Xcarve CNC Machine

How to safely use the Carve CNC machine to make a cut and pocket engrave.

CNC Machine

Wood

CNC Bit

Screws

Press ‘Create new file’

Complete the Job Setup information with the width, height and thickness of your material or working area of the material you wish to cut. For basic use, ensure the rest of your settings here look identical to the screenshot shown. Keep in mind that this sets the job as single sided, Z Zero Position to Material Surface, and XY Datum(Origin) to bottom left. For the CNC machine we are going to use, it is required to use Inches as our unit and Z Zero Position as Material Surface, as this allows us to use their system at the best quality.

Press OK

To import a vector file. Accepted formats are (.dxf, *.eps, *.ai, *.pdf, *skp and *svg)

You can also make vectors directly in VCarve with these tools shown here.

To create a Profile cut (where the cutting bit follows a line), select the vectors to become profile cuts and open the Toolpath menu. Then select Profile Toolpath.

Set your Cutting Depths here first. The ‘Cut Depth’ should be set to the thickness of your material if you want a full cut-thru on your Profile cut.

Now we will be selecting the bit we will be using for our Profile cut. You can find the cutting bits in this first drawer of the black toolbox located near the CNC machine.

For this basic cut, we will be using the Amana Tool 46202-K. It is a ¼” End Mill with 2-flutes and a ¾” cutting height. This bit is designed to cut plywoods, soft and hardwoods as well as MDF.

(Tip: You can find all the information for this bit on the Amana tool website by searching the tool name and number in a google search.)

In the Toolpath window, press ‘Select’ in the Tool section of the options.

You will find the Amana 46202-K mill listed there, go ahead and select it.

Make sure the settings look like this for cutting wood and press ‘Okay’.

The next section of options will determine whether the Profile cut will be run ‘Outside’, ‘On’, or ‘Inside’ the vector line. For our project we will select ‘Outside’ so that the cut-out will be the exact dimension of the circle we had drawn or imported.

(Tip: ‘On’ the line option is useful for shallow profile cuts that are meant to essentially engrave a path or letterings of some sort, and the ‘Inside’ option is useful for interior cut-outs on a job.

We will now add tabs to our toolpath in this next section. The ‘length’ and ‘thickness’ options here will determine the size of these tabs. If unsure, copying these values is just fine. Check the box to Add Tabs and then press Edit Tabs.

All we have to do with the Toolpath tabs is simply click on your vector line where you would like to add the tabs. For this 3” circle cut-out we will add three tabs at these locations. You will see a yellow box with a ‘T’ in it where the tabs are being added. Press ‘Close’ when you are finished adding the tabs.

(Tip: Try and add tabs on your vectors where they will be easily sanded or routed off after the job is complete. Make sure you are confident in the amount of tabs you add to keep the part in place as the job is running)

In the next section we will check the box to Add Ramps to Toolpath. This will make the cutting bit approach the material at an angle as it goes to the pass-depth.

(Tip: The settings here are fine for a 3” circle, but for something smaller, you can decrease the ‘Distance’ option if you feel it is necessary.)

Now all we need to do for this Toolpath is to give it a name and press Calculate.

(Tip: It is recommended to name the toolpath something unique with the Tool name and number in it so that it can act as an identifier and reminder through-out the process of running the job)

You will now be able to Preview the toolpath by pressing the Play button. You can click and drag to rotate the 3D preview and inspect the part produced by the toolpath. You should see the tabs you added and observe any issues with your Profile toolpath settings here and go back and modify them if needed.

(Tip: You can set the speed of this preview if desired to see the toolpath at a s,lower pace.)

Press on the tab here labeled ‘2D’ to go back to the view where we can select our next vector for the next toolpath we will create.

We have selected the inner circle vector for our Pocket toolpath we will be creating. But we will also need to press on ‘Close’ on the toolpath preview window to continue.

With the inner circle vector selected, we will now press on the Pocket toolpath icon to continue on and change settings for that cut.

We will first set the Cutting Depths for our pocket toolpath. For our example material we will be cutting at a 0.25” Cut Depth with a Start Depth of 0.0”

Since we are using the same cutting bit for this toolpath we just need to ensure it is showing up correctly here, and if needed we can press Select and make sure the settings are the same as shown in the picture for the Profile cut bit settings.

We can choose here between an ‘Offset’ or a ‘Raster’ cut for our pocket. If unsure on the differences between these, just go with the default ‘Offset’ setting as we are going to do here.

For a smooth plunge, ensure the Ramp Plunge moves is selected, and based off of our circle Pocket dimension a 1” distance setting works just fine. Then simply name your Toolpath as we did in the Profile toolpath with a different identifier but with the same tool name and number then press Calculate.

Preview the toolpath as we did in the Profile toolpath and ensure everything looks as it should.

Next, close your Preview window and press the Save Toolpath icon so that we can get these toolpaths written to a file to be run on the CNC.

