# F-Engrave cut depth?

**URL:** https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744
**Category:** Projects
**Created:** [August 13, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744 "2017-08-13T16:01:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ScottPledger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@ScottPledger](https://community.inventables.com/u/ScottPledger)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/1 "2017-08-13T16:01:34Z")

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Hi all,  
i have a question about F-Engrave and V-Carve.  
when i open up the V-Carve settings the cut depth limit is 0 in the field where you manually set the cut depth, however the max cut depth is too deep for me, and the image looks like this  
 ![](https://cdck-file-uploads-canada1.s3.dualstack.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/flex009/uploads/inventables/original/3X/6/7/672341d0ee0a6c9911921bed0c7c3d7dd0cb5cbd.PNG)

however when i set the cut depth to lets say -.05 (which is what i want) , the cut then has an outline instead of a single v-carve. seen below . is there anyway to work around this ? as i want the look of the above picture but at a depth i specify  
 ![](https://cdck-file-uploads-canada1.s3.dualstack.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/flex009/uploads/inventables/original/3X/4/7/479572f03185e5f1e415651dcf91166f25db04ae.PNG)

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### Author: ![WardWilliams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5f9b8f/32.png) [@WardWilliams](https://community.inventables.com/u/WardWilliams)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/2 "2017-08-13T16:16:02Z")

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I have found f engrave to be virtually unusable for that reason. I know lots of people use it successfully, but nothing about it works like the tutorials indicate it should.

The line width and bit diameter change the depth of cut, but there is no opportunity to directly enter a specified depth of cut. It gets grayed out and is unavailable.

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### Author: ![DamnitJim](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex009/user_avatar/community.inventables.com/damnitjim/32/87801_2.png) [@DamnitJim](https://community.inventables.com/u/DamnitJim)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/3 "2017-08-13T16:43:18Z")

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I concur. I was always troubled about that ‘feature’.

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### Author: ![WardWilliams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5f9b8f/32.png) [@WardWilliams](https://community.inventables.com/u/WardWilliams)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/4 "2017-08-13T19:11:06Z")

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I’ve seen many videos showing guys setting their DOC on f engrave. I have no idea why it doesn’t actually work that way

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### Author: ![ChrisRice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@ChrisRice](https://community.inventables.com/u/ChrisRice)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/5 "2017-08-13T21:29:39Z")

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You need to go to Vcarve settings and calculate cleanup. It will calculate 2 more files a v clean and a strait bit clean. These will take out everything between.

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### Author: ![ScottPledger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@ScottPledger](https://community.inventables.com/u/ScottPledger)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/6 "2017-08-14T02:03:21Z")

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Is there any alternative to f-engrave that is free or low cost ?

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### Author: ![NeilFerreri1](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex009/user_avatar/community.inventables.com/neilferreri1/32/84403_2.png) [@NeilFerreri1](https://community.inventables.com/u/NeilFerreri1)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://community.inventables.com/t/f-engrave-cut-depth/40744/7 "2017-08-14T02:52:06Z")

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@ScottPledger Read @ChrisRice’s reply. When you’re V-carving that shallow, the diameter of your vee bit is very small. You’ll need to clean out the areas in between with a flat end mill.