kerfmaster pin list · Preflight — how files come in
rulingA decision by Aristide or Jordan. True because it was decided; it can be superseded, but it cannot be stale.
Content last changed 2026-08-02 — computed from the item itself, not typed.
Contract — Intake stage
This contract states a decision, not an implementation.
takes customer-file
makes identified-file
fails if A file converted by the customer before it reached us, accepted as if native.
Contract last changed 2026-08-06 — computed, not typed. Dated separately from the text above, so neither date can speak for the other.
1 open question blocks this pin
Send us the file in the format it was actually drawn in. Do not convert it for us.
Every conversion is a lossy step, and we want to be the ones who perform the only conversion, because we are the only party aiming at a toolpath rather than a picture. A converter's job ends when the drawing looks right on screen; ours ends when the machine cuts it correctly. Those are different targets and the difference is thrown-away information.
This is not "vector art beats DXF". If the part was drawn in CAD, asking for an .ai would force the customer to convert and we would have caused the loss. The principle is native-format-always; the format follows the origin.
A DXF that came out of Illustrator is usually detectable: hundreds of tiny near-equal-length straight segments where a curve should be, no bulges anywhere in the file, and often the producing application named in the header. The check should spot it and ask: this looks like a flattened export — do you still have the original?
Reading the truth always beats reconstructing a guess, however good the healer gets. This is one of the few checks that can improve a job by asking a question instead of doing work.