75 -y5.25 -S0.4 -s0.5 -Z2 -D0.1 -0'Line0' -1'Line1' -2'Line2' -3'Line3' > test.ngc

So run the example
engrave-lines.py -X7.5 -x0 -Y12.75 -y5.25 -S0.4 -s0.5 -Z2 -D0.1 -0'Line0' -1'Line1' -2'Line2' -3'Line3' > test.ngc

and test.ngc will look like this in Axis

It takes a bit of time to work out what your line offsets need to be and the best starting point X and Y to balance the text on the workpiece, but once you have that sorted you can fly through
I generated all the code required to engrave a further 19 plaques, whilst the mill was engraving the first one!

If it helps you - enjoy

regards

File in later post

Last edit: 26 Oct 2014 22:39 by ArcEye.

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ArcEye
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11 Jun 2012 16:47 - 26 Oct 2014 22:40 #20817 by ArcEye

Replied by ArcEye on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

File available from the wiki
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Simple...t_Engraving_Software

(file in later post)

Last edit: 26 Oct 2014 22:40 by ArcEye.

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ArcEye
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20 Jun 2012 16:10 - 26 Oct 2014 22:41 #21154 by ArcEye

Replied by ArcEye on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

Hi

AMENDED - see subsequent posts for new downloads

Having used my program for a while, I decided that something needed to be done with the X offset value.
As it stood, if this value was applied, each line would be indented by XLineOffset from the previous one
which started to lose usefulness after 2 lines unless engraving on a slanted face.

When engraving several lines of text, the generally most useful thing to be able to do is to indent lines.

Accordingly I have added functionality which allows any lines specified in a string
eg -i'1357'
to be indented by the -x X offset

The built in help now covers these options

engrave-lines.py G-Code Engraving Generator for command-line usage
            (C) ArcEye <2012> 
            based upon code from engrave-11.py
            Copyright (C) <2008>  <Lawrence Glaister> <ve7it at shaw dot ca>
engrave-lines.py -X -x -i -Y -y -S -s -Z -D -C -W -M -F -P -p -0 -1 -2 -3 ..............
       Options: 
       -h   Display this help message
       -X   Start X value                              Defaults to 0
       -x   X offset between lines              Defaults to 0
       -i   X indent line list                          String of lines to indent in single quotes
       -Y   Start Y value                              Defaults to 0
       -y   Y offset between lines              Defaults to 0
       -S   X Scale                                      Defaults to 1
       -s   Y Scale                                       Defaults to 1       
       -Z   Safe Z for moves                      Defaults to 2mm
       -D   Z depth for engraving              Defaults to 0.1mm
       -C   Charactor Space %                 Defaults to 25%
       -W   Word Space %                        Defaults to 100%
       -M   Mirror                                         Defaults to 0 (No)
       -F   Flip                                             Defaults to 0 (No)
       -P   Preamble g code                     Defaults to "G17 G21 G40 G90 G64 P0.003 F50"
       -p   Postamble g code                    Defaults to "M2"
       -0   Line0 string follow this
       -1   Line1 string follow this
       -2   Line2 string follow this        
       -3   Line3 string follow this
       -4   Line4 string follow this
       -5   Line5 string follow this
       -6   Line6 string follow this
       -7   Line7 string follow this                                
       -8   Line8 string follow this
       -9   Line9 string follow this
      Example      engrave-lines.py -X7.5 -x5 -i'123' -Y12.75 -y5.25 -S0.4 -s0.5 -Z2 -D0.1 -0'Line0' -1'Line1' -2'Line2' -3'Line3' > test.ngc

Examples are shown in screenshot

Indent 234567 -i'234567' - Indent only line 2 -i'2' - Indent lines 2,5 -i'25'

regards

(File in later post)

Last edit: 26 Oct 2014 22:41 by ArcEye.

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ArcEye
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21 Jun 2012 10:15 - 26 Oct 2014 22:42 #21168 by ArcEye

Replied by ArcEye on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

Outdated - see later post for file

Last edit: 26 Oct 2014 22:42 by ArcEye.

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ArcEye
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21 Jun 2012 10:19 - 21 Jun 2012 10:20 #21169 by ArcEye

Replied by ArcEye on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

Man file for engrave-lines.py here ( rename it /usr/share/man/man3/engrave-lines.3)

File Attachment:

File Name: engrave_lines.txt
File Size:3 KB

Last edit: 21 Jun 2012 10:20 by ArcEye.

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BigJohnT
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21 Jun 2012 12:30 #21174 by BigJohnT

Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

ArcEye,

I made this a sticky... nice work.

John

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ArcEye
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21 Jan 2013 17:56 #28910 by ArcEye

Replied by ArcEye on topic Re:Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

See also this thread for an example of how to use a script to automate G Code output for engraving incrementing serial numbers

www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...gram-possible-#28879

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cparsons
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26 Oct 2014 18:52 #52404 by cparsons

Replied by cparsons on topic Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

Has anyone managed to get this to run?

I have been trying for a while but there are several errors mainly relating to variables referenced before assignment, which I have added hopefully in the right place and now get another error saying KeyError: 'A'

Running it from the LinuxCNC (2.6.1) desktop, I had to install QCAD to get the fonts referenced, and correct the path in the file but it looks like I am going to have to learn Python to get it to work

Chris

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BigJohnT
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26 Oct 2014 19:28 #52405 by BigJohnT

Replied by BigJohnT on topic Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

Works for me... while not to intuitive if you just start it without any options. I did forgo trying to find the qcad font locations and just copied romanc.cxf to the same directory as engrave-lines.py and changed line 35 to reflect the new location.

JT

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BigJohnT
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26 Oct 2014 19:41 #52406 by BigJohnT

Replied by BigJohnT on topic Multi-line text engraving g-code generator

I did add this around line 469 to make it show the help file if no arguments are passed.

    if len(sys.argv[1:]) == 0:
        help_message()
        sys.exit(0)

Makes it a little more intuitive.

JT

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