Dark Project

The Dark project was the natural development of the Darkcut.

It can transform arcs, circles and lines in two dimensions to a language known as G Code, a widely known language to the computer numerical control applications. Since I prefer to use Linux for development, this project was done for a Linux machine, using common tools.

It is also under current use in the company that possesses the DarkCut machine, Mastor, Lda, that uses Linux OS.

What can it do ?

It can handle a DXF file, with one layer of information, containing only circles, arcs and lines (all the necessary do draw anything). After, it parses the file, looking for connected objects and constructs the G Code output file. The G Code only uses a small amount of codes, but all the necessary to create a tool path in 2D, for cutting.

Example

The source for the DXF file can be any CAD program. In Linux the most known software is QCad, it is a good software and frequent updated versions are avaiable. In the following example, the G Code presented on the right was generated from the DXF file obtained from the drawing on the left.

G21 G17 G90 G00 X543.853 Y1405.15 M04 G04 #0.3 G01 X604.057 Y1405.15 F700 G02 X607.419 Y1330.08 I-2.62 J-37.73 F700 G01 X543.853 Y1330.08 F700 G01 X543.853 Y1405.15 F700 M05 G04 #40 G00 X514.853 Y1434.15 M04 G04 #0.3 G01 X514.853 Y1191.15 F700 G01 X543.853 Y1191.15 F700 G01 X543.853 Y1301.81 F700 G01 X549.805 Y1301.81 F700 G01 X562.71 Y1284.08 F700 G01 X634.887 Y1191.28 F700 G01 X671.729 Y1191.15 F700 G01 X585.601 Y1301.88 F700 G01 X613.149 Y1303.34 F700 G03 X604.057 Y1434.15 I-9.866 J65.04 F700 G01 X514.853 Y1434.15 F700 M05 G04 #40 G00 X960.873 Y1172.69 M04 G04 #0.3 G01 X923.319 Y1172.74 F700 G01 X901.03 Y1199.81 F700 G02 X924.295 Y1217.27 I-66.144 J112.35 F700 G01 X960.873 Y1172.69 F700 M05 G04 #40 G00 X862.441 Y1292.65 M04 G04 #0.3 G01 X824.491 Y1292.76 F700 G01 X882.383 Y1222.45 F700 G02 X905.927 Y1239.66 I-47.497 J89.71 F700 G01 X862.441 Y1292.65 F700 M05 G04 #40 M02

It was obtained setting the feedrate to 700 mm/min, delay 40 sec between pieces and 0.3 seconds for initial drill.

This project is property of the Mastor company.