# MakerCAM Frustrations **URL:** \ **Category:** CAD/CAM Software Tips\ **Created:** [August 20, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500 "2017-08-20T20:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/21 "2017-09-18T21:25:34Z")
I have worked with a lasercutter that only accepted Imperial, but about all the tools i tried to convert metric to imperial produced bad files that the lasercutter could not deal with. Anyway, it’s good to know that Maslow doesn’t have issues like that. ---
**Author:** ![dlang](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/dlang/32/859_2.png) [@dlang](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/dlang)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/22 "2017-09-18T22:30:54Z")
That’s what you get for using a machine with proprietary firmware :-p 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/23 "2017-09-18T22:35:24Z")
Yuppp… A proprietary headache, 🤯 ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/24 "2017-09-18T22:45:28Z")
Or an opportunity to replace the controller ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/25 "2017-09-18T23:07:02Z")
He who ‘thinks he’ owns the machine may figure out is it is important to really own what has cost him a small fortune. 🙂 I now have a steampunkish Maslow brainwave… Replace the router with a 200Watt laser tube, No dust, less waste material, less noise. ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/26 "2017-09-18T23:11:55Z")
No, the singularity has arrived when we weren’t looking and now owns us. Any CNC type device will consume at least a kilobuck, best to throw out the receipts and just have fun. It’s a subset of the basic machine tool cost law. I wonder what’s going on with those high wattage laser rust removers? A flash in the pan, or something that could be repurposed and become a Maslow cutter? Why limit yourself to 200W when you can go for thousands? Just get your seeing eye dog reservation in first ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/27 "2017-09-18T23:27:15Z")
A 1000 watt beam and 2 swivel mirrors (in a concrete room) 90’s Disco on steroids ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/28 "2017-09-19T20:57:56Z")
I’m still searching like crazy to find how to change the DPI in inkscape again. I think this should be noted in the Wiki somwhere that those DPI’s sometimes mess with the results, and how to change the DPI to get around this. Once I find it I’ll report back again but for now I simply cant seem to find where Inkscape has hidden that menu. This is the most annoying issue between Inkscape, Illustrator, Apple, Windows and Linux… (and I also should include Metric and Imperial here, since this messes with the entire scale of things. ---
**Author:** ![rlrhett](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/rlrhett/32/482_2.png) [@rlrhett](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/rlrhett)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/29 "2017-09-19T21:22:47Z")
“kilobuck”!!! Love it! Reminds me of when I bought my house. My best friend said my brain would shift to the “left”. How did he mean? Politically? No, he meant that all my ways of figuring costs would shift one decimal to the left. If I was used to “tens” being “not much”, “hundreds” being “hmm, got to think about that”, and “thousands” being “YIKES!”, all of that would shift to “hundreds” being “not much”, “thousands” being “hmm, got to think about that”, and “tens of thousands” being “YIKES!”. ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/30 "2017-09-19T23:01:47Z")
After owning it for 20 or 30 years inflation will shift that decimal another position 😀 ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/31 "2017-09-19T23:06:00Z")
I’m in transit (hi from Oz!), but I think it’s under document properties as pixels per inch. MasterCAM mentions the current default (it’s varied by version), which might be 96ppi and doesn’t make sense in either inches or metric iirc. Create a new document to find out. ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/32 "2017-09-19T23:17:07Z")
96 ppi? That adds to the fun… Inches only make sense to work fast with a tape measure, but it adds to much confusion and introduces more silly mistakes then it adds to precision. Please ignore that thought. I don’t want to start a Metric Imperial war… ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/33 "2017-09-19T23:20:40Z")
> [@vertex](#): > > I don’t want to start a Metric Imperial war… Small planet or dead king body parts as your standard. Hmm… I got an inch/metric tape measure from the Moostropolis hardware store, best and worst of both worlds and a little spendy. Jeff Bezos sells them with 2 day Prime delivery also. ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/34 "2017-09-19T23:37:43Z")
As in : that sheet of plywood is 4 sextoy wide and 8 sextoys long? ---
**Author:** ![bar](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/bar/32/10_2.png) [@bar](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/bar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/35 "2017-09-20T18:18:23Z")
I’ll second being unable to find where to change it in inkscape. I do it in MakerCAM, but I have to do it every time I reload the page 🤷‍♂️ 96 seems like the magic number. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/1X/1a7f255d61f1153d87a33337de53f9b000c8300e.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/1X/7f9a3aff9f42face7e86c06e40f1ac8f213aec44.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Gero](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/gero/32/17487_2.png) [@Gero](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/Gero)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/36 "2017-09-20T20:27:51Z")
On Inkscape linux it’s under -\>Edit-\>Preferences-\>Bitmaps ![dpi](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/maslowcnc/original/1X/f5fcfc7f628cd7b2f636d3f1e39a1c9bf4a5b483.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bar](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/bar/32/10_2.png) [@bar](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/bar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/37 "2017-09-20T20:49:25Z")
Thanks @Gero!! That’s exactly what we’ve been looking for. If we change it there once to the MakerCAM default, the issue should be solved, right? ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/38 "2017-10-01T20:52:00Z")
That should indeed fix it. Until you use another PC with a fresh inkscape, and then you need to hunt for this menu once again. This should be a ‘before you get started’ guideline in the inkscape section of the manual. ---
**Author:** ![mooselake](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/mooselake/32/6218_2.png) [@mooselake](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/mooselake)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/39 "2017-10-01T21:57:29Z")
Didn’t MakerCAM change it’s default to match Inkscape’s? ---
**Author:** ![vertex](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/forums.maslowcnc.com/vertex/32/972_2.png) [@vertex](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/u/vertex)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500/40 "2017-10-02T22:31:04Z")
hehe could be, but then there still will be many people who have issues, (the ones who changed inkscapes defaults to match windows or mac stuff like adobe) So there seems to be no real solution until everyone agrees to a standard. And since dpi is locked to the imperial inch in a world thats ever more metric, it might be an idea to also change that. 😃 Maybe we could suggest to the inkscape team to make a button to switch between the most common dpi settings more easy. Ideally while preserving the artworks dimension… [Previous page](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/makercam-frustrations/500.md?page=3)