V Bit Depth

[monlover]

Hi, I am trying to use 90 V Bit, what determines the depth of the letters or shapes, at his example I just need to carve simple cross but the bit has to be so light carving, i change the depth at the tool pass depth but at the preview tool path does not show any changes.
Thank you.

[Adrian]

It's the combination of the gap between the vectors and the angle of the bit that determines the depth if the flat depth setting is not used. If the flat depth setting is used and the bit/vector combination would exceed that depth then the bit won't cut any deeper.

To make a VCarve deeper you need to increase the spacing between the vectors or use a more acute angle (such as a 60 degree) bit.

The V-Bit basically rides on the rails of the inner and out vectors so the further apart they are the deeper it can drop. There is a good explanation with pictures of all this in the VCarve Help section for VCarving.

[martin54]

Just to add to what Adrian has said if you want to be able to carve deeper using a 90 deg bit then don't use the vcarve toolpath, offset one of your vectors inner or outer to give yourself another vector in the centre of the 2 you already have & then use that vector with a profile toolpath cutting on the line. Set what ever depth you require & it will cut everything to the same depth
Use the toolpath preview & try different depths until you get the look you require

Time spent with the tutorials would also help you understand the different toolpath types & how they can be used

[jerry carney]

Good tip Martin !!

[KMoffett]

Just something I've been playing with in EXCEL. With bit angle, bit tip width, and depth of cut, it calculates the width of cut at the surface. Was using it to see if I might get interference between close letters.

Ken

[WaltS]

Martin's tip is a good one if you are ok with the entire cut being a single depth, which with your example would be fine. But if you need varying depth for say a V carve toolpath for text, you can always "cheat" and set the start depth to something deeper than 0. As also mentioned reading up on how things do what they do and watching the excellent tutorials is a really good place to learn the basics, after that there are a lot of tips and tricks to help out.

[mtylerfl]

Martin's tip is good if you are good with the entire cut being a single depth, which with your example would be fine. But if you need varying depth for say a V carve toolpath for text, you can always "cheat" and set the start depth to something deeper than 0. As also mentioned reading up on how things do what they do and watching the excellent tutorials is a really good place to learn the basics, after that there are a lot of tips and tricks to help out.

Yup! That's exactly what I was thinking - just apply a start depth if you don't want to switch bit angles.

[Adrian]

Changing the start depth on a VCarve toolpath rather than changing the bit/adjusting the vectors will affect the look of the cut though as the corners won't be square and will lead to potential spacing issues as the cut will be outside of the vectors.

[mtylerfl]

Changing the start depth on a VCarve toolpath rather than changing the bit/adjusting the vectors will affect the look of the cut though as the corners won't be square and will lead to potential spacing issues as the cut will be outside of the vectors.

Yes, it will. This is the drawback of messing with the depth of cut when v-carving text, designs, etc. Distortion can/will occur. A start Depth of a tiny amount usually isn't too noticeable, though. Excessive amounts are not pretty!

This question comes up a lot "How do I make my VCarve cut deeper?" It's been explained here as well as many other postings, as well as in the tutorials and so on. (Adrian's explanation in his first post of how v-carving works is clear and concise.)

Hopefully, it's also been made clear that altering Cut depth "manually" is generally frowned upon, except in the case of using smaller angled bits, of course.

[WaltS]

While I agree that altering the start depth "drastically" may not yield the best results, but I use the option fairly often with very good success on smaller text and design elements to make them just a "tad" deeper/wider sometimes. A start depth of 0.005, 0.01, or a 0.015 can sometimes make a very big difference visually. Is it "pure"? No. Will anyone be able to tell? Not very many. Is it the "right" way to go? It depends. I guess in the end it all depends on what it is you are making, how the final product looks, if the end user is happy with it, and so on. I make small personalized signs and plaques for the most part, and for me it is just another option of the many "tools" out there. Is it a "kludge"? Maybe, maybe not. To me it's another way to accomplish the look I'm after. Could I use a narrower bit to go deeper? No, because then it would just be deeper, not wider. Could I spend hours manipulating the vectors to make them a tad wider? Sure, I could, but why spend hours when in some cases it is totally unnecessary. Not trying to argue others points, and I know some will disagree with me, but just saying sometimes there can be a reason to "break the rules".

[Adrian]

I'm not saying it's "wrong" just pointing out that there are downsides to the technique which someone new to the software may not be aware of.

As you say the end result is all that really matters.

[mtylerfl]

I have often set a very small start Depth too. But not too much where distortion would be noticeable. Mainly to compensate for very slight material thickness variation when v-carving designs or text with fine gaps between vectors.

Adrian was pointing out the caveats of excessive start depths to help newbies avoid spoiling their projects.

The toolpath preview is particularly handy for detecting how much start Depth you can get away with - it's not much!

[monlover]

Thank you ALL for the great response, it is a Lots of info to digest.
My basic shop is cabinets and do not do this more often, so it is great to have such professional helpful community.
Thank you all

[martin54]

Walt, something else you might want to try if your vectors are not quite wide enough is to use a very small offset just to make them a little wider, very quick & easy to do, I love Shelley Volante & use it quite a bit when I need a script font BUT if has a very narrow stroke which means it often doesn't cave deep enough for my liking, adding a small offset thickens it up enough to carve a bit deeper without spoiling the look of the font

I'm not saying the way you do it is wrong, I sometimes do it myself, just offering you another way to achieve a similar result

[WaltS]

Thanks Martin. That wasn't something I had thought about doing with text. Great tip. I will definitely use that.

Adrian, sorry, didn't men to sound like I was dissing your opinion. Was not meant to.