Newbie here!
I want to produce a small Christmas Tree ornament with names. Each time I think I have the correct position or bit (.050 ball nose) it still comes out with chips or the lettering is too small. Such as the E where the middle part will break or be too small. What type of wood should I use, and what bit would be best?
Softwoods are as the name indicates soft. The next step up is popular which takes paint well. Next up would be cherry and then maple. Towards the top is hardwoods like oak. Oak is quite hard but also brittle so Cherry and Soft Maple would be good candidates. All wood is subject to chip out. Personally I like to use down cut bits best but that depends on the thickness of the wood. A down cut bit leaves a cleaner top edge but packs chips down so deep trenches the chips get trapped and recut that leads to a dull bit. Upcut bits lift the chips up but tends to tear ut the top edge more than a down cut. You could do a champher around the top edges with a 90/60 degree vee bit by making an offset and limit the depth. That would soften the edges and remove any fuzzies or slight chip out.
For such delicate lines it would be best to use plywood.
A good way to start would be to offset to the outside by endmill diameter plus 10%, but the geometry needs to be edited:
or instead, use Trim Vectors:
OK
Select all the open geometry:
Join it using Join Vectors:
Yes
To this same sort of editing for any unjoined geometry:
Then use Trim Vectors:
Delete the added geometry:
Join Vectors
Yes
Select everything and offset to the outside by endmill diameter plus 10%:
Deselect the outer geometry:
and delete the small interiors:
Then assign an Advanced V carving toolpath:
Then assign a pocket toolpath to remove what is not wanted:
You will need to use a workholding technique which keeps the parts in place, or you will need to reduce the depth for the pocket and add tabs and then finish with an outside Contour.
Attached as a v8 file:
hksrs.c2d (392 KB)
Wow, thank you for giving me step by step. I knew I was over my head when I made my first cut and it was awful.
TigerPLY® EDGE 1/4 x 4 x 8 Premium Sanded Plywood. This or something similar would be great for this type of a project.