Hello,
Quite new at this.
I am just messing around making my street name and number. I created a pocket tool path so the name and numbers will be raised. The clearing tool path uses a
¹/⁴" bit. 1-hour. No biggy. I then need to use a ¹/¹⁶" bit to get the fine details in the name.
That says like 7-hours! Lol
My question is, is there a way to tell that tool path to only cut around the street name, and not the whole pocketed area?
Recently watched a Mark Lindsay YouTube video and he said that in Vectric software (Vcarve, Aspire) if you choose two different bits for the same pocketing tool path, in your example a 1/4” em followed by a 1/16” em, it would clear as much as possible with the larger bit, then only remove what is remaining with the smaller bit. Haven’t tried it so can’t guarantee it will work.
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I think you should use a “V” bit, perhaps a 90-V. It would cut around the letters a lot quicker. Then you can use either 1/8 bit in combination of larger bit to clear the remaining. You are attempting to make the 1/16 inch endmill to do the V-Bits’ job and it is going to take a long time, as 1/16 is a lot of detail. Also, you can play around with increasing plung rate, increasing feeds/speed. Hope it helps.
Hello @Spes - it depends which CAM software you are using. In Fusion 360 you would do rest machining - tell Fusion the size of the previous bit, and it will exclude everything the previous bit removed from the current op. I believe Vectric has something similar. Or you can use a profile operation with a V-bit as @kriaz101 mentioned. Hope this helps.
-Tom
You can do this with ‘smart’ CAM software like others have said.
If you don’t have smart CAM software (eg CarbideCreate like I use) you can sometimes achieve a similar result by drawing a bounding vector around the shapes needing the smaller bit, and call for a pocketing operation between the two.
-Mark