Need help using ball end mill for lettering custom fonts in SolidCAM.

I've tried everything I can think of to get SolidCAM to do what I want it to, and that is go right down the centerline of these letters (the font is Korataki) with a ball endmill and basically engrave that lettering at .020 deep with this (or any for that matter) font.

I've tried using a profile operation and selecting the faces; the edges; curves, etc. and either the bit goes outside the lines; randomly picks letters to engrave; only mills out half the letter, etc.

I just want to drop the bit down in the center of the fonts and make one pass and a clean balled out set of letters. Any suggestions?

PS: Yes, I've checked my Geometry a million times and I can't figure this out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Attachment 251298

Try using a stick font instead of the hollow fonts as I call them.

Stick fonts don't work, either. If I were to draw that font out with nothing but a stick line down the center of each part of the letter, there is no way to cut-extrude and solidCAM won't let me mill something that has no depth.

Thanks anyway, but I'm still searching for answers.

I've done it that way before a long time ago. Basically you do a trace and tell it a cutting depth. I hsmworks now so I can't give you exacts.

Thanks for trying to help. I don't know who designed solidCAM, but you'd THINK they would KNOW that many people out here will want to use the software to do a lot of lettering work on different projects, rather it be logos or using a custom font to mill out something really slick on a plague, etc.

I guess someone was asleep at the wheel during that part of the design process. There are very few tutorials on this.

I'm not sure what you mean by "do a trace and tell it a cutting depth". Is this a profiling operation? A facing operation? An engraving operation? A drilling operation?

What's New In SolidCAM 2013: Engraving - YouTube
Watch the video it might help

Thank you guys for the help, I do appreciate it. Those suggestion work fine if you're using the same font as he's using in that video, but if you want to use another custom font like 'Korataki' that I'm using, SolidCAM just won't complete/recognize the operation without some manipulation to the custom font you're using. I hope someone from SolidCAM fixes this in their next release and takes notes on what I'm about to share. It really sucks to have software this powerful but you can't perform a simple lettering operation using anything other than their 'OLF Simple Sans OC' or some other stick font which does not allow you to use the cut-extrude feature for depth while drawing it up.

So here's the fix if you want to use a custom font in SolidCAM to perform lettering operations on various parts or projects:

The font I'm using in this photo is 'Korataki', and I want to use a .0312 ball to mill out the letters in my workpiece. So what I had to do is add a fillet to the face and walls of those letters which creates a small bed at the bottom of the letter which is colored in blue when you select it for an engraving operation. The smallest opening in that particular set of letters was .0038, so I chose an engraving tool and set the tip diameter at .0038 in SolidCAM and generated the tool path. Now, it has to go over that lettering a few times with step overs to fill the blue area, but instead of using a .0038 engraving tool, I'm tricking the software basically and I'm going to use a .0312 ball in the operation. The software THINKS I'm loading a .0038 tool because I programmed it that way to fit in all the narrow arrows shown in blue, but when running the op, I'll simply use a .0312 ball end mill and get the look and finish I was looking for :)

Attachment 251438

And here's what the tool path looks like:

Attachment 251440

There are about 10 of these letters in the operation; they are .070 tall and it takes about 2 minutes and 09 seconds (2:09) to finish. Just remember, you'll have to measure the smallest gap in your lettering between fillets and use that distance as your tool diameter, or SolidCAM will NOT perform the operation.

I seriously cannot believe the price of this software and it doesn't allow the average person who has very little CAD/CAM skills to perform a simple lettering operation using the font of their choice.

Note to SolidCAM designers: Many-Many-Many People out here have custom logos with custom lettering fonts they use for their machined parts. On your next release, it would be nice to see a much better lettering operation that is easy to use so people can easily letter their projects without having to go through all this extra curricular BS to perform a simple lettering operation. Perhaps you can also do a 30 minute video tutorial as well. I see TONS of tutorials on profiling, facing, drilling, etc. but very few on lettering. Some of us design products and the lettering and logos are a MAJOR part of the overall design.

Peace.

Hi all,
To do what you are asking in Solidcam, you should have used an "Engraving" operation.
To do that, just select the engraving strategy and then choose the bottom faces of the letters as geometry. Pick a tool, levels, etc, and in technology, choose "fill area", with the option of "middle line only", and thats it.
You can add the step down that you want in the same page.
Attachment 254354

Regards,