Re: Vfontz 1.2 released

Alan M. said:

>That's really gorgeous! I haven't done any engraving, but might want to
>do stuff like dials and knobs. Would your 1/8" engraving tool work for
>that also? Is this a standard tool, and where might I find one? Seems
>Vfontz does more then just a simple vector font. The notes on your .JPG
>say were "cut by hatching at a .01 stepover", would you care to explain?

Alan- the tool is a solid carbide half round end mill. 1/8 inch diameter, 60 degree tip. MSC part number 01787084, $12.47.

I don't know if this will work if you are not an MSC customer, but here is a link to the catalog page:

http://www.mscdirect.com/PDF.process?pdf=502

They are about 1/2 way down on the left of the page. The earlier inquiry about jewelers points may also be interested in these, as they also come in square and Ball nose. They do seem to be limited to inch sizes from 1/8 on up.

I ran the part on our machining center at about 4000 RPM and 5-8 ipm feed rates. I squirted a little coolant on the surface, but did not use flood as it seemed to stay pretty cool during the cut. The material is some junk that I bought at the local hardware stork from a metal rack. It is probably 6061, but it does have a satin finish anodize, that is just slightly abrasive & a little harder than the metal underneath.

Two cutting strategies were used to produce the letters. 1) The angled sides of the letters are longer than the comfortable cutting edge of the 1/8 cutter, therefore various cuts were made around the circumferences at different depths, always angling in toward the center. This is what I call nibbling, and we expect that people making large letters in thin material will use this a lot, especially for signage. That was all done automatically in Vfontz, as well as any corner pull ups for sharp corners. 2) The flat areas at Z=-.100 are developed from a closed contour calculated in Vfontz, and actually pocketed in Vector. Vector gives us several ways to do this, but the hatch is about a simple as it gets, and gives the best support for just selecting a bunch of disconnected shapes, filling them with a pattern, and then placing them at the desired depth with interconnecting moves. I set the rapid to clearance plane at a short distance above the material, but because the distances are so small in lettering, the machine really never had a chance to get up to rapid speed ( about 350-400 ipm).

John from England also asked:

>Have you any plans to make this a stand alone program for the people
>who don't have Vector. Something along the lines of Millwrite that
>will draw the font and generate the code.
>There are a lot of us out here who are happy with the programs we
>have and don't want to learn a new program or duplicate what we
>already have.

Vfontz will probably never be a stand alone product. We have another program in the works that will add more V-tipped cutter features and capabilities besides lettering. This will also be a Vector accessory, but may also be released as a stand alone. Because of the extra complications(post processors, support, extended cam testing, etc) involved to make it a stand alone, the combined price of this new program with Vector will probably be less than the stand alone version. What features? you ask!. Check out the clock face in our Vfontz photo gallery for a taste of things to come. ;-) http://www.vectorcam.com




Best Regards, Fred Smith- IMService
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