Need help making stencils

[trivejb]

Trying to make a simple stencil that will be cut into 1/8" material (using a sled). In the case it is 'MERRY CHRISTMAS'. Have succeeded in getting it cut with th exception I cannot find a way to attach the center of the "R" with the rest of the letter ("A" also has this issue). Have used:
Raster
Carve Region
Outline
Cut Path (just 3 tabs)
Select the center of each "R" and FLIP CUTOUT makes the center look OK
Then deleted the original T from the carving list ????

But now I need to attach the center of the "R" to the board and this is where I am stumped. Attached is my MPC file. I have be taking the wrong approach sot any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bergerud]

Is this the kind of thing you want? I did this by moving the letters off of the board when outlining. The edge of the board puts the lines where you want them. (There must be another way but it does work!)

[oscarl48]

Another option is simply to use a stencil font. Search for stencil font on the web and you will find hundreds that already have the connective tissue as part of the design. The bonus is there are some really cool ones out there.

[trivejb]

Is this the kind of thing you want? I did this by moving the letters off of the board when outlining. The edge of the board puts the lines where you want them. (There must be another way but it does work!) Yes this is what I want.
Sorry do not understand the "moving
the letters off the board when outlining" process. (still new at Designer). Tried doing this several times but could not figure it out. How did you get the tops of the R separated, with connecting tabs from the bottom.
Thanks for your time and advice.

[trivejb]

Another option is simply to use a stencil font. Search for stencil font on the web and you will find hundreds that already have the connective tissue as part of the design. The bonus is there are some really cool ones out there. Thanks for the suggestion and a simple search found hundreds of free fonts. Copied into Windows Font Folder, restarted Carvewright and they appeared. All it appears that I need to do is INVERT PATTERN. Looks good in designer but have not tried to cut yet.

Thanks

[bergerud]

Yes this is what I want.
Sorry do not understand the "moving
the letters off the board when outlining" process. (still new at Designer). Tried doing this several times but could not figure it out. How did you get the tops of the R separated, with connecting tabs from the bottom.
Thanks for your time and advice.

Maybe a picture will explain, although, Oscar's solution seems much easier.

[SteveNelson46]

If you are trying to keep the centers you could use double sided tape to hold them in place. Then you will have to figure out a way to manually attach them to the body of the letter. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way in the designer to use or place manual tabs unless it is a pierced carve region.

[SteveNelson46]

This is probably more of what you are looking for but it carves as raster so it will take longer. I used the same approach by outlining the raster text and then deleting the original. The outside of each letter(path) was made into a pierced carved region and the centers were made into a carve region with 0 depth. Since the outside of the letters are pierced, the manual tabs will work. I also made the thickness of the board .25"