I bought a contraption from an outfit up in Canada via Ebay that has really proven to be helpful for testing new designs without actually cutting material. If you search Ebay with "CNC pen," you'll find this attachment that lets you put pretty much any pen into the holder, and then fit the holder into a 1/4" router collet. If you test a design using the "quick engrave" function in VCarve, the pen will trace your design onto paper. I define the pen as a drag engraver, with no depth of cut.
The attachment is $52 shipped--a bit on the high side, but well worth it from what I've experienced. It's well made and should last forever. There are other holders out there that will hold plotter pens, but this one lets you put a cheap BIC or whatever in place instead and will probably be cheaper than one of the plotter attachments over the long haul since you don't have to buy expensive plotter pens. Anyway, I have no connection with the seller of these other than being a satisfied customer. I think of this as an intermediate step between the virtual machine paths within VCarve and really taking a bit to wood.
Dave
Useful Tool--CNC Pen Attachment
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Useful Tool--CNC Pen Attachment
Last edited by theremin on Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Useful Tool--CNC Pen Attachment
Sounds cool, got a link?
Ralph
Ralph