How to output a dxf with smooth curves enquiry

[marbles]

Hi,

I have recently used Aspire to draw up parts for cutting on my DIY plasma table. I then exported the dxf to other software and through to Mach3.

I'm interested to know how to get the plasma to cut as smoothly as possible and understand on the software side of things that if i'm plasma cutting, for example a simple name plate with text inside an oval I should simplify the drawing (convert to arcs ) in order to give me smoother final path.

Am I correct in thinking I should be converting the text and oval using the fit curves to vector tool to convert the ellipse to circular arcs.? Then also run the fit curves to vector process again for bezier curves?

Any help most appreciated

Thanks

[Adrian]

If the other software supports it export as EPS rather than DXF. That will give you much better curves.

Whether you're better with arcs or beziers depends to some extent on if you're post processor supports the arc command or not (It should have arc in the name if it does).

There's no need to convert shapes and texts made in Aspire if you've haven't used the offset feature as that will sometimes create a lot of extra nodes. You don't need to do it twice. Just choose if you want arcs or beziers and convert to those if the node count is high.