V groove lettering question, small letters.

[wespor]

I have 90 and 45 degree bits I'd like to use in tandem to engrave very small letters in plywood. I'm going to be filling the cavities with resin and sanding so the bottom quality doesn't matter but the corners do. In VCarve I have the option to set an end mill for roughing but I don't have a bit that small, I'm not sure I'd want an endmill that small.

I'd like to rough cut with the 90 and come back with the 45 for a profile. Is there any way to streamline that? Because VCarve doesn't have that option I'm guessing I need to trick it somehow?

[Burkhardt]

I am not sure if I get the intent...
If the letters are very small, why would you want to rough it at all? That is sometimes required to remove large quantity of wood which you don't have.
Also, most plywoods, including the Baltic Birch tend to be somewhat splintery and don't really lend themselves to small letters. They only cut clean with a downcut bit but that is obviously not v-shaped.
You could of course make 2 vcarve tool paths, one with 90 and the other with 45 degrees to be executed sequentially but I am not sure if that will get you anywhere. If the 90 degree bit makes a torn-out edge, the 45 will cut deeper but not clean it up running on the same vectors.

You may want to try using a single bit and going subsequently deeper to the target depth to be kind to the edges. Sanding the surface smooth and laquering before cutting may help as well. For very small letters, an engraving spade type bit could do a better job than a larger v-bit.

[bobmoore]

Wes how small is small and what grade of plywood are you carving?

[bleeth]

Like others not sure why the two step process for small letters in plywood, but, you can just do 2 programs and run one for the smaller bit and one for the larger. I wouldn't be roughing small vcarve letters in plywood. A good v groove bit should leave the upper ply edges plenty clean enough to do what you want.

[wespor]

Ah, just realized how little sense that post made. I guess the key factor I left out was that there are several different sizes of text, ranging from half an inch in height to several inches. I would like to have them all have the same, tight corners and consistent serif detail.

The only way I see how to do that now is by running the same text through with a 90 (where applicable for size) then ALL text again with a 45. That's adding over dozen hours to the job through and from what Burkhardt said, won't work exactly how I think it will.

[pixl8ed]

If you're filling the letters in with resin, do you have to use both a 45 & 90 degree vbit? They'll both look the same when filled to the material surface.

[srwtlc]

It doesn't matter what angle bit you use, the corners of a v-carve toolpath will all be the same (as long as your bit is true). What will change is the depth of cut. If the small text is too shallow with a 90º, then use a 60º bit instead of a 90º. Since you're filling it, you could limit the depth (flat bottom) and just let the v-bit to do the flat bottom with a larger overlap %. You could also use a small start depth to allow for some sanding to level up after filling.

[joe]

Not sure what we are dealing with here. Please show us your lettering. Not sure what small means! Is this a font, with serifs, like Times New Roman or do you know?