I.m not sure where to ask this question so I’ll just throw it out here…
I’m a newbie to my Shapeoko Pro and to Vcarve and Carbide Create. I’ve gotten familiar with the basics in both programs and could use some advice as to where I can read up on what it is I have in mind to do.
I want to carve a repeating cut-out into a 3" x 3" by 72" long by 1/4" thick aluminum ‘L’ on one side along its entire length. The cut-out will be centered along the x-axis and be approximately 8" long and 1" wide with 1" diameter ends (rounded ends). Naturally, I will need to reposition the piece at least three times to accomplish this. Of course, I will begin with wood before moving on to aluminum. If it matters, I’m making a custom roof rack for my vehicle and these will be the side rails.
Can anyone offer some advice or recommend some videos where I can learn the best way to ‘register’ or re-zero the piece each time it’s moved with the table and spindle so as to maintain a very close X and Y-axis alignment; It doesn’t need to be dead nuts perfect, just as close as is practically possible.
One very good way is to drill index holes as part of your cut, which mate with pins in your waste-board. If you don’t want to/can’t drill holes in your roof rails, then perhaps marking an alignment point with the CNC and clamping a block to that mark which you then use to move and realign ready for the next cut
The video was interesting, but what caught my eye was Vectric’s "Trim Vector Tool" — CC NEEDS THAT!
I did figure out how to mimic the behavior of that tool - at least for the straight line example, but it’s rather kludgy and expensive in terms of keystrokes. It would be nice to have CC have that tool. I’ll post a separate thread on that discussion, rather than derail this one.
EDIT: Here is the link to a description of how I emulated the trim tool (and the problem I encountered)
