Hi Ken,
I’d recommend brushing on clear to seal the initial cut to stop bleeding, then use mica powders available in craft stores or online for tinting (they’re opaque). The only downside is having to wait for cure twice.
1 Like
Yeah, I actually filled the entire project with clear epoxy as my first step to avoid bleeding and tearout. I’ll look into powders. I just poured my next layer which is white and added 12 drops and that seems to have done it.
Here’s a picture of the epoxy “dust” I mentioned being generated by my v-bit.
On my 15deg Vbit, I use the paper method to set my Z. Red is the toughest color in epoxy, and if you are mixing 6 ounces, you can go a lot heavier on the Mixol without impacting the cure. I will add enough tint so that I cannot see through it with my wood popsicle stick while stirring it up. With red, you gotta go heavy. As far as cleaning up the mess after cutting into the cured epoxy, I use a combo of a Cricut Weeder Tool, and a nylon brush.
Okay, thanks. Thought maybe I was doing something wrong getting so much debris from cutting into the epoxy.
Nope, your work looks exactly like mine. It should clean up pretty easy.
2 Likes
Surfaced this morning. This is right off the CNC and I still need to sand and finish. I see a few things that need fixing, but all in all I’m happy with the results.
8 Likes
Amazing! I see epoxy in my future!!
Nice work! Can I ask what bit and depth you chose for the text?
I used a 15* v-bit and went down .125". As you can see the text didn’t come out so good and is the main thing I need to fix. The letters are very narrow. I figure there are 2 ways to attack it. I can offset those vectors outward a touch or I can leave the vectors and go down the full .15 of my initial clear fill which I would think would widen out the top a bit. Any thoughts on that?
1 Like
30 degree or 45 degree V Bit? That would widen the top of text.
Thinking more on it I’m stuck on this. Will the software limit the boundary of the v-carve to the edges of the vector regardless of how deep I ask it to go? So if I say go down .175", but doing so would make the cut go past the edges of the vector will it still cut down .175" or will it stick to the edges of the vectors based on the bit geometry? I’m leaning towards offsetting the vectors.
1 Like
Yes.
Rob Sandstrom (Rob Sandstrom Designs) on YouTube made a video this spring that goes into detail on this topic. It’s called “Does Size Matter OR How Big Does My Vector Need To Be”.
Thank you! Offsetting the vectors is how I’ll proceed.
One other thing I’d like to discuss are the outlines. All the videos I’ve seen have the black outlines as vectors with width. In other words the outlines aren’t just a single line vector but a vector on either side of the outline and then the outlines are v-carved. I make my models in Illustrator and import them into Vectric and am used to just drawing lines. For example in my model the mortar lines for the bricks and the outlines of the hammers are single vectors. Rather than making them ‘fat’ and doing a v-carve, I just run a profile carve on the line with a v-bit to a set depth and it seemed to come out good. I like the thin lines on my outlines and it’s easier for me to draw. I also should be able to avoid having my clear layer show through because I bring the colors right up to the line so then making the outlines will cut into the colors and overlap anyway. Am I missing something or do others handle outlines in this way?
So here is a pro tip when dealing with very thin lines in epoxy with a 15deg VBit. Set a start depth to a small number, like .01" and a flat depth to 0.1. This will force that vbit to plunge just a tad deeper. I used this method on this piece:
If you zoom into the lines for the washing machine controls and the text on the laundry soap, you will see the result of those settings. Just go slow! Those are fragile bits.
5 Likes
Are those thin lines done as a v-carve or a profile using a v-bit?
V-Carve / Engraving Toolpath.
Wow! As I was skimming I thought you put this graphic in to make a funny point. Re-read and realized this is you epoxy work. Wow. Just wow.
1 Like
I followed you on IG. JoeRedman69
Cool, and thanks! I am preparing to do another epoxy project as soon as I get my vectors cleaned up.