Hi there.

Vcarve rocks!

Here is one of my first frontpanels made with vcarve. This panel was made with a 0,2mm engraving tool and a 2mm end mill on a vacuum table with a kress spindle. I just bought a Jäger hf spindle (50.000 turns/min). I will need the spiral ramps then but at the moment vcarve is changes the feed rate although if its set to e.g. 10mm/sec. Not that nice for the tools. Does anyone else have problem with it?

Some pictures:
3mm AlMg3 aluminium 19" 2U 483x88,1mm







Regard,
Frank.

Excellent engraving Frank and thanks for posting the pictures!

VCPro uses the specified Plunge Feedrate for Spiral Ramp moves - is this what you are seeing?

Tony

Ah sorry, i mean the feed rate:
When using the spiral function everything seems to be ok (feed rate is set to 10mm/sec). But the last spiral move (when making a hole) is very very very fast. It looks like 40mm/sec.
Maybe thats because the panel thickness is 3.0mm and I set the end mill to 3.1mm because iam using a vacuum table with a sacrificial layer?

Thanks,
Frank.

WOW!!! Roelli, that is one professional looking front panel. Most impressive and really shows off the engraving capabilities of VCarve Pro.

Thanks for letting us have a peek at your fine work.

My very best regards,

Once the Spiral ramp move is complete the feedrate reverts to the specified XY Cutting rate. If this is too fast then change both Feed Rate and Plunge Rate to be the same as shown in the image below.

Tony

Thanks Tony! I will try this.
But its not possible to have a slower Z plunge rate than the XY feed rate in 'spiral mode'? My end mills don't like fast z plunge moves that much. And slowing down the XY feed rates will slow down the hole process.
Maybe I could just set the material size to 3.1mm although its only 3.0mm? (just an idea)

Frank.

Roelli,

Would you mind disclosing RPMs and feed rates used to engrave this?

I'm having a friend asking for some alu engraving (front panel for audio stuff ), but I haven't tried engraving anything yet, so any information is welcome.

Thanks

Hi.

For standard engraving tools try this:
30.000 turns/min
0,7m/min feed rate

You should use a Minimal Quantity Lubrication (if you have one) or just put some alcohol on the frontpanel.

Frontpanels for audio? That sounds interesting? The audio scene is quiet small... maybe I know him?

If I can help let me know.

Roelli.

Thanks for the answers

I don't have lubricant (for now, at least). Do you put alcohol on the panel as it is being engraved (follow the spindle), or before you start engraving?



It's here in my city (I'm living in Serbia), and it's kind of a hobby for him at the moment, so I doubt you'd know him

Iam using a lubricant. But I would put alcohol all over the panel before starting to engrave the panel.

The problem with engraving frontpanels is to have the same engraving depth all the time. Standard depth is 0,2mm but if your frontpanel doesn't have a smooth surface or your base isn't smooth you will get a different width.

Some are using this:



or a measurement tool with automatic Z-axis compensation.

The mechanical thing is cheaper but is always on the surface and maybe you have scratches in the end... but I haven't ever used.

The electronic thing measures the surface of the panel before starting the engraving/milling process.
Not every software/hardware can do that.

By the way... I used 0,1mm engraving depth at the panel shown in this thread.

Good luck! And let us know if it works for you.

Roelli.

Is that Kress mounting a commercial product or home made please.?
Any other pic's of it please?

John S.

Seems to be available for Step Four CNC machine (that's where image is from) - http://www.step-four.at/hp2/index.php?action=1671

Seems interesting (I have Kress 1050), but only trouble is that I have absolutelly no idea how it works

How it works:
There is a spring and an engraving "nose". (i think its Teflon)
You have to adjust the engraving depth one time and it doesn't matter if the material surface is smooth or not.

The disadvantage is that you can't adjust the engraving depth very precise. And changing tools will last longer. Sometimes there is a scale - so its possible to adjust the engraving depth. But thats only available with the better ones. (much more expensive than a kress)

Roelli.

Hello,

i found this Kress-Mounting on Ebay last year on Ebay for only 160€ ,i know thats much of money... the problem for me is, i didn´t use a Kress with a 43mm support so, there no using for me.

Greets...

My spindle-mounting costs 200€. But only because someone made it for me. Otherwise it would cost about 400€ or so. But who cares... Iam using a spindle which costs 3500€.

What do you use? Proxxon?
Frank Thiemig has one which fits for the proxxon:
http://www.thiemig.de/gravur/tiefenr.htm

Regards,
Frank.