Good morning everyone - Completed my first job. A simple name plaque. (picture attached) I used V-Carve Pro Couple of questions... 1. The machine left several areas uncut in the pocket toolpath. Not sure why. 2. I set the profile toolpath to cut the plaque at the material thickness of 3/4", with the hope to completely cut out the finished plaque. The machine did not cut all the way through. Is this caused by the improper installation depth of the bit into my router? If so, how do you determine the proper installation of the bit? Thanks in advance! Robert
Did you measure the thickness of your material? Where did you set the origin in Vectric, and did you set workplace zero in the same place on the machine? If you were doing a pocket toolpath and setting the depth at the thickness of the material Vectric should have warned you that it would cut all the way through. Did you set any "stock to leave"? Alex.
1. Measure the thickness of the material. 2. Measure the diameter of the bit used for pocket toolpath. 3. Generate the toolpath and preview the toolpath. If the preview looks good, the bit may be too small or too big. 4. Home the machine and zero X, Y, and Z. 5. Zero Z so that the bit is just touching the material. If using Z probe, make sure that the thickness of the Z probe is correct. 6. When creating cut-out profile, add 0.05" or 1mm to thickness of material.
What everyone else said. But since its your first project, it may be that you've havent calibrated your steps per mm as well.
As mentioned above by jeffmorris, end mill diameter is important. Not all end mills are the diameter they claim to be. Most I have purchased (unless they were over $30 or more each) come in a little undersized which will lead to parts being too large and pockets being too small. I measure all of my end mills with a caliper and input that exact diameter into my tool list in Vcarve. Also, when creating things like your project above, you may need to even step down to very small end mills to clean out the area between letters. For example, a 1/4" end mill can't cut a 1/8" gap between letters. Vcarve will not allow it. Since you are using VCarve Pro, you could always put your Z-zero at the spoil board. This will ensure cutting through the material. But you need to have a flattened spoil board to be sure it is cutting all around to the depth of the spoil board.
Alex - Thanks for the reply. Regarding your answer #5...I am using a Z-probe but the probe is clearly not the same thickness (smaller) than the material. Could this be my problem?
Vetric was set to: xy datum, front left z-zero, front left material surface I did not get a warning about cutting all the way through. Curious, do most people use the z-probe? Or do they manually zero and configure
What sort of Z probe? The software (often a macro) for a Z probe sets the Z zero at the point where the bit touches the probe, minus an OFFSET equal to the height or thickness of the probe. For example a common type consists of an aluminium plate (which forms one side of a switch) which is placed on top of the workpiece. I usually only bother with a probe if accuracy is critical - if I plan to cut all the way through I add 0.5 mm to the overall cut depth and use a piece of thin paper to set Z zero - when the paper is just trapped by the bit I set Z zero. Alex.
I really appreciate everyone’s help with my questions and aid through this learning curve. Merry Christmas! Robert
