Answers to cut file problems

Each answer covers one real problem, starts with the short answer, has the free checker on the page, and shows a real file before and after.

Cuts twice

The file has doubled lines: a shape pasted twice, a line drawn twice, or two shapes that share an edge. Remove the extra copies.

An open path is a line whose ends do not meet. Join the pieces and close the gap so the shape can be cut out or filled.

The outline is made of separate lines and arcs with tiny gaps between them. Join them into one closed outline before cutting or ordering.

The SVG is sized in pixels, and programs count a different number of pixels per inch (Illustrator 72, most others 96). Save it with real units.

The DXF does not say its units, so it was drawn in inches and read as millimeters, or the other way round. Scale by 25.4 and save with units.

The SVG contains a picture (bitmap) instead of, or as well as, vector lines. Pictures can only be engraved. Remove or trace the picture.

Typed text needs its font. Convert it to outlines (paths) in your design program before saving the cut file.

They are invisible leftovers from tracing or editing: points with no size and bits under half a millimeter. Delete them before cutting.

The file has tens of thousands of points, often thousands of loose little lines from CAD or tracing. Join and simplify them.

Splines and newer DXF versions confuse some plasma software. Save as R12 with plain lines and arcs.

Check and close the shapes first, then save a DXF with stated units and plain lines.

Read the DXF with the right units, join its loose lines into shapes, and save an SVG sized in millimeters.

Closed shapes, no doubled lines, no stray points, text as outlines, no pictures in cut layers, and the right size.

One-to-one scale with units, closed contours, no duplicates or stray points, text as outlines, no splines, gaps between parts.