General CAD question - ruler scale

[Brian Tymchak]

Still a CNC/CAD newbie. I'm using Carveco Maker (first year free with 1F Elite purchase) to set up a job to carve multiples of a childrens toy. Since nesting is reserved for Maker+ , I turned on the rulers feature, started creating guidelines at 2 1/4" spacing on the X axis, with the intent to snap to the guidelines. When the spacing didn't work out as expected for the board, I was a bit puzzled. Finally realized that the inches rulers are marked in 1/10" increments, or as I've come to learn, in "decimal inches". I was expecting a traditional imperial scale (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc). There seems to be no option to change the scale. I find this annoying, but I guess I can adjust. Since I've found a few other annoying things about Carveco, I've been starting to compare features between CAD packages.

So, here's the question: Does VCarve provide a traditional imperial scale on the inch scale ruler or decimal inches? Maybe decimal inches are more industry standard?

Thanks!

[Gary Campbell]

I havent seen a CAD/CAM program that uses fractions. Fractions are for tape rules (i.e., manual) decimal inches or millimeters are the 2 units available on CNC machines. Those hashmarks on the CAD rulers are fractions.... tenths.

[Michael Burnside]

I don’t 100% follow the problem you’re seeing as I don’t use Carveco. The guides in Vcarve and even the snap can be setup however you want. Same goes with guides that I use religiously. You can work in fractions all you like when entering dimensions and convert hitting =. At the end of the day all numbers are going to be base 10 if you’re working on a CNC setup for inches.

Download Vcarve for free and watch tutorials. I think you’ll find it very user friendly and easy to customize for your machine/task.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, no fractions in CNC work! It's either decimal inches (and you need that because of the degree of precision you get into for many things including tooling, allowances, etc.) or millimeters. (I generally work in metric because that's what I use for woodworking most of the time at this point) But Michael makes a good point that Vectric software will do the conversion for you if you type in a fraction. After awhile you kinda get to know the decimal equivalents for all the "fractions" you use most often and rodent pads with a conversion chart are quite common.

[Brian Tymchak]

Thanks guys. I'll get with the program... I do like the conversion Michael mentioned. I'll look deeper into Carveco to see if it has a similar capability. But I will likely lean into switching over to VCarve pretty soon.

Thanks again.

[George Yetka]

Between CNC and autocad for work I end up using decimal inches over writing fractions often. If I have to type a list of pipe/fittings to a supply house it drives me nuts but I cant tell the supply house I need 1.625" ACR tubing instead I have to type out
"100') 1-5/8" ACR tubing"

[Jim Becker]

Thanks guys. I'll get with the program... I do like the conversion Michael mentioned. I'll look deeper into Carveco to see if it has a similar capability. But I will likely lean into switching over to VCarve pretty soon.

Thanks again.

Switching horses can be costly financially and with learning curve and honestly, remembering decimal values for common fractions is easy. For non-common fractions, simple division provides the decimal value for the fraction, so just keep a cheap, simple calculator handy. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy using the Vectric software but I also learned on it from the start. If you decide to switch...do it because it's the right move for the kind of work you want to do because you'll be investing a lot of time to make it happen.

[Michael Burnside]

Thanks guys. I'll get with the program... I do like the conversion Michael mentioned. I'll look deeper into Carveco to see if it has a similar capability. But I will likely lean into switching over to VCarve pretty soon.

Thanks again.

If you're new'ish to the CNC scene, I highly recommend Vcarve (Pro if you need Pro features - which I do). Don't get me wrong, I often just use decimal, but I like the flexibility of doing things like 7/16= or 1+1/32= or 0.25+1/64= and what not depending on the situation. This helps me generally avoid the need to have calc open for any entries like that. With Vcarve almost any data entry supports this approach. I'm also a fan of how easy it is to modify the post processor or create custom ones for your CNC in Vcarve, so overall I recommend it, heeding the proviso Jim mentioned already about the cost of switching too late

[George Yetka]

Im not sure how license transfer works with either software. But that may be a possibility if needed.

The grass is always greener. There are some features which are nice in carveco that are not offered in vectric and vice versa.

[Brian Tymchak]

Im not sure how license transfer works with either software. But that may be a possibility if needed.

The grass is always greener. There are some features which are nice in carveco that are not offered in vectric and vice versa.

I googled around trying to find a good feature comparison between Carveco and VCarve. But, I only found high level comparisons, not very useful to get a good sense at the useage level. George, if you can provide some info along those lines I would really appreciate it.

[Brian Tymchak]

Switching horses can be costly financially and with learning curve and honestly, remembering decimal values for common fractions is easy. For non-common fractions, simple division provides the decimal value for the fraction, so just keep a cheap, simple calculator handy. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy using the Vectric software but I also learned on it from the start. If you decide to switch...do it because it's the right move for the kind of work you want to do because you'll be investing a lot of time to make it happen.

