Engrave raised letters on a 3D surface

[manueldiasmanuel]

Hi,

I often need to engrave raised letters on a 3D surface. Vcarve seems to do the job but when i simulate the toolpaths with Cut depth set to 0 1 mm i´m can not see the material removal. How to solve this issue ?
I only see material removal when the the Cut depth is set to 1.0 mm but doing this i´m cutting bellow the surface i´ve imported. Is there a way to impose a clearence on a 3D toolpath ?

My steps were ;

1- Import stl 3d model . The imported surface is where i need to palce the raised letters.
2-Create 2d vectors
3- Create toolpath and project them on the 3d surface.
4- Simulate , but i do not see material removal.




Thanks

Regards,

M Dias

[Adrian]

What preview resolution are you using (Toolpaths menu/Preview Simulation Quality). If it's anything other than Maximum try that setting and preview it again.

Are you going to be able to cut 0.1mm deep letters in reality though? You would need completely accurate z-zero setting and material positioning for that to work.

[manueldiasmanuel]

Sorry i meant 1 mm not 0.1 mm.

The simulation is working fine. I don´t see material removal because i ám not able not create a toolpath offseting 1.0 mm from the surface i´ve imported . Is there a way to do this ?


M Dias

[mtylerfl]

Hi Manuel,

It may be easier to get spot-on advice if you will post a download link to your actual file (using a free file transfer service such as DropBox).

That way, we can see exactly how you are laying out your project, observe your material setup (for any gaps) and how you have created your toolpaths. It's sometimes difficult to "guess" what the problem might be unless the file itself is available.

[TReischl]

I am not sure how one "engraves" raised letters on a surface.

The only way to create raised letters is to remove material around them, as in pocketing or profiling outside of them. Not being picky about terminology here. . . .

The only way to RAISE letters on an imported surface is to remove material around them.

So, what are you trying to do? A pick would be helpful.

[manueldiasmanuel]

Taking the picture from your post as reference.
. If you import the surface and then create the toolpath for projecting it on the surface.
Try to machine the raised letters but without cutting /touching on the imported surface ?

[TReischl]

Taking the picture from your post as reference.
. If you import the surface and then create the toolpath for projecting it on the surface.
Try to machine the raised letters but without cutting /touching on the imported surface ?

Use the "project toolpath onto 3d model" and choose a very shallow depth of cut, like .0001

[manueldiasmanuel]

The engraving is to be done in a block of metal for a mould. The surface geometry must be kept as imported. So i only want to add raised letters.
I can do it easily , the only question is about validating the result.

I have to use engraving tools with 15 degrees per side and with 0.15 mm of diameter . To avoid break the tool i have to use multipasses on Z.

Before i machine with the engrave tool i use a ball mill to machine the surface around the letters , so only a good simulation could assure me a good result otherwise i will be cutting material without knowing what is going to happen, and why.

So the simulation it´s very important for me. Any ideas ?


Thanks,,

M Dias

[TReischl]

Ok, correct me if I am wrong. . .

You are ENGRAVING letters into a mold. The part produced by the mold has RAISED letters. There are no RAISED letters in the mold. So there is no need to talk about raised letters.

I would not expect to be able to see anything a .0059 inch diameter did. I have the same issue with the laser on my machine. I have it set at .007 diameter. You should be able to see the preview if you set your preview quality a lot higher. If I use Standard I cannot see what the laser beam is doing at all.

By the way, I do not know why you expect to be able to see the tool cutting if you OFFSET the tool above the surface. Think about it, if the surface has been cut and you offset above it there is nothing there to cut so you should not see anything.

[manueldiasmanuel]

Yes, you are wrong.

The part produced by the mold has engraved letters not RAISED. I need the mold with RAISED letters

I expect to see the tool cutting above the surface, for that the solution would be to create a finishing machining toolpath but with an allowance value to have an offset above the relief for the machining. After this step i could create engraving toolpath and see the material being removed , agree ?

This is the way i do it on others softwares.

Where should i go to ask for this feature or is there any way to do it with VCarve ?



Thanks,

M Dias

[Adrian]

Create a vector that is the same size as the curved area of the dish. Now create a Pocket toolpath set to 0.1mm making sure you have the text AND the new vectors selected not forgetting to check the Project onto 3D surface. That toolpath will remove 0.1mm of material from the surface of the dish leaving the text alone but curved to conform to the dish.

Example here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pktrqfxvh01k ... GHEla?dl=0

In Aspire you could do the whole operation as a 3D toolpath as you can create the raised text directly. With VCarve you either have to create the text as part of the 3D model with another program or do something as I've suggested.