I haven’t used Easel in a long time, other than as a g code sender. The only time I use it is if I have a large cutout to do that maxes out my 24" capacity in Vcarve Desktop. I’m trying to make a cursive name, but trying to add tabs is the same bs process that it was years ago and pushed me into buying Vcarve. Is it so complicated to just click where you want a tab rather than the current method of guessing how many you want, then dragging them around, only to realize you want more, then having to reposition them all again. What a horrible setup for tabs in Easel.
I guess I don’t form my posts properly, because everyone I make is just talking to myself and getting no replies or help…
FWIW - I use blue painters tape (one layer on surface board, another on the material to be carved and glue them together with super glue. No tabs required.
May not fit everyone but it does work very well.
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I use 3M spray aheasive on another board. After the carve I use a putty knife to break the carve free of the backer board.
I avoid tabs like the plague!
I use screws often and the painters tape and CA glue. Depends on the projects. Sometimes I find tabs are the best option. Easel and tabs are a horrible combo though. My Vcarve Desktop and tabs work well, but like I said, trying to make 31” so I go to Easel.
I guess the tabs never bothered me. Cut and sand off right easy. Maybe I’m missing something.
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Tabs are fine. It’s the way of placing them in Easel that’s torture. Not clear in topic title I guess.
Tabs are your friend.
No glue, no tape, no screws.
I exclusively use v carve desk top and have never had a problem.
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If you’re using Vcarve desktop, then you’ve never had a problem using tabs on a 31” project.
This whole topic is interesting to me as it’s never occurred to me to think about where to place tabs or move them around. I’ve always just selected what seemed like a sound number of them and let them fall where they may. In some future carves, I’m going to pay more attention and may come back to this thread saying YES! I GET IT!!
On a simple rectangle or shape it probably doesn’t matter. Complicated shapes with corners, or holes inside that need to be sure have a couple tabs to hold cutouts it skinny pieces make tab placement important. Vcarve just requires a click where you want it. Easel is so much more complicated.
I feel you pain.
I have recently had issues with Vcarve Desktop setting tabs manually.
I have a two sided design where the flip side is exactly the same tool path as the top side. However, when you set tabs, the tabs need to be exactly placed so that when you flip the stock the tabs exactly align. VCarve makes this harder than it needs to be. Some sort of layout grid for manually placing tabs would be handy.
Another thing that is bothersome with Vcarve Desktop is that it thinks it’s smarter than you are. Consider cutting a letter “O” out of board stock. You can set tabs so that the “O” stays tabbed to the stock because you are likely anchoring the stock in the corners. However, the inner part of the “O” is not likely to be an anchor point. Even if you add tabs to the inside of the “O” to hold the center in place to keep it from being ejected by the bit, the tabs will not be there in the preview nor will they be there in the generated Gcode. I’ve had center parts break free because of this. I would like it to generate tabs where I place them.
Harry,
One of the products that I make are tap handles for a local craft brewer who in turn hands them out to bars.
All the tap handles are a 2 sided carve.
I set the tabs where i want them, then i profile just a bit more than half way through the material.
Then when i cut the other side, they are in the exact same location.
As far as cutting the center out of a circle, why not just do a pocket tool path?
My point wasn’t really about carving an “O”. My point was that when I put tabs into a project to hold the center, Vcarve does not obey where I place them but instead leaves them out of the Gcode.
While you could do a pocket pass to hollow out a small “O”, if that “O” were one foot high, that’s a lot of material to pocket out when a profile pass would be much faster. But watch out, the inside of that big “O” is going to come flying at you because the tabs you told Vectric to put there won’t be there for you when you need them.
That’s weird.
I’m going to have to play with that scenario.
Blue tape and glue or use a vacuum table
It would be nice if you could choose a Tab tool, then click on the path and it adds a tab where you’ve clicked. It is a bit annoying moving them and how they reset if you need to add/remove tabs after already moving a bunch of them.
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In my case it’s a bit more complex. Four pieces are carved from one board. I use the outline trace to get vectors that I can use for the profile cut. The 4 pieces come together in a way that creates a triangular piece in the center of the board. The 4 pieces I want to keep are each tabbed to the outer board, but they are also tabbed to the inner triangle. I set the tabs manually rather than using any of the auto tab set features. For whatever reason the tabs don’t show up in the preview and also don’t show up in the Gcode.
In my case I am doing a two sided carve. Side to side registration is critical. It is also important that the back side cut not sever any of the front side’s tabs.