Hi, about a month or so in to cnc with my shapeoko xl Zplus and have a question about cutting small text. .250” or smaller. What toolpath function should I use? vcare or advanced vcare…ect
What’s the minimum depth?
Are certain fonts better to use then others. Any other tips???
Thanks for the help.
Rob
The font of the text will determine your answer. The vcarve will try to touch both sides of the character. So if you have a wide text then the vcarve will carve deeper until the bit touches both sides of the lines. If you have very thin text the vcarve will barely scratch the surface. So Advanced vcarve will work for limiting the depth but cannot do much for very small thin characters. If you use advanced vcarve and the letter is too thin for a flat end mill that will be skipped and the depth of cut would be limited. Regular vcarve there is no limit to the depth of cut except that the bit touches both sides of the line.
You will have to experiment with what fonts work best. There are some fonts that look terrible vcarved and look better pocketed out with 1/16 or 1/8 bit but again it depends on what size of the font and the thickness of the font. Additionally it depends on what vee bit you use. A 90 degree vee will tend to cut deeper, a 60 degree will not cut as deep and 25 or 30 degree vee bits seem to work well for small letters. I think the #501 PCB engraving bit has been said to work for small letters on coasters.
Most system fonts show up on Carbide Create. Some applications on my Windows 10 laptop show the fonts in alphabetical order where in CC the fonts seem quite random in order. If a font does not show up on CC you may need to download the font, right click and run as administrator to allow the font to be used by all users. It seems to be a case by case if a font will show up without installing it for all users on the system. I quit asking why and just know that it does it and move forward.
There is no one answer because everyone has different fonts on their system.
My method for very small text is to use single line fonts (which are hard to find) and then use no-offset tool paths and small vbits. So the tip of the vbit just scratches the surface.
Here is some 2mm high text, that was too small for the wood I was using but still an good example of this method.
Guy, did you phrase that the way you were thinking? 
I agree that a no-offset single line vector is the only way to ensure depth of cut and consistent behaviour.
For fonts, single line fonts are often used in the plotter-cutter crafting world (ie: machines like the Cricut) so some of those sites and communities might have a few fonts available for use.
I like the fonts at singlelinefonts.com. Their single line fonts seem to have good kerning for CNC router stuff, but choose one by looking at how the “A”, “4”, “G” and “Q” will cut in a small size.
Be mindful that the difference between a $7 font and a $20 font is the selling aspect of using the font. If you sell the resulting product, then you need to purchase the “Commercial License” version.
Commercial License:
You can install the font(s) on up to two computers each, using up to two output devices such as printers, plotters, engravers, vinyl cutters, etc. You may use this in creating items to sell such as cards, wedding invitations and other custom paper goods, and jewelry.
Thanks for all the great information.
I have a 30 deg and 60 deg v bit.
I need to download some single line fonts!!!
One thing which you can do here is to define a custom V endmill which has a width matched to the depth which you wish to cut for each depth which you wish to cut — the preview won’t be right, but it will be more usable.
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