So I’m about a week and 5-6 projects in to my new x-carve and I’m getting frustrated with the quality of cuts. I purchased a v grove bit and it’s not doing a great job leaving grooves in the flat spots of lettering carved and sometimes doesn’t finish the top of a cut either leaving not such a straight line. I’ve also tried several other bits from inevitables including up cut down cut straight and their 30* carving bit. The 30* bit wore down before the cut was over leaving half of the cut at a shallower depth. The other boys seem to just tear the wood. I’ve tried hard woods, ply wood, pine, maple… how do I get clean cuts??? I can’t even sand out most of the problems. Any suggestions would be great!!
For the V bit, do you have step over set to 1%.
Some photos may help us give you advice.
Your 30* bit might have broken, what cut settings did you use.
Some in the past had suggested running the V bit a second time if there was a rough cut.
Both oak and plywood splinter a lot and leave fuzzy edges. Plywood seems to cut better if pre-treated with a finish such as shelac or urethane prior to carving. It seems to stabilize the top layer of wood so it cuts cleaner.
Cherry and walnut cut the best in my experience.
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Thanks! I’m not sure about the 1% thing at all. What is that? I tried it again and did two things different that helped a lot. I reduced the feed rate by 35% and also chose to use the with the grain setting instead of rasterized. My second attempt was much better. I’ll look in to the setting you mentioned. This was on pine but I think it makes sense to treat the plywood. Thanks for the help!!
As for the 30* bit I used the default settings and I think it was just too aggressive for the bit on oak.
Yes, oak tends to fuzz unless using a downcut bit. Red oak is worse than white but both will. When using a v bit or upcut cleanup is almost always required. As mentioned running the cut a second time (without modifying any settings) will help some but still expect fuzzy edges.
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