Trouble with font clarity

[Andrew827 (Andrew Dolha)]

Hi everyone. Very new to this all. Trying to v cut some signs and not getting great clarity. The signs are small. Used the 60 degree Carbide 302 bit but the lettering did not really come out clean. Is it my machine, my design the font…? Just not sure. Any suggestions? Any thoughts would be welcome. Oh, created the design in Create (most of the words except for a downloaded svg logo. Thanks all!

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

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.

[Andrew827 (Andrew Dolha)]

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.

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

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.

[Andrew827 (Andrew Dolha)]

Thanks! I am out to spend a relaxing afternoon in the shop playing around with all of this!
Cheers!

[Andrew827 (Andrew Dolha)]

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.

[mikep]

Those look pretty good!