Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

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glenninvb
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1129
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:58 pm
Model of CNC Machine: homebuild / VCP 8.0

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by glenninvb »

I've only used the VCP texture tool a few times and the settings can be tricky, It seems to me if the max cut length is to great, the min. will cause areas to remain uncut, of course depending on tool diameter and size of area between text. If your wishing for a long pattern as depicted in your sample photos, one option may be to texture the entire pocket area and then using the inlay tool, shallow pocket for text and applique lettering and other designs (can make painting easier) I'm very far from expert but something you may want to try?

First screenshot with a short max length, 1" I think and .070 offset with raised text .... second screenshot 7.0" max length (much faster too) and an inlay pocket
Third shot, a plaque I made using first example with short length of cut and offset about half diameter of texturing tool.

EDIT: see the inlay option was mention, I can't read, sorry.... but hopefully some of this may help... play with the texture settings
Attachments
Capture.JPG sign1.JPG
Capture.JPG sign3 inlay text.JPG
Redfish plaque pad.jpg 2.jpg

michaeld13
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:47 am
Model of CNC Machine: ShopBot

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by michaeld13 »

glenninvb wrote:I've only used the VCP texture tool a few times and the settings can be tricky, It seems to me if the max cut length is to great, the min. will cause areas to remain uncut, of course depending on tool diameter and size of area between text. If your wishing for a long pattern as depicted in your sample photos, one option may be to texture the entire pocket area and then using the inlay tool, shallow pocket for text and applique lettering and other designs (can make painting easier) I'm very far from expert but something you may want to try?

First screenshot with a short max length, 1" I think and .070 offset with raised text .... second screenshot 7.0" max length (much faster too) and an inlay pocket
Third shot, a plaque I made using first example with short length of cut and offset about half diameter of texturing tool.

EDIT: see the inlay option was mention, I can't read, sorry.... but hopefully some of this may help... play with the texture settings
Glenn, that second image looks pretty darn good to me! But maybe I'm doing the steps wrong on my side? First I do a pocket to get the letters raised and then I try t do the texture toolpath and I end up with something pretty distant from what you posted unfortunately.... Any insight would be *greatly* appreciated. In both of your examples the texture runs up pretty close to the letters. You can see in my file, this is as close as I can get it without the bit eating into the text. Maybe without pocketing (cutting the letters separately and placing them into pockets) is the only way to get it better looking? It seems like from the rendering on my file, the software/cnc could cut in closer in between the text- seems like it leaves a lot of texture missing where the lettering runs.
Attachments
another-try.JPG

glenninvb
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1129
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:58 pm
Model of CNC Machine: homebuild / VCP 8.0

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by glenninvb »

First kern the text spacing and maybe try a shorter min. length... greater depth? When I get time I'll try some "use selected vectors as pattern" for a more realistic wood grain... I've done some bark and other vector pattern test that looked pretty fair. I'm sure I can learn something new here too.

Try a forum search for texture ,,, probably some good info somewhere, may even be a tutorial ?
Attachments
Capture.JPG grain.JPG


michaeld13
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:47 am
Model of CNC Machine: ShopBot

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by michaeld13 »

I thought I replied. Well I did, but it never got submitted. I will continue to work on this. Glenn are you using Aspire and cutting those out as a 3D images? I only have Vcarve pro. I watched those videos as well. Thank you!

glenninvb
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1129
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:58 pm
Model of CNC Machine: homebuild / VCP 8.0

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by glenninvb »

michaeld13 wrote:I thought I replied. Well I did, but it never got submitted. I will continue to work on this. Glenn are you using Aspire and cutting those out as a 3D images? I only have Vcarve pro. I watched those videos as well. Thank you!
No, I only have VCP.. you can trace a bitmap for "use selected vectors as pattern".. The quick one I did with the woodgrain was just a web search for wood grain line drawing and used a V-bit, didn't look at machining time but the preview was calc. quick for 12x23 material.
I thought yours looked good, did you try a shorter min. length? and kern the text?

michaeld13
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:47 am
Model of CNC Machine: ShopBot

Re: Woodgrain first attempt- looking for advice and tips

Post by michaeld13 »

I did not try kerning since the option to do that may not always be available. But I did try shortening the length and it did not make any improvement really. I'm going to look into the bmp to vector option you mentioned and see how that goes. Thank you for the advice. I'll post back with my results.

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