V-Carve Wizard suggestio for enhancement

This forum is for general discussion regarding VCarve Pro
User avatar
Tony Mac
Vectric Alumni
Posts: 1985
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:24 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by Tony Mac »

Hi everyone,

Excellent ideas and please keep posting them.

The more information and supporting evidence you can supply on why something would be useful, really will make a difference to our understanding of exactly what's needed.

Regards,
Tony

User avatar
Rcnewcomb
Vectric Archimage
Posts: 5887
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:54 am
Model of CNC Machine: 24x36 GCnC/WinCNC with ATC
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Contact:

Option to eliminate background on preview

Post by Rcnewcomb »

I would like the option to not have the blue background saved with the preview, i.e. just save the material and drawing in the preview file.

User avatar
Wemme
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 510
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:31 am
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

Post by Wemme »

Heres one That I would like to see.
Time is very important here as we need to compete with cheap imports.

Say if you need to pocket and area.
first I want to use a big cutter to do the bulk of the cutting (problem is, it won't fit in all the places such as around text etc)
second I want to use a small cutter to do the bits the large cutter can't but not to do all the bit that have already been done with the large cutter (i.e save time)

Is this something that others would find of use?
Cheers
Bart

hbhbbb

Wemme Reply

Post by hbhbbb »

Tony et al,

At the risk of sounding greedy.....
Yes, it would be helpful to be able to hog out bulk material with a big bit, and then hit the details with a .125.

User avatar
Perry
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 174
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:06 am
Model of CNC Machine: Modified Shopbot PRT96
Location: Windsor, ON, Canada

Post by Perry »

Regarding "hogging out", here is a work around that I have used. In VCW, create an island around the items yo wish to spare from the large bit, and create an offset inside the perimeter of you projects border. Using the 2D tooling, "pocket" these areas with the larger bit.
Now the remaining islands, cut as you would normally.
Like I said, a "work around" that seems to work for me.

User avatar
Phil
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 3026
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Pittsfield, MA

Hogging out

Post by Phil »

To a limited degree we can do "hogging out" with flat clearance V-Carving. Select a small ballnose bit for V-carving and a .5 or .75 inch endmill for the flat clearance option.
I we could select a small end mill for the V-carve part of the toolpath we could square up the edges of the cut and perhaps have the ability to do inlay as well.
I did the attached Buffalo with a .125" ball nose bit at.5" deep and the flat clearance with a .5" end mill.
Attachments
Buffalo Bill.jpg
(40.33 KiB) Downloaded 427 times

User avatar
Rcnewcomb
Vectric Archimage
Posts: 5887
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:54 am
Model of CNC Machine: 24x36 GCnC/WinCNC with ATC
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Contact:

Remembering settings

Post by Rcnewcomb »

I would like Vcarve Wizard to remember the last setting of:
View/Use Shaded Background
and
Animate Preview

or at the very least allow me to default those features to "OFF"

User avatar
Phil
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 3026
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Pittsfield, MA

Post by Phil »

I've been playing with different ways to take a V-carve file and reverse the carving so that the resulting cut would produce an image that stands out from the background rather than cut into the surface. It occured to me that if there was a feature in V-Carve Wizard that would reverse the Z coordinates, that is change the negative Z values to positive values, the effect I refer to could be achieved. This feature could be incorporated into the "flat area clearance" toolpath strategy to achieve a carving with a recessed background and a raised image. I think this would be a really cool feature. What do the Wizards think?

User avatar
Rcnewcomb
Vectric Archimage
Posts: 5887
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:54 am
Model of CNC Machine: 24x36 GCnC/WinCNC with ATC
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Contact:

Reverse v-carving

Post by Rcnewcomb »

Phil,

That capability is already there. The way to "raise" is to draw another shape around what you want to reverse v-carve.

Check out this link for a brief tutorial:
http://www.222artisans.com/vcarve.html

User avatar
Paco
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2005 6:30 pm
Location: Valcourt, Québec, Canada
Contact:

Post by Paco »

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

Sign along...

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

Tabs, tabbing, bridges.

:wink:

User avatar
Phil
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 3026
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Pittsfield, MA

Reverse V-carving

Post by Phil »

Rcnewcomb

we can cut raised images like the raised V on the http://www.222artisans.com/vcarve.html web site but that is not the same as the reverse V-carving I am refering to. If we were to reverse the teardrop image at the top of the 222artisans page there would be a taper along the length of the image. The raised carving we can do now would leave the teardrop flat across the top in the same way that the V on the 222artisans web page is.

User avatar
Rcnewcomb
Vectric Archimage
Posts: 5887
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:54 am
Model of CNC Machine: 24x36 GCnC/WinCNC with ATC
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Rcnewcomb »

Phil,

Now I understand.

The program would need to local a center line for each object as it does now, convert the depth to a height, and toolpath to hog out anything that isn't part of the bevel.

Like the picture shown below?
Attachments
Sign_image_10.gif
Sign_image_10.gif (49.68 KiB) Viewed 5538 times

User avatar
Phil
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 3026
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Pittsfield, MA

Post by Phil »

That's exactly right. Knowing absolutely nothing about programming it seems to me that simply changing the Z values from negative to positive would acomplish this. It's probably more complicated than that.

Do you have any idea what our friend Paco is babbling about?

User avatar
Paco
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2005 6:30 pm
Location: Valcourt, Québec, Canada
Contact:

Post by Paco »

Babbling about something to hold part in place while cutting 'em out...

Which one would you like?

... or are you looking for something different?

Hey good tutorial Rcnewcomb!
Attachments
vcarve_embossing_demo.jpg
(52.21 KiB) Downloaded 361 times
embossing_demo.jpg
(49.97 KiB) Downloaded 373 times
prism_demo.jpg
(48.68 KiB) Downloaded 364 times

User avatar
Phil
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 3026
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Pittsfield, MA

Post by Phil »

Pretty cool Paco. How did you do it? Expensive software such as Artcam or Insignia, or special technique.

Post Reply