The hershey_svg.zip file below contains all of the SVG files.
But after some normalizing, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, I was able to write some code to parse them and spit them back out as SVG! Now you can use these fonts in your Unicorn drawings.Įach SVG contains a layout of one of the Hershey fonts. These files are in a weird, weird, format. Hershey who made them for the National Bureau of Standards. They’re a set of fonts for vector plotters named after creator Dr. Mifga pointed me towards the Hershey fonts. Most tools require you to convert text into paths, and even then you get the outlines of shapes, which can often turn messy at small sizes. Making text for Unicorn or EggBot plots isn’t always a fun process. If you have an EggBot, try plotting the SVG using the Layers dialog. It’s set to start with the pen centered over 0,0 and fits on a sticky note pad (75mm x 75mm). If you have a Unicorn, try out the attached G-Code. Updated files attached and pictures added! Links I forgot to resize the original for a sticky note pad (whoops!) and I was right that the EggBot version needed layers beginning with a number. This should make it look nice, for example, on an EggBot. I also made use of my Hershey Fonts in SVG to make the word “baltimore” more readable after plotting. This one is ready to plot in 2 layers - all of the black parts at once, followed by all of the blue ones, with a pause at the beginning of each layer to allow a pen change. To go with the new multiple-color plotting functionality of my Unicorn G-Code Output extension for Inkscape, here’s a new version of the Baltimore Node logo. ⮩? This is a derivative of Baltimore Node logo (Unicorn) by schmarty.
You can find the online archive for the issue here: Dozens of photos were taken during the build and then combined into the final cover image by the excellent people at Urbanite. The file was designed in Inkscape and OpenSCAD and printed on MakerBot Thing-O-Matic #5564. The Baltimore Node is pleased to have taken part in the creation of the cover for Urbanite Magazine’s March 2012 “Change Makers” issue. This work is licensed Creative Commons - Attribution.