First engraving test :)

[John S]

Dave,
I think also you have backlash issues with the machine.

In the close up you have backlash marks at the top of the o and c and bottom of the d, u and s

I would worry more over this than speeds and feeds.

[Davek0974]

I'm not convinced, it looks more like poor path generation - the letters are made up of lots of short straight lines and not arcs, I'm not sure the built-in SheetCam fonts are much good for this type of work.

If it is backlash then it is what it is and not much can be done about that - it's all new and I'm not about to refit it :). It does not affect normal milling work so i'm not 100% concerned about it TBH, these letters are pretty small.

Will need to try text generated in another package before condemning it I think;)

[John S]

Are you using Mach3 ? if so I can send you a v-carve file for one of the fine engraving tips you have as a test.

[Davek0974]

Yes, Mach3 and 2010 screen-set.

A file would be good, thanks

[John S]

OK, I'll sort you something out tonight unless you want something specific like text and size.
Screen set will not have anything to do with it, we use a custom one anyway with everything we need on one screen.

Email me details of the cutters, included angle and tip flat as it alters the appearance on V carve files if not matching. When they match you get a sharp corner to the text, if incorrect you get an indented radii in each corner.

john [at] stevenson-engineers.co.uk

[Davek0974]

Just had a look at the code and it is indeed made up of thousands of lines of straight cuts.

I did a quick file in Illustrator then imported that into sheet-cam and with the same tool it now creates I/J arcs so in theory at least that file should cut a whole lot smoother I think.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Yes, many times this is the reason, the line thing instead of curves. I always magnify before generating path, to make sure all is smooth .

I would say also for fine engraving to have the Z0 using probing with the V bit itself is the best method. That, and knowing the exact tip size.