I’m hoping someone has some insight as to what’s going on here. Doing my first inlay tonight. This is a test pocket cut in plywood. The pocket itself looks great as far as I can tell. However, there’s a weird lead in or something on all sharp corners. Anyone know what’s causing this?
Details that I would ask…
1/32"r tbn
Zero was probed on top of plywood
Let me know if there’s other info needed
Hello Scott,
I would say the most likely thing that is happening is the Z0 at that exact spot is just a little below the top of the wood. The cutter is pencil milling up the corners of the letter and rolling over the top at Z0. If you look at the toolpath in whatever CAM software you are using or use something like NCViewer.com you will see where the cutter path comes up, around and over the Z0 in the corners.
I am not saying you set your Z0 wrong. Just that the wood is not flat or is flexing up and down on the table. That is why I said: the Z0 in that exact spot.
To stop this:
A less likely thing to check is if Z0 is set to the top of the model in the CAM. I know in Fusion there could be stock allowance above the top of the model so Z0 could then be set above the top of the model. The cutter would then roll around the top corners of the letter but still be below Z0.
It appears that the program deliberately squared out the sharp corners, i.e., a program issue. I would check the program settings to see if there’s any indication of this.
Maybe font selection??? Chiselled fonts have that little curled out section in each corner.
It doesn’t look like you are using a v-bit. Looks more like a tapered ball nose. you need to change your tapered ball nose to an engraving bit.
It’s not the font. And, yes it’s a tbn, but Carveco knows that.
I’ve worked around it, but it still seems odd to me. Best explanation I’ve heard is the Z0. It should have been set fine, but that explanation is plausible.
Scott
Hi @jscottsmith, sorry to resurrect an old thread but I’m running into this issue and wondered if you were able to figure anything out. I’m using a 1/64th radius TBN and have radiused all corners to 0.019” and still get this little artifact in the corners. The only thing I have found to avoid it is to make the radius large enough that the bit never rises in the corners, which isn’t ideal because I lose the detail I’m going for. I’m using Vcarve Pro and have the TBN setup as a vbit. I also tried another TBN with a 0.5mm radius and get the same thing. I’ve checked my spoilboard, probe block thickness, tramming, runout. I surface the workpiece and zero off the top. I’ve slowed down the feed and plunge rates to 15 ipm and still get it. I’m at a loss and this was the only post I’ve found where someone has had a similar issue. Thanks
If you told it that it is a V bit, it doesn’t know you have a radius end and it’s probably trying to sharpen the corner with a vcarve move. There should be a tool library you can import that would have your tool or something similar enough to use.
I wish I could remember, but I don’t. Sorry!
