Need help with type of bit to use

[Garfield_Graffix]

Hi guys I have a wall plaque that I need to duplicate and I dont know how to get this look out of the router. Well mainly what type of bit to use. I am posting a pic of this thing but let me explain, the letters almost appear to be stamped into the material(wood) new ones will be 1/2" PVC.They are also very tiny3/4" on the large textand 1/2" on the smaller ones. I tried a 1/4" engraving bit(in the pics) and it almost does it but it leaves a sort of island in the middle of the letters. FYI I have a multicam 48plus router and use Enroute plus 3.3. I am experimenting as we speak but any input would be GREATLY appreciated.
Also sorry the pics are cropped but i had to do it in a hurry to make them 800x800 for the site

Garfield

 

[Westcoast Sign Guy]

That is so small, sign to bit comparison. It's wood So I wanna say they use a simple 90 deg v-carving bit for beveling, then did a area clearance after. How small is this sign?

Is the lettering wood too? Or is that tactile?

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

Yes it is all wood now. We will be recreating it in PVC. I took a pic of what the engraving bit in the above picture was giving me. I have now switched to a 90 degree bit that I would normally use to bevel edges with, but havent tried it yet so I could respond to the post. Also could you elaborate on the technique you mentioned doing an area clearence after the beveling. Thanks a bunch!



Garfield

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i actually ran into something similar years ago where a client had purchased signs from an engraving company who had gone out of business and wanted signs duplicated and in frustration of doing the pocketing and prismatic lettering out of one piece of material i looked closely at the sign and noticed that there was a slight space under one of the letters so i took a razor blade and was able to pull the letter up the letters had been made separately and then attached to the substrate with VHB, not sure if this is a normal thing to do in the engraving industry or not as that is not my field, but i do know that they can acheive much better detail at small sizes than i can with my big router. not that this helps, just curious if the original signs may have been made the same way. which may explain some of the difficulty in reproducing said product.

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

I believe I have a solution. The letters to toolpath need to be "stick" letters like the font Im typing in appears to be and not double lines like I mostly recieve for dimensional letters. The toolpath should be down the center of the letter and the bevel look is a result of the V in the bit. At least this is what Im gonna try next.



Garfield

 

[lpc]

Here is a rendering of what it would look like if I ran it on my system with a 60 degree V-bit. I used a program called V-Carve Pro and it does an excellent job, especially with this kind of item. The maximun depth of cut on this example is .1253" deep with the character height at .5" and .75". The font is FrysBaskerville BT.

Is this what you are looking for?

 

[Geary]

Dave,
You say that's a "rendering" and not an actual routed piece....correct? What kind of sofware do you use to get that affect ...in the rendering that is?

Thanks.

~Gear

 

[Westcoast Sign Guy]

K, wait I'm confused with to much inhalement of MDF sawdust today in a jr high classroom. Is the original 1st post v-carve engraved or beveled? I got some awsome bits if you want v-carving

 

[lpc]

Geary,
Yes, that is only a rendering and not an actual routing. I used V Carve Pro software (www.vectric.com) to do this in. The software lets me do a layout or import a layout from Corel Draw, assign router bits to the vectors and render a preview to see what it will look like.

Once you get it where you like it, you save the toolpaths to a CNC file for your router system...and then run it. Pretty neat software and it doesn't cost you an arm & leg, like ArtCam and Encad for instance.

It is unfortunately only 2D CAM and you can't create 3D reliefs within the software, but you can use another package from www.vectorart3d.com that allows you to take their 3D reliefs, assign router bits and create toolpaths from it that can be imported into V-Carve Pro. From there you can combine other design elements, ie. text and vector graphics, for instance, to create a finished piece.

 

[Geary]

Okay Dave, but what "rendering" software is it? Not your carving software. Are we talking CorelDraw, PhotoShop, or ....?.....with plugins to rendering the drawing for sales first? Thanks!

~Gear

 

[lpc]

the 'Rendering' is 'built into' the software..it's a part of VCarve PRO. It's not a plugin or seperate program but a 'function within VCarve Pro'.

They have a free demo you can download from their website so you can try it out.

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

"Here is a rendering of what it would look like if I ran it on my system with a 60 degree V-bit. I used a program called V-Carve Pro and it does an excellent job, especially with this kind of item. The maximun depth of cut on this example is .1253" deep with the character height at .5" and .75". The font is FrysBaskerville BT.

Is this what you are looking for?"


This is exactly the look I need. Can I get a functional demo so we wont have to buy the software to do one little job?

 

[lpc]

They do have a functional demo, but I believe it will only output cnc files for the demo's that are provided with it. They do this so you can actually try it from start to finish on your own system, but limit it in that you can only do their files.

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

Also will it export a file to work on a Multicam 48plus router?

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

well that sux

 

[Geary]

the 'Rendering' is 'built into' the software..it's a part of VCarve PRO. It's not a plugin or seperate program but a 'function within VCarve Pro'.

They have a free demo you can download from their website so you can try it out.

Oh, right on Dave, thanks!

~Gear

 

[lpc]

Yea, that's the bad part about demos...but the good part is that it costs less than $500.00 (US).

I will check to see if it outputs to your CNC tonight when I get back to the shop. Will let you know.

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

Thank you alot. I dont believe I will be able to get the boss to buy it though since they have done it here with Enroute before. Only problem is the old operators never saved their cut files with all the toolpath and bit info so I am having to figure it out all over again

 

[roxym]

Ditto on the VCarvePro, a great program and well worth the money if you do a lot of these signs. I also use a 60 or 90 degree bit.

 

[Garfield_Graffix]

I did it I did it I did it. I found an option in Enroute that allows the 3D engraving toolpath option. After experimenting with the bits I have Boo Yeah!!! i got it. Thank you for all the thoughts about this however this site is the BOOM ( yes I know it should be bomb, I saw that in another post and it made me laugh) BOOM!