Android Question Costing Program for Laser Cutting and Engraving using DXF, CDR and SVG files

[Peter Lewis]

Hi All

Has anyone had any experience reading these types of files to determine the duration of the Pen Down and also Duration of Pen Up. I was thinking that maybe using an online converter (API) to G-code might be a solution. then read the G-Code and parse it for the Durations.

Any Thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Brian Dean]

Warning - I am answering this post only because nobody else has, and I do not like to see questions go completely unanswered. I have done a lot of work with geometric data and with DXFs, but several years ago and in a different sphere.

If you are interested in pen-up and pen-down times then I assume that your aim is to minimise throughput time in a mass-production environment. In this case converting your various input data into a common format that you can optimise would seem the only sensible path. G-code also seems a sensible choice as, presumably, this problem has already been tackled there. If not then you have to solve a "travelling salesman" problem with the possible complication that some "cities" have two locations - start and end.

I am sure that converting SVG and DXF to G-code has been done before, although I could not find any Android library. If you have to start from scratch then DXF is essentially a simpler (cruder) form of SVG - closer to a tagged file format. I have written a DXF processor myself, some years ago and for a desktop application. Some modern CAD packages include vast amounts of administrative data in their DXF output - you should try to avoid that. (I am thinking AutoDesk here. There is an option to exclude the admin data - you should use it). I don't know anything about CDR.

I think that you might have a problem finding existing Android libraries to help you, but you are probably ahead of me on that. If you have to start from scratch then parsing SVG and basic DXF data is quite approachable. Optimising the cutter route might be more challenging, but it is probably not too difficult to find a sub-optimal but acceptable solution. I am sure that it has been done before.

 

[Peter Lewis]

Warning - I am answering this post only because nobody else has, and I do not like to see questions go completely unanswered. I have done a lot of work with geometric data and with DXFs, but several years ago and in a different sphere.

If you are interested in pen-up and pen-down times then I assume that your aim is to minimise throughput time in a mass-production environment. In this case converting your various input data into a common format that you can optimise would seem the only sensible path. G-code also seems a sensible choice as, presumably, this problem has already been tackled there. If not then you have to solve a "travelling salesman" problem with the possible complication that some "cities" have two locations - start and end.

I am sure that converting SVG and DXF to G-code has been done before, although I could not find any Android library. If you have to start from scratch then DXF is essentially a simpler (cruder) form of SVG - closer to a tagged file format. I have written a DXF processor myself, some years ago and for a desktop application. Some modern CAD packages include vast amounts of administrative data in their DXF output - you should try to avoid that. (I am thinking AutoDesk here. There is an option to exclude the admin data - you should use it). I don't know anything about CDR.

I think that you might have a problem finding existing Android libraries to help you, but you are probably ahead of me on that. If you have to start from scratch then parsing SVG and basic DXF data is quite approachable. Optimising the cutter route might be more challenging, but it is probably not too difficult to find a sub-optimal but acceptable solution. I am sure that it has been done before.

Thank you for the reply. I have found online API's that can to the conversion from different formats to G-Code. So that is not the issue. It can also optimize the path. I then come out with a further problem that different Pen colors will do different jobs, ie Engraving, Cutting and Dots and each one with a different Laser Strength and speed. This creates a whole new problem. How knowledgeable is the customer to be able to do this !!.

So this cannot be for the random guy on the street wanting laser cutting/engraving done. I would have to only select a group of regular customers and show them how to use RDWorks which will give them the total chargeable time of the job. From What I have researched these are the only options.

Thank you for your input.

 

[Brian Dean]

Thank you for your input.

Yes - this is totally out of my league. Sorry that I could not have been of more real help.