2D Engraving

2D Engraving can be applied to open and closed planner curves. The tool will follow the curves as direct guide of cutting motion. Engraving is most useful for producing marking and text on materials. 

You will need to place the curves to be cut into the following layer in the Rhino document:

KaroroCAM/2D Engraving

Tolerance

KaroroCAM uses polylines (collections of line segments) to create toolpaths. All curves are converted to segments using this Tolerance setting as a guide. The Number represents the maximum deviation from the input curve to the final polyline.

The green toolpath curves in these two pictures show the extreme of the 1mm vs 0.001mm settings:

TIP: Use a tolerance one decimal place better than your machines smallest movement step - ie for most CNC routers 0.01 is recommended Tolerance

NOTE: Tight tolerances can lead to large file sizes and slow machine movement while cutting 

Tool

Tool Shape

For the engraving toolpath three styles of tool bit are available:

Engrave Bit Angle

Sets the angle of the engraving bit tip.

Tool Diameter

Sets the diameter of your tool bit in mm.

Tool Number

Select Tool number that matches the tool spec'd in your tool path - mostly important for machines with auto tool change ability.

Spindle Speed

Sets the spindle speed for this operation in your GCode output file

Engraving Depth

Engraving Depth Position

Selects the reference position for the engraving depth. Can be:

Selected Curves - the cutting depth will be referenced to the curves in the 2D Engraving layer in the Rhino document. These can all be at different Z heights

Stock Top - Engraving depth is referenced to the top of the current stock - all engraving will be done to the same depth

Stock Bottom - Engraving depth is referenced to the bottom of the current stock - all engraving will be done to the same depth

NOTE: Engraving Depth Offset is a Z offset from this selection

Engraving Depth Offset

Offset in mm in the Z direction from the selected Engraving Depth Position of the final cutting depth. 

Multiple Depths

USE MULTIPLE DEPTHS

Check this box to enable multiple depth engraving paths

Max Step Down

Maximum step down in mm per pass when doing multiple depth cutting. 

NOTE: If the total cutting depth (Stock top - Cutting Depth Position + Cutting Depth Offset) is not an even division by this number the deepest pass will be less than this number.

ORDER CUT BY Z DEPTH

Check this box to order cutting by Z depth rather than per outline when doing multiple depth engraving. 

NOTE: This can be useful on machines with vacuum hold down to not 'break' the vacuum on the parts until the final depth pass

Ramping

USE RAMPING

Check this box to enable ramping tool entry into the stock.

Ramping Angle

Sets the angle the tool will enter the material at the start of each engraving pass.

NOTE: You may get a warning if one or more of the engraving paths is too short to contain the ramping motion. Either increase the ramp angle and/or reduce the engraving depth per pass to allow for a ramping motion that is suitable for your Engraving Curves. 

Post Process

Post Process 2D Engraving

Click this button to proceed to the Post Process Selection and Gcode File saving

VIDEO - 2D Engraving in KaroroCAM