Anyone here use Inkscape for front panel design?

[rob_gould]

Hi All,

I've always used Corel Draw for front panel design in the past but always free trials or buggy, unstable copies procured from the Internet.

I've recently come across Inkscape; a great vector graphics utility that is free and contains all the features which I need to make some decent looking panels and then export as .plt files which can then be imported directly into Front Panel Designer software.

But there's one hitch...

I cannot find a way to emulate the 'Contour to centre' feature in Corel Draw that is needed to make the 'inner lines' of any shape when engraving large single areas of panel to ensure that the CNC drill cuts out all the required material.  The particular instruction I'm talking about is point 6 in here :

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/fileadmin/pdf/tips_tricks/HPGL.pdf

6.
To fill your object, all inner lines are created with the contour To Center feature. The
Offset of the lines should be spaced properly to avoid gaps. Gaps can cause burrs and
poor milling results. Using an end milling cutter, select half the tool width for the offset.
Engraving tools have a further reduced Offset, because they are tapered.
Optimal offset values:
Tool Offset
Engraving tool 0.2 mm 0.07 mm
Engraving tool 0.4 mm 0.15 mm
End milling cutter 0.6 mm 0.30 mm
End milling cutter 0.8 mm 0.40 mm
End milling cutter 1.0 mm 0.50 mm
End milling cutter 2.0 mm 1.00 mm
End milling cutter 2.4 mm 1.20 mm
End milling cutter 3.0 mm 1.50 mm
If your graphic contains more then one object and you want to fill between the two,
select both and choose Arrange and Combine. Now fill your combined object To Center
with the appropriate Offset as mentioned above. For graphics using multiple tools select
different color lines. Each color represents one milling tool.

Does anyone know how to emulate this feature in Inkscape?  It seems this software is pretty much perfect for front panel design except for this (admittedly pretty critical!) flaw.

 

[braeden]

I don't want to be "that guy", but I have tried to use Inkscape and it sucks. I have searched for an alternative to Corel as well, no luck. Adobe Illustrator has an offset path feature but it really doesn't work the way you expect it to for this type of task.

I think I have used Corel Draw X5/X6 with reasonable success though, maybe you can "acquire" this version somehow :-X

Braeden

 

[rob_gould]

Hmm yeah, not sure I'd agree that for the designing part Inkscape isn't up to the job. And I recall that when I've used Corel Draw previously, getting it to export .plot files was a faff. On Inkscape it's easy. 

But if there's no decent way to do solve this problem I'm having, it doesn't cut it.

 

[ruffrecords]

Yes, no and probably not.

Yes, I have used Inkscape for a front panel drawing but it was silk screened so your problem never arose.

No, I am not skilled enough in using Inkscape to know how to do what you want.

I have tried exporting shapes from Inkscape as .plt but without success - you get a 0 byte sized file, so even if you coaxed it into doing what you want you would probably not be able to create a .plt file.

Having said all that, the great thing about open source is you can contact the authors directly, ask them questions or request features. Worth a try.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Kingston]

Having said all that, the great thing about open source is you can contact the authors directly, ask them questions or request features.

...and you can go ahead and actually implement the missing feature!

[edit]

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/fileadmin/pdf/tips_tricks/HPGL.pdf

I had no idea you can do all that directly in corel. I've exported as autocad format and sent the dxf files to the CNC guy. Frank for example had no issues with dxf exports.

That said, it would be interesting to try to force myself to use inkscape for the next bigger project. Corel is expensive.

 

[tardishead]

Sorry to revive an old thread but has anyone solved this yet
contour To Center feature on Inkscape
I'm trying to import different fonts as HPGL files into Front Panel Design and having no luck

 

[TwentyTrees]

Nope - I do all my panel design in Inkscape (mostly because I’m very familiar with it so work fast), and then flatten and export the engravings into Corel to use the contouring feature. There is supposedly contouring in Inkscape, but I think it’s a very blunt tool and it’s never done what I want it to.