You will see your toolpaths near the bottom of this panel. Make sure you press this Up arrow if your Pocket toolpath is underneath your Profile toolpath as this one was. We want the pocket cuts to run first to reduce the chance of the part coming loose from its tabs if run after the Profile cut.

Ensure that the Post Processor is set to ‘Grbl (*inch)’ and check the ‘Toolpaths’ box before pressing Save Toolpath. We will be running the Profile and Pocket in the same job, so we will have both boxes checked and be saving them into a single file.

(Tip: If your job uses multiple cutting bits in the toolpaths, it is important to not save them together and only check the boxes one at a time to save them separately so that they can be run one after another allowing you to change bits between cuts.)

Turn on the X-Carve Pro CNC

In an internet browser, go to https://easel.inventables.com/users/sign_in

And login with our Easel Username and Password (provided on a label on the computer monitor)

Select ‘New Project’

Use the Import button to import our toolpaths as G-Code

Select ‘Choose File’ and locate your saved toolpath which will be a ‘fileName.gcode’ file. This is our toolpath we saved from VCarve.

Make sure your file looks correct here, you can also preview the cuts and set the speed for the preview to be sure.

Select the ‘Carve…’ button.

(Tip: if the Carve button is not green, that means the CNC has not connected yet.)

Make sure there is nothing on your CNC machine blocking the spindle and then ‘Home the machine’. Keep hands and any loose clothing away from the machine and its rails as it moves.

Select ‘I understand’ to allow Easel to add beginning and ending code to our job.

We now need to move the CNC spindle to make room to secure our material down. You can set the XY Interval to 1 inch here to move faster. Only move in the ‘+’ directions on X and Y here as we are on the border since we had Homed the machine previously.

Place your material on the spoilboard somewhere like this and make sure it is as straight as possible. Notice that on our spoilboard, the home position wasn’t all the way on the bottom left corner, but instead where the marking is.

Locate the spoilboard screws in the black toolbox near the CNC machine and grab a drill/driver and drill bit and driver tip for the screws. Make sure you pick a screw that is long enough to secure your material and not too long to go too far into the spoilboard. Make sure the drill bit you pick is not too thick, so that your screws still have purchase into your material.

Now drill pilot holes into areas of your material that are nowhere near your cutting areas of your material. Then drive your screws into your material to secure it to the spoilboard. Keep in mind that if you are cutting on the outside of your vector lines, the thickness of your CNC bit will be added onto your vector designs dimensions.

Now on Easel, press ‘Material is Secure’

Next, before we Probe for our Z Zero calibration, we need to put our CNC bit into the spindle. Locate a spindle nut and collet from the black toolbox near the CNC machine.

Put the CNC bit into the spindle nut and collet as shown here. Also, grab the two wrenches from below the spoilboard so that we can tighten the bit into the spindle. (Tip: Try not to overly tighten this. ‘Monkey tight’ not ‘gorilla tight’. )

Now we can go back to Easel and select ‘Probe’

Next we need to move the CNC spindle over our material to calibrate to the material surface. Also, bring your bit down a little on the Z axis until it is about 2 inches above your material. Then press ‘Confirm Position’.

Now take the black clip and metal puck and attach the clip to your spindle and put the puck onto your material. Then press ‘Clip is Attached’

Then gently touch the metal puck to the tip of the CNC bit to test the connection. On Easel the circle will briefly turn green if the connection is good.

Now make sure the metal puck is directly under your CNC bit and press

You can now press ‘Start Probing’

We can now detach the clip and put them back onto our desk and press ‘Z probe is put away’

Now move your spindle to the start position for our job which will be the bottom left of our material as we had set up in our VCarve scene and toolpaths. Use the XY intervals to be precise here.

Once in position you can press ‘Set XY Zero’

We now need to attach our dust shoe to collect the dust and chips from our job. Press ‘Raise to attach dust shoe’

Locate the dust shoe on the bottom shelf of the CNC table and attach it to the spindle. Also insert the vacuum tube to the dust shoe as shown. You can loosen the black wingnut on the side to raise or lower the dust shoe to match your material thickness. Press Confirm the dust shoe is attached.

(Tip: you can raise the CNC spindle a bit more to get the dust shoe on by using the Z up button on the movement controls)

Make sure you have hearing protection and eye glasses on and then press ‘Turn on spindle’. If the spindle turned on and started spinning, you can then press ‘The spindle is on’

We also need to turn on the vacuum.

Now it’s finally time to start the job and press ‘Carve!’ Make sure you are always near the red Stop button if something happens that you didn't want or something is wrong with the job.

Once the job has finished you can move the CNC bit up and out of the way so that you can get your material off and clean up the job area. Also take off the dust shoe and put it back where you found it. Take the CNC bit off and put it as well as the spindle nut and collet back into the toolbox as it was when you found it as well. You can then close out Easel.

Use this Oscillating Tool to remove the part from the material by cutting the tabs. You can then route or sand the tabs and any burrs off the part.