Hi, I recently purchased a fiber laser to do firearm work. I have been designing very basic image work in Inkscape and importing it to the CAD software with the laser for the cutting. I have downloaded a honeycomb pattern but the paths are the grids in the pattern , I would like to make the fills the paths and leave the grids untouched...Is there a way to do this? I am fairly new to vector imaging and inkscape .I have tried to search this with no luck..TY

The pattern might be a repeated object with just a few actual cells.

You might need to convert the pattern to object, and manually repeat the cells before converting strokes to Path and using union to make the whole thing one object.

If you could share the SVG file with us (or whatever kind of file it is), we can tell you for sure, how to do it. Potentially the pattern could be made in several different ways, and we can't really guess how.

However, it should be fairly easy to make an array of hexagons with Inkscape. Forget downloading images, and just make your own!

In Document Properties > Grids, you can create an isometric/axonomic grid (which is based on hexagons).
Then with snapping (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... pping.html) and the Pen/Bezier tool you can easily draw 1 precise hexagon.
Or skip the grid, and use the Star/Polygon tool. (Although personally, I prefer the grid, because it's too easy not to be precise with Star/Polygon tool.)
Duplicate, and snap into place beside the first one.
Duplicate both, snap into place.
Duplicate all 4, snap into place.
Repeat until you have a row as long as you need.
Then duplicate rows, and snap into place, until it's as large as you need it.

Wow...that made it so easy...thank you very much !!

Good deal - you're welcome!

FYI:

Snapping paths line segment to segment can make many duplicated moves on the CNC... might want to use just one line segment per hexagon side.

I thought about that too. But he seemed to specifically emphasize needing to cut out the "fill", rather than the paths (which he already had). We never got to see the file.

It's true that if I need a honeycomb image for some reason (I don't use a cutter, so it's never for that reason), I use only the Y shape where the 3 hexagons in your animations meet. When you snap those together, you get the honeycomb without any overlapping lines.