CCv5 vcarve toolpath start depth

[helipaddy (Patrick Wills)]

I am completely confused with the vcarve toolpath, partly because C3D’s tutorial is using an older version of CC.
Let’s say Start Depth is SD and Max Depth is MD and I am using a 60v cutter 302.
It doesn’t matter what value I set MD, the result never changes, I get a very slight thin carve of letters.
However, if I change SD it makes a big difference. I really struggled to find a guide online because “vcarve” searches pull up the software package!
I’d be super grateful on some guidance and also perhaps some tutorial online that is specific to vcarving (not advanced vcarving) in CC5.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

I wrote up a bit of a tutorial on this at:

A Different Sort of Tray, one cut to various depths

Here is a tutorial on cutting to various depths for various effects. The goal is to make a simple open box out of a suitable material, using at least one of each tool path option. Start by defining the size of the stock: [image] [image] The box will be 3" x 3" x 0.75" (maybe more of a tray than box?) so draw in a rectangle of that size which is centered in the working area: [image] The interior pocket will be 2.5" x 2.5" x 0.5" resulting in 0.5" thick sides and an 0.25" thick bottom, s…

if it doesn’t help, please post your file and let us know step-by-step:

• what you did
• what you expected
• what actually happened

and we’ll do our best to work through this with you.

[Julien]

I’ll contribute the small chapter on v-carving from the ebook:

https://shapeokoenthusiasts.gitbook.io/shapeoko-cnc-a-to-z/toolpath-basics#v-carving-toolpaths

Basically, for non-advanced v-carve

• keep start depth at 0
• ignore max depth.
• the actual depth of the cut will be derived from the angle of your vbit and the spacing between the lines in the vectors you are selecting. The wider, the deeper, that’s how v-carving works. In Advanced vcarving, the max depth can be used to artificially limit the depth at which the vbit will plunge to a set value, which will result in flat bottom areas when the vbit is far enough from the selected lines.