Started experimenting with living hinges using the Inkscape Living Hinge extension. I don’t understand how the Glowforge software decides on path cut order, but it appears to do each row one at a time, starting at the top of each line. I figured it would save some time if alternate cuts took place in the opposite direction, so I modified the extension to do that.
On a moderately sized 5"x5" hinge, it shaves off about 5%, about 45 seconds on a ~16 minute job. So it’s not a huge improvement, but it’s not nothing. If you’re doing super wide hinges, the time saving may be better.
You can try it here, just replace the existing living_hinge.py file in your extensions folder.
I’m not sure it is of general interest. The path order is only useful due to the way the Glowforge optimizes cut order. I don’t think it is following the order defined in the SVG strictly.
I’ve been trying to install the living hinge extension in Inkscape, but I can’t get it to come up when I go to Extensions & Render. I’m kind of a newb. I installed the Inkscape Living Hinge folder into the extensions folder of the application. I’m working on a Mac. Any help would be great! Thanks!
Make sure it is in the right directory. The files living_hinge.inx and living_hinge.py must go into the top level of the extensions directory; don’t have them living in their own folder.
For me, on a Mac, they go in /Users/yourusername/.config/inkscape/extensions/.
I’m having similar problems, as my linux based system is telling me I don’t have the correct permissions.
However, I know that it can be untangled if I just take it one step at a time, and the prospect of having an extension to do the grunt work is encouragement enough.
John
EDIT My patience is rewarded. Took several goes to correct typos during the process, but I now have it, running in Ubuntu 14.04/Inkscape/Extensions/Render.
Did you make sure the .py files are directly in the extensions directory? Not in a subfolder? You should have the two files as inkscape/extensions/living_hinge.{inx,py}
I got the living hinge extension figured out. any ideas about…
My elliptical box extension shows up under laser tools, but no matter what settings I try it gives me some kind of error.
“Inkscape has received additional data from the script executed. The script did not return an error, but this may indicate the results will not be as expected.”
"Traceback (most recent call last):
File “ell_box.py”, line 3, in
import Inkscape_helper.inkscape_helper as doc
ImportError: No module named Inkscape_helper.inkscape_helper
"
