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woodchip
08-23-2013, 11:31 AM
Just curious, has anyone used centreline with the 1/16 carving bit and how did it look? at the moment my machine is on the fritz and I'm afraid to try it.

Dan-Woodman
08-23-2013, 04:22 PM
Depending on the size of your font, it would just be a 1/16" slot the shape of yor bit. You can get it into designer and run the cursor over it to see how deep the rout is. A lot of the fonts have squared up corners , so your 1/16" bit would not look good doing that. V-bits are the way to go for Centerline. 90 or 60 degree V-bit. 60 for small lettering, 90 for larger, and 90 using "outline" for even larger fonts. If the font does not have squared corners and just one line making the letter , the a roundnose bit will work also.

woodchip
08-23-2013, 04:58 PM
Thanks, was a little afraid to try right now.
Don

Digitalwoodshop
08-23-2013, 05:03 PM
For very small text it might work... I know when I designed some V90 text about a inch high and accidental installed a V60 bit, the text came out where a "I" would look like 2 "Y's" one up side down as the clean out of the top and bottom of the stroke was expecting the MASS of the V90 to do the cleaning.

Bet you find similar... You could try a Single Stroke Font like Modern and use Outline Mode and make the text small and use a 1/16th inch.

I use a 3/8 plunge bit with a flat bottom to do 2 inch high Modern Font text .1 deep. The smaller the text the smaller the bit used. I use a 1/2 or 3/4 inch bit for 4 inch high letters.

AL

chebytrk
10-29-2013, 02:23 PM
Is there a way in to fooling the CW when using centerline and trying to use something other than a V60 or V90? I purchased something smaller than a V60 because I really need to make smaller text carvings (something like a etched name plate that some put on a plaques & trophies). I keep trying to figure out a way around using a smaller Vbit for text. Sure wish there was a way that we could set the depth in Centerline. Maybe a wishlist item? I guess one way that was suggested was using a "shim" when the CW is measuring and set up the V60/V90 bit. Remove the "shim" off the board when the carving starts by pausing the machine. OR setting the Vbit a little longer (further out in the adapter) and then pushing it in right before the carving starts. OK... I know I answered the fooling the CW part, just looking to see if there's anything else out there that someone can recommend. I just want to use my new V22 bit without messing it up.

unitedcases
10-29-2013, 02:42 PM
A trick for text that steve price taught me is to do a subtractive raster carve for the text. Place a square and make it into a carving area and set the depth to zero. I have been using this and it cuts my big jobs down considerably. It just uses the carving bit for the whole project.

chebytrk
10-29-2013, 03:04 PM
Very cool! Have you tried carving real small text and had it come out OK? I'm trying to make text with a height about 1/4" or maybe even 1/8" without carving it too deep.


A trick for text that steve price taught me is to do a subtractive raster carve for the text. Place a square and make it into a carving area and set the depth to zero. I have been using this and it cuts my big jobs down considerably. It just uses the carving bit for the whole project.

unitedcases
10-29-2013, 03:08 PM
The smallest I have gone is 1/2 inch. But with good results.

CNC Carver
10-29-2013, 04:35 PM
A trick for text that steve price taught me is to do a subtractive raster carve for the text. Place a square and make it into a carving area and set the depth to zero. I have been using this and it cuts my big jobs down considerably. It just uses the carving bit for the whole project.

Do you have an example of how to subtractive raster carve? Sounds like it would work nice to speed up some carvings.

bergerud
10-29-2013, 04:40 PM
A trick for text that steve price taught me is to do a subtractive raster carve for the text. Place a square and make it into a carving area and set the depth to zero. I have been using this and it cuts my big jobs down considerably. It just uses the carving bit for the whole project.

How is this different than just inverting the raster text?

unitedcases
10-29-2013, 04:42 PM
I dont know dan. I have never done that nor did I know you could. Sounds the same?

DickB
10-29-2013, 05:01 PM
Sure wish there was a way that we could set the depth in Centerline.
The reason that there is no such option is that Centerline automagically sets the depth of the bit to get the desired width of cut. With a 90 degree v bit, to get a 1/4" wide cut, the depth must be exactly 1/8". You can't go deeper without going wider.


I'm trying to make text with a height about 1/4" or maybe even 1/8" without carving it too deep.If you cut a 1/8" tall letter with the 90 degree v bit, the width of the cut is going to be only a fraction of the letter height - something like 1/64" I imagine. So the depth will be 1/128". How much shallower are you trying to go?

chebytrk
10-29-2013, 05:27 PM
I'm trying to carve letters approximately the size of a name plate that a store employee would wear. Most of those are made on plastic name tags. I've started to get more and more orders for making plaques and I'm trying to avoid using another person with a laser engraver to make the name plates for me. Just trying to do it all myself if I can. I was hoping to try and find a way to use the smaller Vbit to make smaller text.


The reason that there is no such option is that Centerline automagically sets the depth of the bit to get the desired width of cut. With a 90 degree v bit, to get a 1/4" wide cut, the depth must be exactly 1/8". You can't go deeper without going wider.

If you cut a 1/8" tall letter with the 90 degree v bit, the width of the cut is going to be only a fraction of the letter height - something like 1/64" I imagine. So the depth will be 1/128". How much shallower are you trying to go?

gsdsj
10-29-2013, 05:58 PM
I have used an 1/8th 22 degree vbit for fine lines. Used the setting as if it were the carving bit in designer, from there you could set the depth. I was more worried about the speed and feed rate. If you go into Designer you can pick a 1/8" straight bit for centerline text, at a 1/2" height in text it shows the depth of cut to be .062. Not sure why an 1/8" 22 degree bit won't work,haven't tried it. Burning up the plastic would be a higher concern to me. Greg

chebytrk
10-30-2013, 08:11 AM
Not quite sure I understand. I created a text line using centerline on a board. I selected the 1/8 bit and can't make any adjustments to depth & I also don't see any where that it shows .062 to be the default set depth. I don't see the depth in the "select bit" menu.



