Hi there, I’m diving into he Vcarve function of my Shapeoko xxl , trying to make and extrusion molding.
Looks like I can export a 3D extrusion from Sketchup but how to open in Carbide Create and set up for this verticle cut with 60-% Vmill from Inventables. I was also wondering if Vcarve was included in the purchase of the Shapeoko xxl / or did I dream of that?
I would like to make those profiles and many other on my XXL that I’ve been having lots of creative fun in the last year, but now < I must Vcarve !
Vectric VCarve software? Last I checked it was pay to play, not included with an SO3. Maybe you’re thinking of Meshcam that comes with the Nomad?
The moulding toolpaths your trying to do can be done in VCarve, but you can’t cut them with a V bit, those would be done with a ball nose end mill and maybe a square end mill for clearing. A V bit won’t cut those straight vertical sides, the geometry is wrong.
Carbide Create only accepts SVG and DXF files, and will import pixel images to use as a reference for re-drawing on the background layer.
As @DanoInTx noted, Vectric Vcarve has a facility for importing 3D files, and MeshCAM is a 3D CAM program.
The profile you show would need to be cut with a combination of V shaped and ball-nosed endmills — with a bit of care/patience one could draw up geometry which would result in it being cut in Carbide Create after a fashion, but you’d probably want to use a radiused bit for the rounded portion which its not able to preview. A specialty program for doing this sort of thing would be pretty cool, but I’m not aware of one.
I don’t know how/if that can be done in Carbide Create, but can be done pretty easily as a moulding toolpath in Vectric VCarve. Another way would be to import a 3D model (stl) into another program that accepts 3D models such as Meshcam. I’m guessing Fusion360 could probably do the same, but I have little experience in that. Carbide Create is more of a 2.5D piece of software. The V carve function isn’t made to do extrusions.
