Creating a punch using text

[greglucas9037]

I have been given the task of figuring out a way to have etching placed on our parts to show the part number of the part. The end goal is to get the parts laser cut but have the part number etched into the part.Is there a way to convert text (i.e. 12345) to a sketched symbol that the punch feature would recognize and then add it to the library? Right now we are using 2012 but will be upgraded to 2014 within the next 6 months.

[blair]

I would look at a iFeature using emboss/cut. The laser will etch/remove material much as the emboss-cut does.

[BLHDrafting · Accepted solution]

Scott Moyse of Design & Motion has a blog here and mentions the problem with using Embossed/Cut text.

Snippet from that blog :-

"To clarify the engraving text issue. In both situations above you could emboss the text and have it exported with the face or sketch. However, this results in a text outline instead of a text centre line. As you know this is very inefficient for CNC machines to cut when the number is only there for practical rather than aesthetic reasons." 

There is an add-in on the Exchange store here that can add custom text to the DXF output.

[blair]

Yes, this would depend on the software used to laser etch the part. Newer software will handle this type of profile much better.

[LT.Rusty]

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@greglucas9037 wrote:

I have been given the task of figuring out a way to have etching placed on our parts to show the part number of the part. The end goal is to get the parts laser cut but have the part number etched into the part.Is there a way to convert text (i.e. 12345) to a sketched symbol that the punch feature would recognize and then add it to the library? Right now we are using 2012 but will be upgraded to 2014 within the next 6 months.

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Inventor doesn't really like to use text for a lot of things other than simple extrude or emboss features, and it doesn't always even do that with every font.

There is a trick that I've done in the past, and I suspect you might find it applicable here.  Create a new .IPT file and make an extrusion featuring just the text that you want.  Create a new sketch on top of it and project cut edges.  There are times - and this may be one of them, I'm not sure as I haven't created a punch - that you can't make use of projected geometry for some stuff.  At this point, I copy the projected geometry, and then paste it into a new sketch.  From there I can rotate / scale / move to whatever orientation I need it.  This might be a good foundation for you to make text-based punches.