MAXcomputer GmbH - www.max-computer.de

A. Introductory remark
Our coordinate system KOSY is not an engraving system and we do not pretend to be able to fulfill all wishes of professional engravers. Still, KOSY offers a lot of possibilities.
Please regard the following tips as stimuli and an invitation to try engraving:

• Study the possibilities of KOSY first
• Make some basic samples before trying bigger work
• Do not expect mathematical/technical/physical marvels
• If you have ideas what we ought to develop, please tell us

B. What is sure to fail
We are starting with two examples that cannot and need not be done by our system out of logical reasons. This is to warn you to expect too much and to make you sensitive for what is possible and not.

It does not make sense to mill resp. engrave a shadowy character, like Harlow here. At best it can be fragmented and re-edited


A character which becomes narrower at its ends (serif), like Times New Roman here can be milled out completely only if you choose a tool diameter which is much smaller than the narrowest part..

C. Single line and Outline
Whenever you choose a TrueType-font in Windows, you normally see the characters (letters, figures and others) completely filled on your screen or print. That is different when engraving is done with a mill or engraving point: spaces have to be filled by milling movements, the thinner the mill, the more often it has to run, the bolder the characters, the more space has to be emptied. With KOSY , however, there are also fonts that simply consist out of one line. The boldness of the character is then the diameter of the mill. These fonts can be found in the ICON group CAD special/Engravingtext old

Singleline, means the font consists of only one line. In nccad you find these fonts in the ICON CAD standard Text/Engravingtext max. The boldness of the character is either the diameter of the tool or the depth the engraving point enters into the workpiece.Outline, means the outline is constructed. This is done automatically by nccad as soon as you have chosen a TrueType-font (like Arial here) and the ICON TRUE/Engravingtext. The mill can run along this outline, with or without path correction, but you can also empty the inner area by using the function Pocket.

D. Editing functions
TrueType-fonts are especially supported in nccad. Via the ICON TRUE/Engravingtext and its texteditor you can enter, format and edit texts with one or more lines. At first the outlines of the characters are generated, which can be machined in different ways :

• Milling the characters out of solid material, as a rule with contour correction outside. You get single "tangible" characters.
• Emptying the inner space with the help of the function Pocket under Correction others/Pocket or under Technology. You get deep spaces for signs of all kind.
• Making embossed characters via the technology-function Inverse-milling. You get special effects of design or, together with mirroring and outer contour correction, a stamp.

Contour corrections:

• Inside: The shape of the character remains as a "hole", e.g. for inlay work. When milling through, the shape and the island come off. Taping it on a plate etc. can prevent this
• Outside: The shape remains as a whole e.g. for big individual letters. When milling through, the shape and the island come off. Taping it on a plate etc. can prevent this.
• Pocket: The inner area of the shape is milled out, e.g. for any signs of 2-layer-material. The machining often takes a long time but you can use fonts of any kind and size.

Bitte beachten Sie dabei:
Alle Bearbeitungs-Funktionen sind abgestimmt auf das Arbeiten innerhalb von nccad und auf das Ziel: Fräsen im Werkstück. Verwenden Sie sog. Grafik- oder Design-Programme, dann sind diese abgestimmt auf die Darstellung am Bildschirm oder auf Papier (über die Druckfunktionen) und nicht auf die CNC-Maschine. Sollten Sie Schriftzüge aus solchen Programmen über DXF oder HPGL in nccad importieren, können durch die Konvertierungsvorgänge Fehler entstehen, z.B.:

• Die Zeichen bestehen nicht aus geschlossenen Polygonzügen, sie müssen also innerhalb von nccad mit Korrektur sonstige/Kontur-Verfolgung/Verdünnung u.Ä.m. nachgearbeitet werden.
• Die Funktion Tasche kann nicht angewendet werden, Inseln werden nicht behandelt.

Please note: All machining functions are meant to work within nccad and the aim is: milling a workpiece. If you work with special graphical or design programs, they are for display on a screen or print and not for the CNC-machine. So, if you import fonts from such programs via DXF or HPGL into nccad, there may be mistakes through converting, e.g.:
The fonts do not consist of closed polygons, so they have to be re-edited by Correction others/Follow contour-/thin out contour within nccad.
The function pocket can not be used, islands are not possible.

E. Re-editing milling contours
When you use e.g. outside contour correction a milling contour is generated in layer 1 in the form of a symbol, the original contour is automatically transferred into layer 9 (black), which means it cannot be milled.

F. Basic example
Before doing big projects please take your time and do a simple engraving:

• Choose the ICON TRUE/ Engravingtext, make a frame and enter the letter "a".
• Format the "a" as follows: 72 Pt, bold, italics and leave the editor. The "a" appears as an Outline-character in the drawing area.
• Click at the ICON Correction others/Free pocket hole and choose: parallel to contur, tool diameter= 3mm, overlapping factor = 50 %. Confirm by OK.
• Click at the construction point of your text frame and wait.
• Enlargen the text area so that you can better view the lines to mill. You see the milling contours as "preview" in the drawing area.
• With the ICON Undo you delete the milling contours again.
• Please make your own experiments with other settings from step 3, e.g. take a smaller tool diameter and study the difference between "parallel to contour" and "parallel to angle".
• When you want to do the milling you find the same settings under Technology. There however, you'll get no "preview" in the drawing but only in the graphical simulation.

G. Long texts and big blocks of text
Calculating the contours for these corrections and pockets are very complicated mathematical operations. Therefore you should not start big engraving projects with a slow computer. Possible solutions:

• a faster computer (smile please)
• use of single line fonts
• use of simple fonts without serif (tails, narrowings) and thicker mill

H. Final remarks
We have got a lot of echoes concerning "engraving with KOSY" and have much extended the relating nccad-functions in the course of the years. We have engraved our own firm signs in different ways (big and small ones, for in- and outdoors) and we did engravings for others, we are sure: it works very well, but nevertheless, we cannot fulfill all wishes.If you want to do special projects, please contact us so that we can try together and find a solution. In some cases a special training might be necessary.