So I finally got myself a V-bit and wanted to do some V-carves. I’ve only used easel and have not touched any of the G-Code stuff so I have zero experience fiddling around with it (also a little intimidated by it). So I installed F-Engrave and tried to find as much info as I could on using it.
I think I got the settings figured out, but after I have the G-Codes saved. Now what? How do I import it in to Easel? or do I need to send it to something else? once set up with easel, is it the same as an easel carve, just home my bit to the lower left? or if I have it start from center in F-engrave should I home it there? I don’t really want to mess anything up, just want to have some idea of what I’m doing before I start.
sorry if this has been asked before, did my first v-carve and it turned out ok, then ran the cleanup pass with my 1/8 straight endmill the depth of carve was about an 1/8" which it carved out in one pass and made a horrible sound. I don’t see anywhere that you can set the depth per pass for the cleanup as I’d rather do multiple passes with the cleanup.
Main Window > Set preferences
Image properties
Image Height: 50.8 mm (2”) (default, but this is how you control the size - F-Engrave will rescale as needed)
Line Thickness: 0.254 (0.010”) default
Image Position and Orientation
Origin Bot-Left (personally, I find the center easier to locate than the any other spot)
Gcode Properties
Feed Rate: 750 mm/min (default 127)
Plunge Rate: 0 NA for v-Carve
Z-Safe: 3.0 mm
Cut Depth: NA for V-Carve
Click V-Carve button
Main Window > Settings > V-Carve Settings > Set preferences
Cutter Type
V-bit Angle: 60 (my preferred V-bit for lettering)
V-bit Diameter: 6.35 mm (1/4")
Cut Depth Limit -2.0 mm Found this is plenty deep enough - about 0.080"
Multipass Cutting
V-Carve Finish Pass Stock: 0.5 mm This gives a cleanup pass of about 0.020"
V-Carve Max Depth per Pass: -1.5
Cleanup Operations
Cleanup Cut Diameter: 3.175 (1/8”)
V-Bit Cleanup Step: 0.127 (default is 1.27 but that crashes F-Engrave)
Click “Calculate V-Carve”
Click “Calculate Cleanup” Note - depending on job, straight-bit or V-bit cleanup files may or may not be generated
Save Cleanup G-Code > x_clean.ngc
Save V Cleanup G-Code > x_V_clean.ngc `
Another first time f-engraver here, with some questions, as my first attempt was really smokin’.
I tried with a Dremmel 125 bit as it was the only bit resembling a 1/8" v-bit I could get here. I just used the default values from F-engrave, except for the bit size which I put at 37% and width at 6mm. After a dry run which didn’t do anything strange, I stuck in the bit and fired it up (with UGS). It made a few gentle pokes, they dived into the mdf in a cloud of smoke. I then hovered over the smoking log with my vacuum cleaner for the ten minutes more or less it took to finish.
At the end my bit looked pretty sick:
and the mdf had an “interesting” burnt out engraving.
Here is the gcode file with all the middle bits removed for space.
Sorry, I was bit grouchy (and frustrated) yesterday. I’m in Guatemala, no credit card, my bank’s debit card doesn’t work with paypal, the company I can use to buy stuff from ebay or Amazon generally dobles the cost per item, the local stores don’t sell anything remotely “unusual”, etc.
I am going to try another bank that apparently will let me use my debit card with paypal, and then buy a moderate load of bits from ebay that way, or else borrow my friend’s credit card and pay him.
After reading someone’s blog were they used the Dremel bit with a Shapeoko I was hoping to get a bit of use, at least, out of that.
