Hi all,
I’m working on a clock project, but I am having trouble fitting toolpaths around the numbers. The look I am aiming for is an outer border around the numbers, and then anything not part of the letters would be cut away. It would look similar to embossing, I guess.
So for the letters XII, I have a 1/8" contour around the outside, and then two pockets for the space between the X and I, and the space between the I and I. But the little gaps in the top and bottom of the X do not look good. Is there any option I am not thinking of for removing those, besides creating a shape to fit in those spaces?
Fantastic! I hadn’t worked my way up to using Advanced VCarve yet so I wasn’t aware of that capability. I just did a test piece and it looks like that will work quite well. Thanks for the quick reply!
Hmm, wouldn’t that result in the same path I showed in my screenshot? I used an outside contour, which is really what an offset does - just at different distances. Even if I move it further away, it still doesn’t seem to remove the gaps within the X.
I see I didn’t fully understand what you meant but If I do understand you don’t want the contour to follow the insides of the X and want to make the contour go straight across? Once you do the offset go to your node editor place a new node on each side of the space you want removed and delete the nodes between those spots and it’ll just give you a straight line between the two new nodes.
Okay, I think I see where you are going. That would give me a nice tight contour around the outer perimeter, which might look better than a vcarve box/shape. I would still want to remove those top and bottom gaps in the X though. The ones between X and I as well as I and I are fine - those are easy pockets. But I would have to create some shape to remove those other spaces. Or am I missing something else?
So I’m at work and just using my phone imagine the tool path line is your offset line but the red dots are gonna be new nodes added the blue will be the ones you delete and when you delete the blue the line will be straight between the two red dots
I wasn’t sure what you meant by adding nodes, but I was able to move a node around to accomplish what you are describing. After deleting all of the now-unneeded nodes (the ones that extend into the top/bottom of the X), I have a nice contour line around the perimeter - but still have the X gaps. Then, by selecting the outer offset and the main number shape together, I made a pocket toolpath to erase those gaps. I added the contour around the outside and the two interior pockets. I think this will work! Sadly I can’t run anything until tomorrow, but I will see how this looks compared to Will’s vcarve solution.
