What bit setting should I use for an 1/2" bull nose (shaped like a ball on a 1/4" shaft) I did not see one listed. I want to carve out pockets with 1/2" radius sides.
As a 1/2" ball nose end
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Thanks Ken4 I entered it as that, just wasn’t sure X-Carve would accept that. I will try on a scrap piece before I waste a walnut layup.
Easel isnt setup to properly use a bull nose bit.
And ball bits can only be used in the detail pass of a 3d carve…
How you enter this but really depends on the intended use, i can think of situations where it could be entered as an endmill…
This is how youd have to enter the bit to carve your pockets using easel…
Seth the picture is similar to what I want carve. But I did not see an Easel set up in your post
I use ball nose bits quite often, I just enter them as a straight milling bit, knowing it is going to leave a radiused transition from wall to floor.
You can get interesting results if you put a 60deg bit in for the detail pass and use a ball bit instead, I do that with a depth of cut per pass of 0.2mm. I have only done it with 1/4" ball bits and get a really nice step free angled wall.
Great Thanks for the reply, I plan on carving some serving trays with radius on the wall sections
Should have mentioned to be careful that the diameter of the straight bit you enter is same as the diameter of the ball bit. To keep things as simple as possible I call the bits bowl bits makes them easy to find in the list.
I use a Bowl Bit aka a Dish Bit for the bottom of these pockets. Because it has a flat bottom it doesn’t need as small as a stepover as a ball bit in order to ensure no scallops occur at the bottom…
& here’s what I mean by scalloping of a fully radiused ball bit: How To Choose a Stepover for 3D Profiling - CNCCookbook: Be A Better CNC'er
Seth,
That bowl bit worked great, in rough out it carved out a nice tray with radius on the sides. But then I put a 1/4" compression bit in to cut out the shape. First thing it did was clean up the sides of the tray making them vertical, not a radius . How do I tell X Carve to only use a particular bit in a particular area? Then I had other problems of my own making that I won’t go into.
you could create multiple “workpieces” using the bottom panel, and assign only the bits you want for the part of the design you want.
See this tutorial:
It shows the process of assigning one bit for the pocket, a 2nd bit for the engraving, and then a 3rd bit for the perimeter cut out.
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