Ah HA! So, the SLF-RHN_Architect is truly an open path font, and here’s how I can tell: And hilarity ensues. Interestingly, this font doesn’t even show up as an option in Inkscape. Odd, since I thought a lot of people used Inkscape to run CNCs and the like, so you’d think it’d have good open path font support. Funny enough, even AutoDesk’s TrueView is exhibiting this behavior when trying to open a DXF with open path trueType fonts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I appear to have 2 truly open path fonts, SLD-RHN Architect, and MechSoft_Font-1. Unfortunately both of them have smooth curves, which poses a problem for my plotter. Because the plotter ends up treating curves as a series of small lines, there’s a tiny pause between each change in direction, and that makes for a slower path that leaves a lot more ink on the page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The two fonts that would appear to work well on the plotter are Simplex & Txt. Both of which are available in AutoCAD as .shx files, but both of who’s .ttf equivalents are not open path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now my workflow originates in Rhino3D. I’ve had access to Rhino for at least the past 10 years through various jobs, and if I ever really need to, I’ll just buy a copy for myself. It’s a thousand bucks for a perpetual license, and it’s fantastic software I’d feel good about plunking down my own hard-earned cash for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For whatever reason, regardless of regular text or the ‘Hershey’ text (which gets converted to SVG paths), the plotter loses it’s mind after a few characters. Yeah, I’m getting nowhere with Inkscape. It shits the bed after the first few characters. Maybe I’ll try slowing down the baudrate, but it’s weird that there wasn’t the same problem from AutoCAD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n SOLVED<\/strong>: It was flow control. For whatever reason, in AutoCAD \/ TrueView, I had to set software flow control (Xon\/Xoff), but in Inkscape, I had to enable full hardware flow control (DSR\/DTR & RTS\/CTS). Thanks Paul Rickards<\/a> for the tip! Next thing to work out in Inkscape is curves – they’re printing quite slow, and it looks like it’s because they’re coming in as a series of polylines This happened because I exported it as Polylines. I tried “Natural” export next but for some reason that ended up obliterating all of the resistor zig-zags ?!?! OK, getting closer: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, I can just use Fifteen Twenty in the TextObject command in Rhino and do all my text aligning there. Maybe that’s the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I found out that the FifteenTwenty font isn’t actually an open path font; it’s has closed loops that trace back over themselves. Keeping it as a font in Inkscape vs converting it to paths makes no difference. Making it paths using the TextObject tool in Rhino should work, but some shapes just don’t import correctly into Inkscape: <\/p>\n\n\n\n And just to prove I’m not crazy, here’s DXF linework from that font-in-progress I was working on opened in a TrueView on top, and Inkscape on the bottom. So Inkscape is just ignoring some polylines ?! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, rhino can export SVG, so I think we’ll just go that route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I tried to take the Txt font and make it single path. With a lot of manual work, I was able to make a set of numbers and uppercase letters to play around with. They work well with Rhino’s TextObject<\/em> command, but they do not work well with the regular text<\/em> command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s something special about SLD-RHN Architect, and MechSoft_Font-1 that makes Rhino render them correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stewart Russell’s Fifteen Twenty font has a single stroke style which also doesn’t display in Rhino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update July 5th 2025: Also, here’s Rob Norris’s<\/a> collection of 3D models<\/a> for HP 7475A replacement parts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, also<\/em>, Here’s the McMaster Carr part<\/a> I used to replace the pinch rollers for the 7475A, thanks to this Reddit post<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Should have started this page a few weesk ago, and taken better notes, but gotta start somewhere. The Gist: got a plotter; had to replace some rollers; tried with varied success to refill some of the pens; it’s awesome; curves … Continue reading
1) using TextObject in Rhino, which lets you type in text but then turns it into polylines instead of editable text, we can see it’s only single lines.
2) using that font in a more traditional application like Word, you can see that it really wants closed outlines to fill. When it doesn’t gets open curves, it does it’s best to fill them in, like this:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-1024x646.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-1-1024x618.png\")
Coming out of Rhino DXF, I’ve got a few options to get it to the plotter.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAdventures in Inkscape<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I was also having a problem even getting simple shapes to show up on the right position on the page, but de-selecting ‘auto-align’ in the Plot features page seemed to fix that. Making a simple rectangle on the page seems to yield generally good results in terms of scaling.
I’m also disabling ‘overcut’, ‘offset correction’, and ‘Precut’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-3-1024x795.png\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-4-1024x719.png\")
A Working Recipe, Take 1: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/5f66e6d5c4da109b-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-5-1024x449.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulcarbone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-6-1024x545.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Trying to make my own font: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
I’m just using this as a place to toss the STL for a pinch roller<\/a> for my DMP-60 plotter which is up next on the plotter playground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n