Finishing Pass cutting air

X-Carve
1

So I have apiece of wood that is 11.5" x 9.5" 3/4 inch thick, I have a rough pass that carves a 1/4 inch depression that is 10"x8" deep in the center of this piece and I used a 1 inch bit for a rough cut. Inside that I am using a vcarve bit to cut some lettering that goes inside this lets say it’s 2/4 of an inch down from the surface, while the vhe vbit also squares off and chamfers the edges of the rough cut.

What I find strange is that during the finishing pass it’s spending a TON of time carving letters and spinning over wood that isn’t there. Doesn’t Easel know that the wood was removed in the rough pass? This is a huge waste of time. It’s a 2 hour cut and half of that time is spent cutting nothing except for the edges. Is there a setting I missed somewhere?

2

No easel does not know that material in the center was removed.
If you want to v carve in a pocket you have to set Z zero on the surface of that pocket as a separate job.

3

I tried that. The pocket is in the center of the piece, and when it went to cut the lettering it cut a line through the edge on the way to the center as the bit didn’t rise up enough.

4

You need to change your safety height, that will keep it from carving through the other work. The safety height will revert after each carve.

5

That’s a fantastic suggestion. I see that in ‘Machine’ → ‘Advanced’ Default is 3.8mm which is about what it would cut a line through.

Thanks!!