I have a layout of a golf course, have made pocket around all of the fairways so they appear raised. That took a while to learn, but I got it.
I added a second vector which represents the shape of the green. I don’t want to pocket the green, I just want to represent where and the shape of the green with a tapered line. I thought I could just do a contour, set the bit as a V bit, no offset, and set the depth very shallow just to have a line traced onto the project.
I have tried all kinds of depths, bits, etc… and everything turns out more like a pocket or flat.
How can I just use the tip of a V bit to trace a shape? Sorry for such a ridiculously dumb question…
I’m afraid that Carbide Create does not properly preview a V endmill unless it is used for a V carving. You will need to “stroke” or offset the geometry in question so as to cut it as a V carve — could you post it?
Many times you just want an outline with a vee bit. However in converting our pics into an SVG Carbide Create interputs the greens line as a wide line. Vee bits try to cut as deep as necessary to touch both sides of a line. So if CC thinks your entire green is one big line it will cut deeper and deeper until the bit can touch both sides of the imaginary bit line. That is where advanced vcarve comes in. You pocket out the inside of the big line and set maximum depth of both the endmill and the vee, then the vee bit goes around the outside. Since you dont want the pocket you could try to advanced vcarve and set a pocket depth of a a thousands of an inch and see if that works.
Luckily, the machine doesn’t know what bit it has in when it does the cutting.
So, if you create a new tool as a regular endmill, flat or ball, and set it to be say 0.1mm wide, and use that as your profile bit, it will draw properly in CC.
When you run the project, pop a VBit in instead of the imaginary 0.1mm endmill. You’ll get your groovy groove, and also the thrill of going against the rules and fooling the machine
I lie to my machine all the time. I program a flat endmill and then put a vee bit in instead and it does just what I need it to. Often, I’ll run the session, reset z down .02mm and run it again until the depth and width pleases me.