I have used an 1/8th 22 degree vbit for fine lines. Used the setting as if it were the carving bit in designer, from there you could set the depth. I was more worried about the speed and feed rate. If you go into Designer you can pick a 1/8" straight bit for centerline text, at a 1/2" height in text it shows the depth of cut to be .062. Not sure why an 1/8" 22 degree bit won't work,haven't tried it. Burning up the plastic would be a higher concern to me. Greg

gsdsj
10-30-2013, 08:51 AM
In centerline you cannot set the depth, scroll over the lettering and it will show the depth at the bottom left of the screen.

DickB
10-30-2013, 09:10 AM
Not quite sure I understand. I created a text line using centerline on a board. I selected the 1/8 bit and can't make any adjustments to depth & I also don't see any where that it shows .062 to be the default set depth. I don't see the depth in the "select bit" menu.
He didn't say that he used centerline. He said "I have used an 1/8th 22 degree vbit for fine lines."

Why do you need to use a smaller v bit? Why wouldn't the 60 degree bit work?

chebytrk
10-30-2013, 10:02 AM
OK.. so here are a couple of plaques that I made a while back (approx 12x12x3/4). Carvings turned out fine and I had someone else make the plastic info add ons. As you can see the lettering in those what I call "name plates" is much smaller. Since then I've made more plaques and needing more name plates. I'm just trying to see if I can make text smaller & not as deep as the V60 (or maybe even the V90). I figured there might be a way to make smaller text using a V22 and not going as deep as the basic Vbits that we all have.

6554965550



He didn't say that he used centerline. He said "I have used an 1/8th 22 degree vbit for fine lines."

Why do you need to use a smaller v bit? Why wouldn't the 60 degree bit work?

Bigtyme
10-30-2013, 10:48 AM
I believe the V60 works pretty well for smaller lettering (especially when not bolded). I finished this board for a client in NYC 2 weeks ago. It is 12" by 14" and has some small print she wanted. It came out quite legible, I believe and the client was very happy.

65551

DickB
10-30-2013, 12:38 PM
I'm just trying to see if I can make text smaller & not as deep as the V60 (or maybe even the V90). I figured there might be a way to make smaller text using a V22 and not going as deep as the basic Vbits that we all have.
For any given width of the stroke of a letter, the 90-degree v bit will cut shallower than the 60-degree bit. The 60 will cut deeper. If there were an option for a V22, it would cut deeper still. If you want to cut shallower, select a narrow stroke and use the 90 degree v bit.

65552

chebytrk
10-30-2013, 05:23 PM
Thanks for the info Dick and John. I'm going to try and play around a little more with the Vbits and see what gives. Maybe even setting up a txt carve with V90 and use the V22 and see how that turns out. At least as soon as I can get my "clear board sensor" solved. That one is still driving me crazy, but sooner or later something has to give. LOL

dbfletcher
10-30-2013, 06:09 PM
For any given width of the stroke of a letter, the 90-degree v bit will cut shallower than the 60-degree bit. The 60 will cut deeper. If there were an option for a V22, it would cut deeper still. If you want to cut shallower, select a narrow stroke and use the 90 degree v bit.

65552

That is probably the best diagram I have seen so far on how the bit size affects centerline depth. Nice job!

DickB
10-30-2013, 07:28 PM
Thanks Doug!

One could probably get the clearest lettering by using a single-stroke font, like this one: http://www.onelinefonts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=100&products_id=240. I don't know if this particular font would give good results with Designer Centerline. It would be nice to try. Actually if one used a font where the width of all lines was the same, and lines ended in a round, not square, end, that should work. Like this one: http://www.dafont.com/comfortaa.font. You could assign a 90 v and swap a v22 with no distortion.

65560

Compare this font to Times New Roman. See the white tool path little stubs at the ends of the T. Those will cause distortion if you assign one V bit and use another. Comforta doesn't' have that and should carve cleanly.

I thought about making an alphabet similar to this by drawing vectors - the letter I would be one line, L two connected lines, d a line and a circle, etc. You could then assign any bit and depth to these vectors. But it would be a bit tedious to make the alphabet in the first place and to copy and paste letters into words and sentences.

An advantage of a narrower bit for small text is that because the narrower bit will cut deeper, the text is less sensitive to surface variation. If the board is not perfectly flat and even thickness, or if there is a small error in locating the board's surface, very small text with the 90 v can easily fade or disappear. That is one reason I regularly use the 60 v for small text.

dbfletcher
10-30-2013, 07:48 PM
I typically use Inkscape to render hershey typefaces (single stroke fonts developed in eh 50's I think). Then i export to dxf and use the dxf imported to get in it to carvewright. I most did this so i could accurately align my text to a path before bringing it to designer. I blieve things are better on this front these days with 2.0, but since my method still works fine, and I don't have 2.0, I haven't bother to change my habits yet.

DickB
10-30-2013, 07:58 PM
Had to give this a try. Comforta bold font, Designer 2, font size 16 pt (the smallest designer 2 will allow to be input), letter spacing 6, 60-degree bit assigned and used on MDF.

65561

I predict if a V22 bit were swapped in, the lettering would look the same but the cut would be narrower.