Hi, I've attached an image of the vector, the cut preview, and three different versions of the actual cut. I'm carving some v-carve letters with a 1/2"D 90-degree v-bit and as you can see I'm having a hard time getting the letters straight. Many of the corners have issues and there are some other weird areas that I've circled in my picture. I'm running a Workbee 1510, with a spindle. and using Aspire for the toolpaths and gcode. The settings I used are as noted in the picture. Please let me know any suggestions you have to get these letters looking right. Thanks!
I tried some tests with different fonts and had promising results. Maybe it was just the font and the SVG after all.
Are you cutting the v-depth all in one pass? That is, for the widest part of the 'N' in the first letter, the cutter will have to dive deeply into the wood. As a V-cutter goes deeper, the load on the cutter goes up fast as the cutter gets wider; especially in the initial 'plunge' part of the cut. If there is any flex in the Z-axis, if the tool path tries to cut a full-depth V in one pass, there is a risk of the Z-axis flexing, and the cutter does not go as deep as anticipated. If the cutter does not go to full depth, then the letter section will appear to narrow. For a long section of a V, you can get the appearance of only part of the letter being thin or distorted as when the Z makes the bit first plunge in, the bit is trying to cut essentially a conical hole, and then as the X/Y axes move, the cutter is cutting a slot. The initial conical hole is the bit that needs most force and may be shallow, but as the cut progresses, the Z will usually settle to the wanted level. Try setting the V-bit tool pass depth in Aspire to be quite shallow as a test, and then re-calculate the tool path so that the deep sections are cut with multiple passes. It is also always worth a quick check that all the grub screws are tight and that nothing is slipping. Evan EDIT: just noticed on the photo that you had a 0.1" and 15"/min plunge on the first of the letters, then 0.125" and 25"/min on the others. Try with 15"/min plunge but 0.025" cut per pass and see if the shape improves. If the total cut of the letter is a little too deep, or not quite deep enough, it can distort the corner regions still, but if the bit is plunging into the wood smoothly, the straight sections of the letters should come out straight.
