Having an issue designing letters for CC

Okay, i really hope this is an easy thing and i’m being an idiot lol.

So I want to make a sign using individual letters, and i’m trying to put a small tab on the bottom on each to insert into the female base with glue to mount them, i know there are other ways, but i want to it this way so i can practice some mortise and tenon style cut outs, i have other things i want to make this way also.

However, when i do it in CC, I pick a font, add a tab, but i lack the ability to delete a line, so it looks to me like it wants to cut the tab off in the simulation…

I tried it in Inkscape, but i can’t seem to make a tool path on fonts in Inkscape. It won’t appear in CC when i save it as an svg, so i’m completely lost

Screenshot 2021-12-18 234551

This is what happens when I “Object to path” on Inkscape and then transfer into CC

What version of CC are you using? For the 5XX series, you need to convert the letter into ‘curves’. The easiest way of doing that is to use ‘Offset Vector’ with a very small offset, then delete the original letter. After that, select the new shape and your rectangle, and do Boolean Union.

I think the 6XX series has a command "Convert to Curves’ for text now.

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I’m not entirely sure, idk if this helps, but I only just got my shapeoko pro xxl at the end of November. So probably downloaded CC late Nov early Dec

It’s also the free version btw

In CC. Make a small box the size of the tab you want.
Then drag the box so the top of the box slightly over laps the bottom line on the letter
Then select only the outline of the letter and the box and click on Boolean Union.
This should combine the two and give you what you want
For the toolpath you will need 2 toolpaths.
One to pocket out the inside of the B and another one to cut out the outside of the letter and tab

2021-12-19_1-35-03

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Its a little trickier but if you play with it you can do all the letters on one tab

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The first time you try this it wont let you select only the outline of the letters.
Save your work just in case, then
Go ahead and do it anyway then click on Undo in the menu.
Now the letters are converted to curves so you can select only the outline of the letters.
Now do the Boolean Union again

Have Fun :slight_smile:

Ive never done this before so i may add it to my todo list

Now you got me started. Seems it works a little differently if you use separate text letters vs using all the text letters in one word. Try it both ways. Now you know as much as i do.

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So I tried this on 6.24 (or 6.23) and it does work:

  • Use the Text tool
  • Type the letter
  • Click APPLY (this changes the letter on the screen)
  • Click the CONVERT TO PATHS button
  • Then draw in a rectangle for the tab
  • Boolean Union
  • Done.

If I had a complaint, it’s that you can’t change the text content AND click the CONVERT TO PATHS button without clicking APPLY in between…or you will end up with the word “Text” in your design. This is because the Convert to paths button also closes the dialog, but doesn’t make the change in the text field. This is rather non-standard. I should be able to do everything I want to do on the dialog and then end the dialog with whatever click does that. In general, for modal dialogs, there’s only one button that closes it for change and one that closes it for “cancel”…but even with two change buttons, they should both reflect ALL the changes in the dialog.

In reality, the text should change on the screen as you type in the box in the dialog…and revert if you say Cancel…but that’s asking too much.

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You need to click “Apply” to see what the text will look like in the working area, and it would be inconsistent and confusing for “Convert to Curves” to change what is shown in the working area beyond converting what is shown to curves.

OK…then it shouldn’t close the dialog. Only “Done” should close the dialog. Agreed?

If not, then you change the text, press Convert to Curves and the dialog goes away and the word “Text” is sitting on your screen (in curves). Not at all what you wanted.

Once it has been converted to curves, it’s no longer text, so the text dialog isn’t valid, hence it being closed.

If it’s not what you wanted based on what is on the screen, then undo and adjust and try again.

The problem isn’t it closing…it’s that I lose the text unexpectedly.

If you change the text and press Done without Apply, the text is set to whatever you typed when the dialog is closed.
If you change the text and press “Convert to Curves” without Apply, the dialog is closed and the word “Text” is seen.

The behavior upon closing the dialog is inconsistent. I don’t care which way it goes…but it should be the same behavior.

In reality - “Convert to Curves” should be a checkbox (like the group letter vectors option). Then it would take effect when the “Done” or “Apply” is pressed.

OH…and interesting…
If you type something in the text field AND CLICK THE ITALICS BUTTON, and then click “Convert to Curves” button - the dialog closes and you have the word TEXT in italics!

This is now a defect…I’ll report it that way.

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I used CC 53. It doesn’t have he convert to curves function but if you use my procedure above it still works

Yeah…sorry. The Convert to Curves thing turned out to be a tangent that I pushed off into a new thread reporting a defect. That discussion is now here. Back to our regularly scheduled topic…

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