Buying Vector Art

[lazym]

I am still REALLY new at this so please bear with me. I have had my machine for two weeks now CNC Shark Pro) and I can only carve letters in the wood. I didn't think I was that stupid. I tried to make a plaque for our neighbor with letters on it and two squares (one on either side) that are cut out about 1/16 of an inch. I have read and watched training stuff many times and am now getting frustrated. The letters cut out fine. When the machine is done, I change bits to the 1/4 in. flat cutter, lower the bit back down to the wood, load the second, square cut, click on the XYZ.. thingy to reset everything to zero and start carving. The cutter goes right to my letters and wipes them out.

How can I cut two squares into the wood? I want to put two 3" x 3" squares (one on either side) and have them cut all the wood out within the square to a depth of around 1/16th of an inch.

From everything I have read and watched, this machine (VCarve Pro) can do just about everything. And, of course, I want to do it all. Also, do I need to buy all the programs that Vecor Art sells? I see they have a sale on if you buy two or three at one time, you save money. But that cost over three hundred dollars. Would I be paying to be able to do more stuff or to buy art that can be carved?

Thanks for listening,
Wayne

[jeb2cav]

Hi Wayne,

Can you attach your VectorPro crv file to this thread? I'd be glad to give it a look and see if I can help.

[GARYR6]

No you don't have to buy it all.

You got new guy issues with the software. Take a breath, attach the file and we will help you out. AND if we can't you, you can post on Vectric.com/forum and get help. Believe me when I tell you it just takes a little time and practice. We have all been there, well most of us have.....there maybe some natural born graphics people that just "get it". I think I was absent that day when they handed that smart out........and no I wasn't there when they handed out the good looks either.
If you think this is bad, wait till you send you CNC cutting through the hold downs or through the table top or any other number of things that can and will happen with your new toy. The really good news is soon you will be producing wonderful works of ART that will amaze and mystify your friends and neighbors guaranteed to produce ouououououo and ahahahahahahahs.
Hang in there.

[Buc]

I may not have understood the question entirely, so here are my thoughts. I don't always pay attention. You want to v-carve text within a boundary box. When you go to create a tool path you will have to check the box for use flat area clearence tool. Calculate the tool paths. Save them. I always save them to the desktop, easiest place for me to find something. There are two tool paths. Machine the V-carve1 [pocket] one first with the .250" end mill. Then run the V-carve1 tool path using the V tool. There are a lot of free .CRV files on the vectric forum. I upgraded to Aspire, as I make a lot of 3D animal signs and carvings, it does the job for me. Be patient, my wife tells me I taught the dog to swear, well maybe I did, but it was because of the shark pro and vectric software....

Buc (Imagination Retired, 1 Oct 2009)

[Dwayne125]

I may not have understood the question entirely, so here are my thoughts. I don't always pay attention. You want to v-carve text within a boundary box. When you go to create a tool path you will have to check the box for use flat area clearence tool. Calculate the tool paths. Save them. I always save them to the desktop, easiest place for me to find something. There are two tool paths. Machine the V-carve1 [pocket] one first with the .250" end mill. Then run the V-carve1 tool path using the V tool. There are a lot of free .CRV files on the vectric forum. I upgraded to Aspire, as I make a lot of 3D animal signs and carvings, it does the job for me. Be patient, my wife tells me I taught the dog to swear, well maybe I did, but it was because of the shark pro and vectric software....

Buc (Imagination Retired, 1 Oct 2009)

Hello Buc

I dont have my shark yet, hopefully Tuesday. I was just wondering if he carves the two boxes first, he would'nt be wasting as much time because he would know if the lettering was going to get wiped or not. From what I have read he should do an air test on the second toolpath (the two boxes) first untill he has the toolpath sorted out. If I only had my own shark....then I could post and answer my own question incorectly

[Dwayne125]

Wayne

I just re read your post and, by all means someone correct me if im wrong, you should have only reset the (Z) axis. If you reset all the axises to zero without being in the exact home position then your positioning will be off. Are u in home position when U reset everything? if not this might be the problem.

[jeb2cav]

Hi All,

No response yet, but I thought I'd follow up as well - still not clear, but it originally sounded to me as if Wayne wanted to carve some lettering in a recessed area. If so, I suspect the lettering is getting "wiped out" by the recess/pocket/inlay cut as the tool starting depth for the lettering is currently set to zero.

I created a simple project with two variations. In the first, the lettering cuts all start at 0, as does the box inlay cuts, and all cuts are the same depth.

I cut the lettering with a v-bit:

Text all Same Height - Before box inlay

Change to end mill (reset z as the DWayne points out), and cut the box inlay:

Text all same height - after box inlay

The lettering in the box inlay is removed by the box inlay cut.

In the second variation, I set a start depth for the text inside the box inlay to 0.25 (the depth of the inlay cut)(rambling, but I'd probably set it to 0.24 to account for any variation in wood curvature or table (I haven't decided how I'm going to approach the table height / setup with my setup yet)). The lettering at the top of the sign still has a start depth of 0. But now I have 3 tool paths - one for box lettering, one for top of sign lettering, and one for the box inlay.

I cut the box inlay first:

Box inlay cut - lettering different start depths

Change bit to v-bit, reset z 0, and run the lettering (you could select both of the lettering toolpaths and generate a single tab file, or generate a separate tab file (g-code) for each lettering). This will be in a follow on post as the maximum number of attachments is 3.

[jeb2cav]

As I left off - inlay is cut, but I have toolpath for the text in the box inlays that starts at the depth of the box inlay cut. I've already made the box inlay cut using an end mill.

Text cut - lettering different start depths

I've attached the 2 crv files in a zip file for what it's worth.

With regard to DWaynes comment / question on air cutting - I've found so far that air cutting is useful to mitigate the things GaryR talks about - hitting clamps, table top, etc. I did a fair number of air cuts after getting the machine just so I'd have a better sense. However, the preview toolpaths in VCarve is extremely accurate for the material cutting part (but the table, gantry, extents, clamps, screws, etc aren't present).

[Dwayne125]

Greetings

I agree with everything you posted jeb2cav. I guess Wayne would need to give more details, and specifics on what he is trying to put on his sign and where he wants it to go. Was I right on telling him to only reset the Z axis. I figure if you have carved out you're material under the home position (x=0,Y=0,z=0), it would be imposible to set your bit to zero in this position. If you moved the router off of home and reset every axis to zero, you would effectivly throw off all your vectors. Is this right? I do have to admit one thing though. While im just putting my shark together, im online here cause my router doesnt fit, I would be more inclined to ask you about those awsome posts you do jeb2cav

[jeb2cav]

Hi Dwayne,

I'm not sure I follow your question entirely. So far, I've found that it is easier to design in VCarve with a single x,y,z zero "location". So far, I generally have 1/2 to 1 inch of waste around the edges of the finished project, so, I can always get to my x,y,z zero and reset the bit when changing. Even if I didn't have waste area, I think I'd be ok on the edge.

If what you've carved on is also at x,y,z zero, you right, there'd be a challenge...

I think the statement of resetting the z is a good point when a bit change is involved. I'm still trying different methods for bit change and setting z zero. The one I've had the most success with so far is to slip the bit into the tool, carefully move the head "down" to the work piece until the bit makes contact (and in fact moves a little as I haven't tightened the router collar), then I tighten the router collar.

Thanks for the comment on the posts. I've learned a lot even before getting my Shark on the ground from this and the Vectric forum. Thought I'd pay a little back.