Fonts in CAD Software

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john12ax7

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Oct 15, 2010
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To make front panels,  is it possible to use fancy fonts for silkscreening directly in CAD layouts.  Will Autocad or equivalent do this?

Or do you really need to go back and forth with something like inkscape or illustrator.

Also what file format does a powdercoat and silkscreen shop usually use. Is it dxf,  pdf,  something else?
 
I have DesignCAD which I've used for many years, and it has a zillion TrueType fonts available.

It's been years since I messed with any silk screening, but it required an actual size film (negative? positive? I don't recall) that was used to create the pattern in the light sensitive emulsion on the fabric.


Bri
 
Standard type fonts are easy to find, there are gazillions of open-source versions around for nearly anything

On the other hand, fonts for engraving can be pretty hard to find. The usual fonts are all vectorized for scalability, complete with outline and fill - however, this scaling does not apply when you are running a fixed-width engraver.

So you need to use "single line fonts", and they are not at all easy to find

For my commercial Gyraf stuff, I ended up drawing my own single-line characters - and for faceplate design I copy&paste every character separately into a file that is then converted to HPGL and from there into G-code..

/Jakob E.
 
The scaling thing was another issue I noticed,  as sometimes things wouldn't scale properly.  Or something gets messed up in the conversion process.  I've also had different CAD programs interpret  things differently.

PCB layout seems more straightforward in comparison. 
 
Back in the 1970's I used to silk screen various panels for the gizmos I built and sold.  The final step required an actual size piece of litho film with the graphics which was pressed against the photo sensitive emulsion on the fabric.  A bright light source then caused the image to appear in the emulsion.

Bottom line is you need an actual size image to create the "stencil".  In those days, I created the artwork using rub-on Letraset and some sort of art board/paper stock.

Youtube has a bunch of DIY videos which show how the image is transferred onto the screen.

Bri
 
As Bri says, that is pretty much what we did back in the day at Neve. Letraset was used to make a twice size representation which was then photo reduced to actual size etc.

However, for DIY you can get very close to the same result using UV printing which is becoming readily available. For that you just need to send them an image.

Cheers

Ian
 
Thanks all.  I'm looking to send stuff out to get silkscreened.  So the main thing is really that it comes out as intended.

Anyone tried Inkscape?  Seems to be an open source vector based graphics program.
 
john12ax7 said:
Thanks all.  I'm looking to send stuff out to get silkscreened.  So the main thing is really that it comes out as intended.

Anyone tried Inkscape?  Seems to be an open source vector based graphics program.

I used Inkscape on the very first front panel I had silk screened about 15 years ago. I had never used a vector graphics package before so it was all a but strange to me but I got the hang of it. No idea how it compares to similar commercial packages.

Cheers

Ian
 

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