Need help with tooling setup

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Beltramidave
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Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

Have been trying my hand at PhotoVCarve, but have been coming up with lines in my carving despite using a 5% line spacing. I have been trying to follow Lionel's settings as he has some amazing results. So, I am using a 1/8" 4 flute tapered ballnose from Precise Bits. I have attached my settings and the specs from Precise Bits in hopes that someone will see what I am doing wrong. I am doing a cross hatch pattern at 45 degrees.

I do not have a picture of my latest carving, but I can probably get one tomorrow, if it will help. I think my router is trammed pretty well as when I surface my part before carving, I do not notice any lines. Don't know if it would make any difference if I surfaced at 45 degrees vs in X.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks,
Dave
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tapered ball nose.pdf
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Xxray
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Xxray »

Don't think specs on the bit will help anyone diagnose your problem, offhand 1/8 bit seems a bit large for most PVC.
Doug

Beltramidave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

Xxray,

I agree with you on 1/8" seeming to be too large for a 5x7 carve, but it appears that Lionel is doing it with success. http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25876

I guess more of what I was looking for with the tooling setup is when setting up a tapered ball nose, how does the software take into account the taper when it doesn't know it has any? My tool has a 1/4" shank and tapers to a 1/8" point. The deeper the carve, wouldn't you also get wider and lose detail? Granted I am am only carving .03-.035" deep, but even so...

Just trying to find out if I should be setting a tapered ballnose up using the engraving bit setup or if I would have better luck just using a straight ballnose instead of a taper. With a 5% line spacing, I wouldn't think that I should be getting any lines in my carving.

Dave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by scottp55 »

Dave,
You are entering it as a tapered ball nose with the geometry entered correctly?
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TAPERED BALL NOSE CATEGORY.jpg
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Beltramidave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

Hi Scott,

The problem is that PVC doesn't have a tool listing for a "tapered" ball nose like Vcarve or Aspire. The 'tool type' dropdown menu only lists Vbit, Engraving or Ball nose, no tapered ball nose. This may not even be the problem that is creating the tooling lines, but you definitely don't have the same parameters available for bit setup.

Dave
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PVC.pdf
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scottp55
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by scottp55 »

That'll teach me not to butt in on stuff I know nothing about........(Nah:)
have fun Dave!
I've learned my lesson well. You can't please everyone,so you have to please yourself
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Beltramidave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

scottp55 wrote:That'll teach me not to butt in on stuff I know nothing about........(Nah:)
have fun Dave!

LOL. I always appreciate your help, Scott. Looks to me like PVC could use an update, maybe??
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

Can anyone from Vectric offer any advice if a tapered ball nose should be set up as a straight ball nose or a engraving bit in PVC??
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Bob Reda »

I don't think that for the depth you are going down to doesn't make much difference

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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6u9luodnf7udu ... 0.jpg?dl=0

Here is a link to a picture of my project showing the toolings marks. Not happy with the detail, but I did like Lionel's finishing technique. Think I need to carve a little deeper and use a smaller ball nose or engraving bit. But the initial reason for the post is the tooling lines and why I may be getting them since I had my line spacing set at 5%, using a 1/8" tapered ball nose.

I am open to any comments or ideas in how to solve the tooling marks.

Thanks
Dave
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adze_cnc
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by adze_cnc »

Have you tried this with a non-tapered 1/8" ball-end bit?

Beltramidave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by Beltramidave »

adze_cnc wrote:Have you tried this with a non-tapered 1/8" ball-end bit?
No, I do not have a straight ball nose...yet.

I am currently running the same file using G61 (exact stop mode) instead of G64 P0.001 and even though the machine is not as smooth, the detail is much better. I am thinking that maybe for carvings this small, maybe I should run in G61 mode instead. Will see when the run is done. Also am not noticing ANY tooling marks and am not using cross hatch either. It appears that the carving time will be similar though as when using the cross hatch, but I am ok with that as long as I get the quality.

All of these may be issues with my machine as it is a home built machine. Still learning...

Thanks,
Dave
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by bill565 »

One thing to point out is to not lean on the table or platform while running the project.

Don't ask how I found this out - on a 10 hour run I would lean on the table to check the progress and guess what I had, those pesky lines. Found I was changing the z just ever so slightly.

Oh well - live and learn.

Hope this helps.

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NormanAlbert
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Re: Need help with tooling setup

Post by NormanAlbert »

It doesn't take much backlash in Y or Z or X to get those lines. Next time you do a photo carve, look closely (without leaning on the machine) if the bit seems to be cutting more material in one direction as opposed to the other. That would indicate a bit of backlash in one or all the axis. I hope when you built your machine you incorporated some thrust bearings on both ends of each axis. Don't depend on the stepper motors to handle the back and forth loads. Norm

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