The Carveco license I'm using is free for the first year. Think it's good to December. My only investment is time, and unfortunately not a lot of it. Thought I would have more time to work on the CNC than has borne out. The models I've created have been pretty simple, so if I change, it wouldn't make much effort to recreate if needed. The decimal scale ruler isn't a deal breaker for me. But Carveco hasn't been as intuitive to learn as I expected. Could be I just need more time with the tool.

If you're new'ish to the CNC scene, I highly recommend Vcarve (Pro if you need Pro features - which I do). Don't get me wrong, I often just use decimal, but I like the flexibility of doing things like 7/16= or 1+1/32= or 0.25+1/64= and what not depending on the situation. This helps me generally avoid the need to have calc open for any entries like that. With Vcarve almost any data entry supports this approach. I'm also a fan of how easy it is to modify the post processor or create custom ones for your CNC in Vcarve, so overall I recommend it, heeding the proviso Jim mentioned already about the cost of switching too late

I'm not sure I even qualify for "ish" yet..

I would likely want VCarve Pro as well. IIRC, Pro offers nesting which seems like a feature I would use a lot. I would have to upgrade to Carveco Maker+ to get it as well. I like that flexibility in the data entry. Appreciate you pointing that out.

[Jim Becker]

I would likely want VCarve Pro as well. IIRC, Pro offers nesting which seems like a feature I would use a lot. I would have to upgrade to Carveco Maker+ to get it as well. I like that flexibility in the data entry. Appreciate you pointing that out.

Unless you have a very small CNC, you'll want VCarve Pro to have full access to your machine's capacity. VCarve Desktop is limited to 24x24 and doesn't have a few of the more advanced features. Pretty much the same feature set as VCarve Pro otherwise, however. Aspire, the top end application is...the same...but adds 3D Modeling (creation rather than just use of existing) and a few other goodies. I really like Vectric's approach around that as the software capability can grow with the user and the upgrade is merely the difference in cost of the current retail price if that's in the cards. Everything you already know is there. Vectric has excellent training videos available, both from their own site as well as on YouTube. Watch a few to get a flavor for the software and if you want, download a trial and "do" the lessons to get a feel for it, too.

[John TenEyck]

I had no clue you can change the scale on the X-Y axis in VCarve Pro until I read it here. I still don't know how it's done. But I've been using VCarve Pro for 18 months and never once thought it might be important. I don't even look at the axis scales, to be honest. You can do everything you want as far as guidelines, moving, scaling, nesting, etc. with the commands available. I've never used another design program for CNC so I can't compare one vs another, but VCarve Pro does everything I want, except 3D design. That said, if I could have managed to get over the initial hump of learning Fusion 3D it would be a more complete design package as it can do 3D design and then create toolpaths for the parts, or so I'm told. I use SketchUp for 3D design and found it pretty easy to learn for my needs, and you even can import it into VCarve Pro. However, it never seems to import cleanly so I end up redrawing the parts directly in VCarve Pro.

There are other options to VCarve Pro, but it's hard to beat for flat work because the drawing and tool pathing are so well integrated. And, as Jim said, you can import a single 3D model into it, manipulate its size as needed, and then create the tool paths to carve it. Vectric allows you to download any of its software for free. They are fully functioning except you can't save the g-code files. But you can create drawings and toolpaths. Then, if you decide to buy the license, you can create and save the g-code files for those drawings. Vectric has great tutorials, too, covering most anything you'd want to do.

John

[Jerome Stanek]

For your old files save them as DXF and import them into Vcarve

[Wes Grass]

I did a couple sets of molds for aircraft wing and fuselage. Wings were a bunch of plywood sections stacked on a built up aluminum 'spar', hand finished.

The wing skins required various cutouts for motor mounts, power pack install, and elevons.

VCarve Pro, I was able to import the 3d model and use it to drive the Z axis to follow the contour. Not to profiling accuracy, but good enough for 'trimming' Hugely convenient and simple.

First set of fuselage molds I used my personal seat of Surfcam. After more experience with VCarve, it turned out to be much easier and did as good a job.

Molds were glued up from profiles cut from MDF, stacked and dowelled. Throw those into VCarve, and auto-nest them. Surfcam????? Yeah, sure ...

After a couple setups, you realize you don't need to make allowance on them for complete cleanup. Any steps get filled with Bondo and sanded out anyway.

Fortunately, there weren't any windows required in these. So jacking up the gantry was only a once a year, or so, requirement.

4x16 foot Avid, with an extended Z. Profiling done with a 12" long 1/2" ball end cutter. I never thought it would be possible ....

One set of molds required 3 weeks of dumpster pickup to get rid of all the scrap. Never mind the trash bags of chips ...