Question about Carbide Bits

[Acousticplayer (Chad Landry)]

I am just starting to Engrave. I have a plaque I want to do.

The lettering is about .25 inches and .40 for the title. Using the 60 degree vbit and for the larger letters it looks fine, for the smaller letters it looks not well defined. In reading it looks like I can go to 30 degree but have 2 questions.

1. how do you enter that into Carbide Create toolpath. There is not 30 degree
2. In looking at the products, there is an engraving kit. (501 and 502). Would that be a better choice?

This will be a hardwood sign.

Thanks in advance

[fenrus (Arjan van de Ven)]

you can add you own custom tools (@WillAdams has a tutorial for that) and there you can specify any angle.

One of the things to look at is some like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-Diameter-30-Degree-1-Flute-Solid-Carbide-V-Bit-CNC-Router-Bit-Rogue-USA-G25/254785494727

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

The old (316) method isn’t compatible with the new (400 and later) method, and unfortunately custom tools from 316 are not directly imported into newer versions.

In the newer version in order to enter a custom tool it is necessary to create a new user library — tools may then be added to that by using the graphical interface.

See:

Adding tools in CC440 and later

This is a bit different — the tools are now stored in CSV files (do Help | About | Open Data Directory to access the carbidecreate/tools directory), and it is first necessary to add a New Library: [image] after clicking on the “New library” button you will get the “Create new library” dialog: [image] make appropriate selections (note that certain endmills only appear in certain materials — at this time, MDF has the most complete listing — further note that one aspect of this is the suitabil…

Note that since the move to curated values in 434, certain entries which were required are now hidden in the data since they are not needed.

For V-angle/feature size see: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Endmills#V-bits

Note that the #501 and 502 are intended for PCB engraving — they have a rounded tip which makes them more durable, but not as suited for fine detailing.