ok i am doing a simple stacked text sign 20 wide 6 inches high should it really take 4 hours to do the total sign?
I did a stacked text months ago for the first time and it was over 3 hours, similar size. That’s mainly because everything had to be pocketed out to get the raised text and I did a rough and finish pass. You could probably mess with the settings a little to save time. Jerk setting is the first that comes to mind
Depends on the software you’re using as to what options you have. If you’re using VCarve these are straightforward things. Other software you might need to dig around to see what the equivalent function or setting is.
You can speed things up a lot by doing a few things. First change the safe z-height for your toolpaths. This is the height the bit rises to when moving to a new part of the design to cut out. On VCarve it defaults to something like an inch or two above your material. Since the up & down is done at a much slower speed (usually half) than the movement across/around your project this can slow things down a lot. Set the safe Z to be just above the material height. That will reduce the time wasted between bit movements.
Then I’d do a clearing pocket path followed by a finish path (with 2 bits - a 1/4" & 1/8"). I’d use a 1/2" or maybe 3/4" bowl bit to do an initial pocket. It won’t clear all the way up to the letters because the bit profile won’t work in the small curves, nooks & crannies but it will really clear out a lot of stock.
Then I’d use a toolpath with a 1/4" clearing bit and a 1/8" finish bit defined. The 1/4 will get closer to the finished cuts than the bowl bit and the 1/8 will clean out the rest. You can also use a v-bit for a finish pass so that it gets the nice square corners of letters if you’re looking for that.
The time you save using larger bits because they clear more and their stepover is larger will more than make up for having to switch bits.
If you have a specific design there’s likely someone here who can help tweak that specific project, but the suggestions above can generally be applied to any situation and tailored to your specifics.
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