[farmertom]

Hi,
Where can i find some information on how to create edge lighted acrylic signs? How to fill or paint, what cuts show the light best, etc. I have searched this form but have not found exactly what i need.
Thanks
farmertom

[dbtoutfit]

If you have run across a good source I am in the same boat. I have made a couple signs and they came out fine. But not every job I have will fit my laser. So when I am doing larger jobs on my router table I'd like to give an etched look in a letter pocket for an example with no tooling path marks.
I did this with a v shape engraving bit but mach3's CV was killing me on sharp edges like college style fonts and with a step over of 1thousands the cycle time was rather high. I'm thinking of trying something from my dremel set like a cone shaped stone to just barely touch the surface. Problem is I prob have to deal with water or some coolent with this approach and I haven't had to do this so far with my pass signs.

I'd like to find people suggesting different tools to get different looks like a vcarve etc.

Eric

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[P.Passuello]

Made this video a few years ago on making an edge lit clock.
Hopefully it will be of some help to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uo6C9TW0_8

Cheers
Peter

Actually Eric I just reread your question. My engravings were done using a 30 Vbit degree cutter, maximum of 2mm deep into the material so this may not be very helpful to you at all.
I used VCarve Pro to create the letters which gives to nice sharp on my letters because it can generate real Vcarve files. If I understand correctly you are using CAM software which does not do VCarving so are using a V bit and small stepover to achieve the same affect. The only thing I can think of is turning of CV if it is causing rounding of your letters. This will probably slow things down though.

[dbtoutfit]

Thanks Peter.
Funny I actually watched your video before making this post.
Very useful video.

The vcarving is not my issue, its my step over amount on a 90degree v shaped engraving bit. I must run the machine pain stakenly slow or the side effects of CV creep up on me. Which makes zero sense seeing my machine motor tuning is 300ipm acceleration and 300 velocity. I got a headach from all the things I did trying to get rid of the CV issues.

Anyone else have unique techniques to doing acrylic?

Eric

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[ger21]

With an accel of 300, you shouldn't be having any CV issues. Although I don't believe you actually have an accel of 300, as that's over .75G
What are your CV settings set to?
Try turning off the following:

CV Distance
CV Feedrate
Plasma Mode
G100 Adaptive NurbsCV
And set Stop CV on Angles to 89 and enable it.
Also, set the Lookahead to 200 lines.

[dbtoutfit]

Your right, my gantry is 300/300 but table is a little tougher. Its 300/100.

Right now setting are:
CV Tolerance .01 (on)
G100 Adaptive NutbdCV (on)
Stop Cv angles> 89
Look ahead 20 lines.



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[ger21]

Turn off CV tolerance and it should be much better.
Also turn off G100 Adaptive NurbsCV, unless you're using a G100.

[dbtoutfit]

Ok changed all the setting as suggested.
Is CV Tolerance same as CV Distance?
I cant find CV Distance.

Here is my tool path.
One is 50ipm second is 25ipm.

I just cant believe its off this bad...



Eric

UPDATE:
Changed X&Y to 100/100 on motor tuning.
Still give issues. Just as bad.

Is the tool path preview in Mach3 not very accurate?

[dbtoutfit]

After some trial and error I got the results I was looking for.

So I made a test run. I set the tool off set to 50% to leave noticeable tool paths. Ran the machine engraving at 50ipm and just crossed my fingers, though the toolpath in mach3 preview look horrible after maching was done I took a look at the results and found all paths we very much in line and not rounding corners etc. Earlier in the week the CV was extremely bad with 300ipm feeds.

My final thoughts are it does take some time to tune the CV setting in to work best for your machine or you could see some not so great results. The tool path preview is not perfect and to get the best results, use mach3 tooth path preview to tune your motors and CV settings (many setting require you to close and restart mach to take effect) until your not seeing very bad traces off the original tool path. At that point make some sample cuts and verify the real deal. Looking back, I focused and relied way to much on the mach preview.

I'll post some images of the edge lit signs I made. I don't have my light strips in yet to show them off well though.

Eric

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[ger21]

Is the tool path preview in Mach3 not very accurate?

You can NOT use the toolpath display to tune anything!!!
It's not that it isn't accurate. The issue is that it only updates 10 times per second, so what you typically see is 10 straight line segments for each second of motion.

[dbtoutfit]

Well thats good information to know!


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