V carving requires a couple of things:
- completely level wasteboard, stock surface, and gantry, or a mechanism to adjust for an uneven stock surface: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Calibration_and_Squaring_the_Machine#Tramming and https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/CAM#Leveling
- an appropriate setting of V endmill angle to text/feature size: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Endmills#V-bits
- a machine in otherwise good mechanical shape: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/FAQ#Mechanical
- appropriate feeds and speeds: https://docs.carbide3d.com/support/#tooling-support and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bceJxpqG0 for concepts on this and https://www.precisebits.com/tutorials/calibrating_feeds_n_speeds.htm for a testing technique
- ensuring feature size doesn’t overwhelm the ability of a tool to cut to a given width: V carve + inside pocket?
Further, it may be helpful to use a CAM tool which preserves G2/G3 arcs.
Thank you for your fast reply! I will look to all of these. I just got my Shapeoko and there’s a lot to figure out. The build went pretty smoothly but I will make sure it is square, etc. First off. Right now, I mostly want to carve things into coasters and cheese boards that I make and sell. I am also starting to learn fusion 360-which has a bit of a steep learning curve. BTW, is there a chart anywhere that gives optimal font to bit operation ie some of the better fonts to use with particular bits? Thanks.
The link:
https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Endmills#V-bits
relates V angle to text/feature size.
Rather than Fusion 360, most of what you describe would be easily done using Carbide Create — I’d suggest starting with that, then moving on when you hit its limitations.
Thanks! I am out to spend a relaxing afternoon in the shop playing around with all of this!
Cheers!
Finally started to figure some things out thanks to Will! I adjusted the font sizes and speeds and made a sample board of my favourites to see how they cut.
Those look pretty good!
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