V-carve Cedar

[wegner81]

Can anyone give me some advice on v-carving cedar it seems to chip out grain in between letters. I am just using the 60 degree that came with the starter kit. I just ordered some new engraving bits from bits & bits company someone suggested. Below is a example of 1 of 21 that I have to do. Thanks for any help
6741

[tuck]

Cedar is some soft wood, Kevin. I've not V carved it and not sure I'd want to. Clear heart cedar is a popular choice to sandblast because of it's softness and unique grain pattern, but V carving tiny letters ? I'd be looking for a hardwood.

If you have a spindle, you might try reversing your bit rotation. In any case, good luck!

[brucehiggins]

I don't get much chiping v-carving cedar with a regular carbide tip v-bit at 2.1 inches/sec and 1800 rpm but I do get some fuzzy spots. How big are those pieces you are carving? A sans serif font would be a lot less likely to chip if you could talk them into that.
This is western red cedar:

6742

[mitch_prest]

G'day Bruce
did you mean for that to be 1800 rpm or is it 18000

mitch

[brucehiggins]

Whoops - 18000

[wegner81]

Bruce the sign itself is 5 1/2 inches wide and 20 1/2 inches long. They go on the front of some Adirondac chiars I made for a fundraiser. I have 21 to do so I am tring to figure out the best way to approch it. I may have to try to substitute the wood species. thanks again

[zeykr]

Kevin,

I have a customer for which I carve logos into western red cedar for a project exactly like yours and don't have much problem with it - use a vbit at 2ips and 14k rpm. For the special ones they want extra sharp, they supply 'Port Orford' western red cedar which is very dense - almost hardwood like - and strangely smells like citrus.

[brucehiggins]

For that size I would show them a sample with a sans serif font. The tiny corners where the serifs are is where the are likey to chip and that tiny detail won't stand out enough to be worth the bother in my opinion.

[jamesgilliam]

I have had some luck with cedar, but it does not always turn out good. I have cut it at 1ips and 10K rpm. Make sure your stock is perfectly flat with the table and thicker than the finished product, set your zero from about .05" to .1" BELOW the actual zero of the material, (depending on how soft the cedar is) machine and sand to the final thickness. A good drum sander works well for this. This will usually give you crisp edges on the text. If the text is to be painted go ahead and do this before you sand to the finished thickness, one less thing to do later.