ENGRAVING TYPEFACES FOR CAD & CNC
Marconnet CAD
Rounded & OpenLine
Built from true lines and arcs, so your text looks right in the model and cuts clean on the machine.
Embedded Files
THE DESIGN
Text that looks right in CAD and cuts right on the machine
I designed this type family for one job: engraving text into parts.
Most fonts are drawn for print and screen. Their letters are free-form outlines with no centerline and no consistent stroke width, so a CNC V-bit toolpath has nothing clean to follow. The walls never meet at a clean bottom, and the CAD rebuild often fails.
Every character in Marconnet CAD is built from a single centerline of straight lines and circular arcs† that meet tangentially. † See note on TrueType splines.
Uniform by construction. The Rounded font is an exact offset of that centerline: every stroke is the same width, every end is a true round cap, and every inside corner is sharp, just as a tool would leave it.
Deliberately simple. Fewer, cleaner pieces mean fewer faces in your model, faster and more reliable rebuilds, and a lighter load on text-heavy assemblies and drawings.
THE ENGINEERING
Why a font alone can’t do it
TrueType (TTF) and OpenType (OTF) files cannot store true circular arcs. Every curve is approximated with splines: quadratic segments on a fixed grid in TTF, cubic segments in OTF. CAD programs import those curves as splines that come close to a circle but are never mathematically exact. Marconnet CAD uses a perfect centerline and the simplest Spline geometry possible to cleanly emulate a true ARC with minimal overhead cost to the CAD program.
For a V-carve or drafted cut to close to a perfect knife edge, the walls must be exact circular offsets of the centerline. No conventional font can guarantee that, however well it is drawn.
Our approach: two fonts, one centerline
OpenLine is a single-line engraving font that traces the exact centerline. It is the toolpath: import it for engraving and V-bit work, or generate G-code with true arc moves.
Rounded (Regular, Bold, and Italic) shares the same centerline and letter spacing, so it overlays OpenLine exactly. Use it to preview the finished engraving in CAD without heavy geometry.
Where perfect geometry matters
The same letters are also available as exact DXF files, built from true lines and arcs, and as ready-made STEP cutter bodies that close to a true knife edge.
Notes:
Visibility: Due to how single-line fonts are built, OpenLine may not display correctly in standard word processors (e.g., Microsoft Word).
Scaling: Certain CAD programs automatically upscale single-line fonts. You may need to manually adjust the text size when switching between the Rounded and OpenLine formats. (For example, OpenLine in SOLIDWORKS requires a ~0.8x scale factor to match Rounded).
LICENSING
Choose your edition
Free for personal projects. Upgrade to Commercial for every weight, the full symbol set, and manufacturing rights.
PERSONAL EDITION
Free
Non-commercial license
For hobbyists, and those evaluating the fonts in their own CAD environment.
Weights: Rounded Regular and OpenLine (single-line).
LIMITED Character set: A–Z (CAPS) and 0–9.
HTML Generator: An HTML file with an intuitive UI to dynamically generate DXF Blocks of more complex text in Rounded and Openline formats. Capable of Extruding / Cutting to a sharp V (in most 3D modeling applications)
License: Personal (non-commercial) projects, or Commecial evaluation-only Purposes
Delivery: Submit the request form below. A download link will be emailed to you within 1–2 business days.
COMMERCIAL EDITION
$50
Company license
For CNC shops, engineers, and businesses that manufacture physical products.
Weights: Rounded Regular+Bold, and OpenLine.
Character set: Full alphabet, numerals, and an expanded set of charecters.
Exact CAD geometry: DXF files built from true lines and arcs, plus ready-to-use STEP cutter bodies that close to a true knife edge for clean Boolean operations.
HTML Generator: An HTML file with an intuitive UI to dynamically generate DXF Blocks of more complex text in Rounded and Openline formats as well as dedicated STEP files containing solid bodies pre-extruded for boolean operations.
License: Full commercial manufacturing rights, including toolpaths, G-code, signage, and part serialization.
Delivery: Submit the request form below and we’ll email an invoice within 1–2 business days. Once payment is received, you’ll get the complete Commercial download and your End User License Agreement (EULA).
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