Deep engraving text

[CotswoldEngraver]

Question for the vistool owners amongst us!

Simple question really which I am sure someone is going come up with a really simple answer, just can't get my head around it!

When I am engraving brass, I keep missing parts of letters off, when setting the cutter diameter correctly in the software the preview shows there are large parts missed in the smaller letters; obviously the clearing tool path will not touch narrower areas than the tool diameter set in the software.

If I set the cutter diameter smaller it fills part of the letter in but still not all unless I go down to 0.1mm but then that makes the letters too 'chunky' using a 0.3mm cutter (the smallest I have) as it is too close to the edge of the letter.

 

Clear as mud I hope!

Using vistool 8.

I will try and get a picture if that helps.

[Gray]

Simple answer is don't use the clearing toolpath feature. What height of letters are you engraving? Say for example you are engraving 10mm high letters in Times Engraving. Use a 5mm cutter. Easy way to check this is set up a job with letters as above...press F2 this will bring up a + magnifier drag this over a small area on a letter to highlight it. So now as in the case of Times you will have 3 lines. Now move your cursor to a vertical center line of the letter you have highlighted and make a note of the X mesurement in the bottom left hand box, now move to the line to the left of that and subtract that measurement from your first measurement say for example it is .45, just round up to the next size which would be .5 cutter

[Michael]

I've got 0.1mm & 0.2mm cutters that I use for detailed brass.I set the Island fill to 0.05mm and it clears everything fine for infilling

[Gray]

I knew my reply was too complicated. Just buy smaller cutters.

[StevenB]

I knew my reply was too complicated. Just buy smaller cutters.

 

but smaller cutters will need sharpening more frequently.

You've more chance of completing the job with the same cutter using your method & a wider cutter.

 

I use a combination of the methods mentioned.

If the standard font has lines too widely spaced for a suitably narrow cutter, I'll use an outline font instead & either island fill or hatch, adjusting the width of the fill lines accordingly depending on the spacing required.