help with sizing issue

[gadawgsfan]

I wanted to cut out a few letters for my daughters room.
I set job size, then go to text and type in the word, pick the font style, and set the text size I want it to be, create tool path. open mach 3 and run the job, however when it is done running the height of the text is 1 1/4 less than what I inputed, this happens every time. so do I have a setting somewhere that I am not seeing?
obviously you can probably tell by my questions I am really new to all this and just trying to learn.

Thank you in advance
Barry

[gadawgsfan]

I input the text height at 9" after it cut them out the letters were 7 3/4", I was using a 1/4 " end mill

[Adrian]

The height set in the text tool is not necessarily the size the text will be. The actual height of letters varies according to the font and the letters. Lowercase letters without ascenders and descenders will always be a lot smaller than the entered size for example. Select the letters and then check the height in the bar at the bottom of the screen or use the measure tool. If they are 7 3/4" then that's the issue. You can use the size tool to make them bigger.

[gadawgsfan]

Adrian,
Thank you for your input, I am not sure what ascenders and decenders are but I think I understand what you are trying to tell me.
I will try this before I attempt another cut.

[Adrian]

A lower case b and y will be a different size from an a is what I meant. The y and b will be close to the entered size but the a won't. So if you entered a string like acme with a height of 6" it would be nearer 4" in most fonts.

Even capital letters can be adifferent sizes from each other and from what was entered into the text box depending on the font. There are very few fonts where every capital letter is exactly the same size but there are a few where they are radically different to each other.

First step in tracking down issues like this is to check all the measurements in the software first. If it all checks out there then you're dealing with a machine configuration issue as it's too big a difference to be a physical issue.

[gkas]

To make some large letter cutouts that are the same size, simply start by drawing a rectangle the size you want. Now place your letter text in the center. Drag a corner arrow on the letter, while holding the shift key down, and the letter will scale from the center. Simply drag until it fits your rectangle.

[Adrian]

Again it depends on the fonts. That will work with some letters and not others as very few fonts have every letter at the same size as they wouldn't look right to the eye otherwise. We don't notice it in text on the screen at reading size but blow up pretty much any font and you will get different sizes. As I say some fonts it's only a marginal difference but I use some fonts where there can be a 2" difference with 6" letters due to the way they've been designed.

There's no need to drag scale a letter. Select the letter and open the size tool (shortcut is the T key) you can then enter the exact size you want the letter to be in the height box.

[gadawgsfan]

Thank you for the input, I think I understand. I am going to try and attach a picture of what I am trying to make. In the text box I had 9.0 for text height. however when the job was complete the s was 7 3/4 the i was 6 5/8 tall i need to add also the I removed the dot above the i before the tool path was created, if that matters. I was using a 1/4 end mill.
Adrian = so I i understand your example I can use the measure tape and see what the text height is on the s and adjust it accordingly to the height I would like it to be, or use that tape and measure the height at the tallest point of the entire text to the lowest point of the entire text?
Again I am sorry for the very basic questions, but I am trying to learn and may not be using the correct wording/lingo
I am very thankful for the response of people that have the knowledge and try to help a newbie to figure these things out.

Barry

[Adrian]

That is one of the fonts that has really variable heights across the letters so you've chosen an awkward one for your first try!

It's down to how you want the project to look but personally I'd select all the text, note the overall height (from the bottom bar of the VCarve screen) and then go into the Size tool to set the height of that selection to the height I want for where the text will go. The other thing you can do is to select the text and go back into the text tool and just keep entering larger values until it looks the way you want. It will change in real time.

[gadawgsfan]

Adrian
thank you for the response, I think I will try the first suggestion you recommended and see how that goes. It does not have to be exact with this but I would like it to be closer than it was for sure. It will be tomorrow before I can try it but I will let you know how this works out.

Thanks again
Barry