CNC Write Engraving Software

[cdw3423]

Several years ago I wrote a simple program to generate G-Codes for engraving text with CNC machines with either a linear or rotary axis.

Recently I have decided to start making videos on how to use CNC Write. I just posted the first one, "CNC Write Introduction" on YouTube.

I hope to post a video every week until I have covered all of what you can do with CNC Write.

Hopefully it will help those who use the software or are wondering if it is something they might want to use.

Here is the first video.

 

[cdw3423]

The second video in the series is now up on YouTube.

 

[EnderDRM]

Unless it will work on a lathe with the "c" axis I'm not interested.

 

[cdw3423]

It does, watch the intro video, I have an example of it doing just that.
If you skip to 5:30 you can watch just that example case.

 

[cdw3423]

The third video is now up on YouTube. This is the first video that goes into detail on part of CNC Write. This one covers the Text Parameters and Justification sections of the interface.

 

[Philabuster]

Subscribed to your YouTube channel. This is pretty neat. Not sure I will ever need to use this on my Integrex, but it would be fun to play with it.

 

[cdw3423]

The 4th video is up. This one is the most complex. Hopefully I explained everything well.

 

[Vancbiker]

Since most CAD/CAM software offers engraving functions and most everyone is using CAD/CAM, hard for me to see good use of a separate software just to engrave. What am I missing?

 

[Mtndew]

What am I missing?

The home shop harry market would probably be his biggest customer base.

 

[Philabuster]

Since most CAD/CAM software offers engraving functions and most everyone is using CAD/CAM, hard for me to see good use of a separate software just to engrave. What am I missing?

It would be good for the Mazak crowd as many of us do not need to use off-line software to program the Mazaks for everyday parts. This can be added as a sub program.

 

[cdw3423]

Since most CAD/CAM software offers engraving functions and most everyone is using CAD/CAM, hard for me to see good use of a separate software just to engrave. What am I missing?

When I was asked to create CNC Write I was told existing software was hard to use and when engraving on a curved surface the XYZ interpolation used by that software makes the engraving very slow. And I also was told that none of them use a rotary axis to engrave on a cylinder. CNC Write is very fast to use and the engraving it does is also very fast. I know that Oil Field Equipment Manufacturing companies like CNC Write partly because the stress created by impact engraving that is commonly used by some shops is not allowed on that equipment.

 

[Mtndew]

And I also was told that none of them use a rotary axis to engrave on a cylinder

I don't know who told you this but they couldn't be more wrong.
But kudos to you for having the knowledge and ability to write a program like this. Makes me almost want to learn code programming. Almost.

 

[cdw3423]

I don't know who told you this but they couldn't be more wrong.
But kudos to you for having the knowledge and ability to write a program like this. Makes me almost want to learn code programming. Almost.

That could be, and I could be remembering it wrong. It was all the way back in 2007 or 2008. What I remember for sure was they were willing to pay for the development and I have had quite a few happy customers since then.

 

[Vancbiker]

The home shop harry market would probably be his biggest customer base.

Yeah, I kinda forgot this forum is getting pretty full of home hobby users.

 

[Vancbiker]

It would be good for the Mazak crowd as many of us do not need to use off-line software to program the Mazaks for everyday parts. This can be added as a sub program.

True. I’ve never seen much appeal to program at the machine so did not take that into consideration.

 

[cdw3423]

The home shop harry market would probably be his biggest customer base.

CNC Write is intended for serial numbers, part numbers, an other utilitarian text on parts. There are no fancy fonts to engrave with, so I'm not sure why a home shop would want to use CNC Write. I also doubt many home shops can do Rotary Axis engraving or have mill-turn machines.

 

[Mtndew]

CNC Write is intended for serial numbers, part numbers, an other utilitarian text on parts. There are no fancy fonts to engrave with, so I'm not sure why a home shop would want to use CNC Write. I also doubt many home shops can do Rotary Axis engraving or have mill-turn machines.

Ahh, ok. Serial numbers is a big issue for most cad/cam programs. You would think that would be the opposite give the fact that so many parts require serialization.

 

[Vancbiker]

Ahh, ok. Serial numbers is a big issue for most cad/cam programs. You would think that would be the opposite give the fact that so many parts require serialization.

Serialization is easily handled by a macro. The characters used by a macro can be generated in any font the CAD/CAM supports.

Outside of probing, serial engraving is one of the most common uses of macro programming.

 

[Mtndew]

Serialization is easily handled by a macro.

Even if it's on a curved surface?

 

[cdw3423]

Video 5 is up. This one was a lot easier than the last one. While getting ready to make this video I decided to make a minor change the the circle and ellipse tabs. I use the ellipse text tab in the example for this video.