Letters are different than pocket

[jayville66 (robert greiner)]

I’m cutting out letters to glue onto a sign and also using the pocket tool path at .03 to plow out the letters for alignment, the problem is the actual letters aren’t quite the same shape as the pockets. Any thoughts? I’m using a 1/8” end mill. Thanks

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

A round tool can cut square outside corners, but necessarily leaves a radius on inside corners.

You will want to either use a font which is designed so as to not have these problems, or you will need to:

Inset by the radius of the tool used:

Apply

Then offset to the outside by twice that amount:

Apply

and lastly, inside by the original amount:

Apply

which then yields a shape which may be cut as expected:

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

Another option is to use the corner rounding tool:

[jayville66 (robert greiner)]

Thanks guys that’s very helpful one more question, if I use the curve tool or a font with curves do I use an offset when cutting the letters or cut on the line in order for them to line up with the pocket?

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

Depends on your material and tool.

One the line might work, or you may need an offset — my recommendation is to start with a single letter as a test — cut it out, then cut the pocket, then do a test fit, then adjust and re-cut the pocket.

Note if you’re using a belt-drive machine you should calibrate for belt-stretch:

Calibrating the machines over long distances

The typical technique for machine calibration: https://my.carbide3d.com/faq/belt-stretch/ depends on precision measuring tools, and is limited by the reach of the tools in question. EDIT: It also depends on access to the MDI — if using Carbide Motion v6 it will be necessary to enable this in Settings | Options: [image] It should be possible to cut strips from a suitable blank of material, one along each axis — so we set up a square file which matches an available blank of material: [ima…