Define etched or scribed text on a part.
Q: What are the steps to obtain etched or scribed text on a part?
A: The steps to obtain etched or scribed text on a part are as follows:
- Identify the current setting for Pens for features to be etched for profile machines
or identify the pen assigned to a scribe tool for punch machines.
- The text must be "realised" (exploded into lines/arcs) before you can tool it. To add text to be etched to the part, In drafting mode select the Textcommand along with the Realise indrawing option.
- Select the pen color for etching or the scribe tool, in the Text Settings area of the Settings panel.
- Set other text settings and enter text in the Text Editor.
- Place text on the part and verify the pen color is the etch or scribe color.
- If the text is already on the part, you can Realise text into lines and arcs using the Realise in situ command and the Realise text into lines and arcs option.
- Select text in the drawing window to realise.
- Tool parts normally and the text geometry will tool with the etch condition or scribe tool.
It is also recommended to match the pen that is set for etching or scribing, to the Pens to ignore section of the Nest Schedule Editor.
This will aid the nesting program in identifying parts as profiles for the purpose of nest optimization.
*Note: When text gets realised into lines and arcs it becomes open geometry which will generate a warning and display squares (shown below)at each open geometry location. As long as the realised text is the only open geometry, this message can be ignored.
To eliminate this warning caused by realised text, some Radan system files require a minor modification. A typical Radan system may have more than one of these types of system files, and all should be modified. These types of system files are named similar to these examples:
These files can be located through the Radan System Info utility. Selecting the Explore Dat button takes you to the folder containing the psys_user files.
The line within these psys_user files that needs modifying is illustrated below: Add the pen number(s) used for etching or scribing are defined in these file(s).These psys_user files are ASCII text files that should only be edited with a text editor program like Wordpad.