Vectric Customer

CO2 lasers can cut metal but it requires an added gas [usually oxygen], a specialized cutting head and a lot of power. I am on a laser forum for Ruida controllers and out of hundreds of members I doubt that 5-6 have metal cutting capabilities. The reason is cost of course. I live and breath [and lo...

GeneMpls wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:09 pm

CO2 laser will not mark metals- there are sprays that will make nice black marks on many metals after lasering [with CO2]. You would likely use a Fiber laser for marking metals.

Well that is news to me! CO2 lasers can flat out cut metal, marking is just a matter of setting the power level.

Hi Scott, Thanks for the reply. I agree about it moving in X as my Zero was well left of start. I am only cutting 1mm at the moment but I can see how a lighter cut will make a difference, that will be my next try. As far as feeds and speeds go is there a tried and trusted method to use to work this...

There is a simple rule for this sort of thing:

The length of engagement should be at least 1.5 X the diameter. That goes for all sorts of things, screws, dowels, spindle mounts, etc.

I like the hole!

Always laugh when I remember Andy Rooney (60 minutes guy). He liked wood working and made a really nice end table, three legs identical, one entirely different. Did it on purpose because he was bored making the other ones if I recall correctly.

The angle of the bit has nothing to do with producing the effect geometrically speaking. What it does have to do with is surface clean up passes. The smaller the bit angle the less the image will change if a clean up cut is taken over the entire surface. A 90 degree bit will work as long as very lit...

Cam clamps can and do work. That said, you need to be careful with them. Two reasons: If you use a spiral flute upcut end mill and get too aggressive you can lift the material out of the clamps. This is especially true on smaller parts. Secondly, vibration can release the clamps unless you are near ...

Thanks Martin! I will go have a look this evening.

My slotters are large too but I run them at about 16K RPM. I cannot get any slower than that. The reason to undercut threads is to allow the lid to seat firmly and squarely when screwed down. The same thing can be done by relieving them on the lid side but that results in a thinner edge on the lid. ...

Not quite sure why you want to turn it into an octagon? Me thinks you would be better off starting with a cylinder. If someone does not come up with a magic way of modeling this in VCarve maybe one of us could create an stl for you. You would need to give us the exact dimensions, not just estimates.

slowoodworker What problems are you having getting the two bits to close properly? What bits are you using to cut the threads? I still haven't looked at using slotting cutters to cut the threads so Ted would need to give more detail on that, I've now got a couple of bits for thread milling but have...

Here is your file set at 15 degrees. The change in material usage is not very significant. Capture.PNG This is what I was writing about above. Most folks think "Oh, I will set it to a small increment and get the best yield." The fact is that a lot of those parts resolve to some very basic simple sha...

Whether the number of nodes has an effect is a toss up. The nesting engine I worked with when writing software basically worked with "pixels". Similar to how Aspire works when modeling. If the engine that Vectric uses is based on that principle then nodes would have an effect on time. Best way to fi...

Nesting times are dependent on several variables. A thing to remember is to not make it do things that make no sense to begin with. For instance, if the shapes are basically rectangular there is no reason to allow it to rotate the parts in 15 degree increments. Stuff like that. My two cents.

A kind of "manual" way of getting text to curve is as follows: Type out the text. Bust it up into individual letters/curves. Align the letters with where you want them located between the curves. Move a letter into place, then rotate it using the center of the circles. Wash rinse repeat for each let...