Contour depth not consistent

[GreenForrestWoodwork (Solomon)]

Hello everyone.

I am doing another sign, using the same toolpaths and bits as a very similar sign.

When I run the simulation, the letters are not fully cut out, it skips parts of the letters that don’t make sense (to me).

I did change the font size (smaller) than the previous sign and I am afraid that might be the issue. But I need the full letters to cut out… obviously.

Please help… And Thank you.
Mar-a-Lago Valet sign wider arch top 2.c2d (400 KB)

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

You will need to use a tool small enough to fit in the narrowest area of the recess w/ a bit of room to spare.

If you’re using V carving for part of it, why not use that for everything?

Alternately, for a work-around see:

Alternatives to single-line fonts

One work-around for a single-stroke font is to inset the text. Given a text in a font which is close to being mono-line: [image] convert the text to curves: [image] Draw in geometry at the narrowest point: [image] And then inset: [image] [image] Apply [image] and then apply a No Offset Contour toolpath: [image] [image] Attached as a v7 file carbide3d_single_stroke_alternative.c2d (140 KB)

Then apply a No Offset Contour:

Note for the outside/perimeter, where possible avoid slotting and add geometry and cut as a pocket

Making vacuum hose adapters

While cutting up vacuum extension wands for this is expedient, it’s a bit problematic given that Shop Vac recently filed for bankruptcy, was bought at the last minute, and production hasn’t caught up. I need a receptacle for the Sweepy 2.0 dust fitting — one option would be to purchase one from Woodcraft, but Carbide 3D sells blocks of HDPE: which looks to be just barely big enough for things to fit. Measuring the hose fitting I get a diameter of ~63.5mm — offsetting that twice we arrive at…

and/or

Adding geometry to cut as a pocket with a finishing pass

One technique which is often suggested to avoid slotting is to add geometry around a part which one wishes to cut out and cut as a pocket down to tab depth — here’s one technique for that. In this case, the project is a bevel gauge which will be cut out of 0.0625" (~1.5mm) thick aluminum: [bevelgauge] Due to the narrowness of the angles, an 0.03125" endmill has to be used, so after importing and scaling the file (we will be cutting out one which is 3") we select the perimeter and offset it tw…

and consider leaving a roughing clearance and taking a finishing pass.

Best Bit for full cut through

One which has a cutting flute length equal to or greater than the thickness of the stock — pretty much any tool should work. Big thing is the toolpaths — if cutting out, rather than just cutting a slot: [image] Offset to the outside by endmill diameter plus 10% or so: [image] [image] [image] Then cut as a pocket: [image] down to tab height or the penultimate pass: [image] then move the contour down to below the pocket and start cutting at the bottom of the pocket: [image] and…

[GreenForrestWoodwork (Solomon)]

YES!! You da man.

Would you personally use the V carving, or the single-line? I tried setting it up with V carving, but couldn’t get it to look right. Also, is there a way to put a tiny bit of space between the R and A so that they don’t overlap?

Thank you!

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

Appearance is an aesthetic consideration and a matter of taste for which each person will need to be guided by their own sense and conscience.

The “correct” way to get spacing there would be to set the type in a tool which allows discrete control over that — any decent drawing/page layout tool would allow that, then convert to curves and save as an SVG and import. Alternately, you could select a font which spaces that pair by default as you want it to appear (probably Helvetica would not touch).

In Carbide Create the controls for this are:

Spacing:

or Convert to Curves which then allows selecting letter outlines and their counters:

and shifting them by either dragging, or nudging w/ the arrow keys (holding down shift while doing so will result in a 1/10th step movement).

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

That said, a V carving toolpath w/ a #302:

seems fine:

[GreenForrestWoodwork (Solomon)]

Yeah… Definitely a cleaner look.

[GreenForrestWoodwork (Solomon)]

Good call. Thank you for the advice. I was stuck trying to match the other signs, but they had less wording, so it wasn’t as busy. With all of these words, it looks too busy in the same style.

[GreenForrestWoodwork (Solomon)]

Yeah, definitely going this route. 1 less tool change. About 4 minutes more in time (no big deal) once I changed the plunge depth to 1/2 the .260 max depth.

Thank you again.

On a side note, I got my CNC out of storage last week and moved it in to my new garage. So I can start back up on projects after loosing my warehouse in December. God is good!

Thank you so much.

[SDGuy (Anthony)]

Another way to add space between the R and A is to adjust the spacing.

The select the text again and use the scale tool to move the left and right side of the text to the position that you like.

zoomed in.