Question on letter interiors when cutting out

[DreamingTreesCreates (Jennifer McDonald)]

I am cutting out words for a business…my first order! Whoop! Anyway, I will cut them out and then spray paint gold. My question is how to avoid issues when the interior of my letters are cutting out. I am a newbie and have learned a lot but have so much to learn. I am attaching the file. Also, if any of you experts see changes that I need to make on my toolpaths…I am willing to take any advice. In went with contouring but still learning so much.
usted cut out.c2d (276.6 KB)

I am using a Shapeoko HDM and stock is HDM . It came out fine but the interior letters will need a little sanding so smooth. Thank you so much.

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

Post a photo of how this cut?

[DreamingTreesCreates (Jennifer McDonald)]

We already cleaned in up but the center of the d in the two loops the s center. The e did fine. But it sort of broke off on the very last move and tore out a tiny section of board. Very small and able to sand down. I’m sorry I didn’t take a pic. Also. I had my max depth too high but learned from that

. I know I have read somewhere that I need a separate tool path possibly for the interior parts of letters. I just did not know if I needed to change the bit and if that needed to be done first or last. Once again I am open to any and all suggestions since I am a newbie.

[MicSquared (Mike Michaelson)]

1. I would do all the interior cutouts 1st
2. use smaller DOC and tabs
   Your final cut (thru the tabs) shouldn’t be an issue, but at worst you may have a small amount of clean up where the tabs were.

[DreamingTreesCreates (Jennifer McDonald)]

Another newbie question is about the depth per pass, feed rate, and such. I want to take the time to do it correctly but if you see I can cut down on times safely…I would appreciate it.

[DreamingTreesCreates (Jennifer McDonald)]

Thank you…that makes sense.

[DreamingTreesCreates (Jennifer McDonald)]

Here is an example of the breaking off situation. Help! This wasn’t an interior but at the end of the piece. Do I need to set up things differently?

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

You are cutting a slot just as narrow as the tool to a depth greater than the cutting flute length:

(I don’t have the font you used, but that shows the toolpath setting)

Where possible avoid slotting and add geometry and cut as a pocket

Making vacuum hose adapters

While cutting up vacuum extension wands for this is expedient, it’s a bit problematic given that Shop Vac recently filed for bankruptcy, was bought at the last minute, and production hasn’t caught up. I need a receptacle for the Sweepy 2.0 dust fitting — one option would be to purchase one from Woodcraft, but Carbide 3D sells blocks of HDPE: which looks to be just barely big enough for things to fit. Measuring the hose fitting I get a diameter of ~63.5mm — offsetting that twice we arrive at…

and/or

Adding geometry to cut as a pocket with a finishing pass

One technique which is often suggested to avoid slotting is to add geometry around a part which one wishes to cut out and cut as a pocket down to tab depth — here’s one technique for that. In this case, the project is a bevel gauge which will be cut out of 0.0625" (~1.5mm) thick aluminum: [bevelgauge] Due to the narrowness of the angles, an 0.03125" endmill has to be used, so after importing and scaling the file (we will be cutting out one which is 3") we select the perimeter and offset it tw…

and consider leaving a roughing clearance and taking a finishing pass.

See:

Best Bit for full cut through

One which has a cutting flute length equal to or greater than the thickness of the stock — pretty much any tool should work. Big thing is the toolpaths — if cutting out, rather than just cutting a slot: [image] Offset to the outside by endmill diameter plus 10% or so: [image] [image] [image] Then cut as a pocket: [image] down to tab height or the penultimate pass: [image] then move the contour down to below the pocket and start cutting at the bottom of the pocket: [image] and…