poor edge finish on v carved plywood

[gateman]

I tried making a v carved sign out of oak plywood today and the 'v' edge of the letters look horrible.not smooth at all. I did the roughing pass with a 1/4 inch down spiral, then the vcarve with a 1/2" 90 degree Bosch Vbit from Lowes. Is this just the nature of vcarving plywood, or should I be using a different bit?

Thanks in advance,
Rod

[adprinter]

I tried making a v carved sign out of oak plywood today and the 'v' edge of the letters look horrible.not smooth at all. I did the roughing pass with a 1/4 inch down spiral, then the vcarve with a 1/2" 90 degree Bosch Vbit from Lowes. Is this just the nature of vcarving plywood, or should I be using a different bit?

Thanks in advance,
Rod

Plywood is a terrible material to work with, I use laminated Oak. (Recycled Tractor-Trailer floor). Softwoods just don't work at all, for much of any kind of carving- brittle, breaks, chips, flakes off. At the end of the day, it's wood. No matter what cutter you use, some hand work is required. I use a Dremel tool, with a variety of carbide bits, diamond hones, etc. when finishing a piece. (After the CNC has finished carving the basic shape- some detail can only be done by hand). And old fashioned hand-sanding. See the attached picture of some of the results.

[louieatienza]

I tried making a v carved sign out of oak plywood today and the 'v' edge of the letters look horrible.not smooth at all. I did the roughing pass with a 1/4 inch down spiral, then the vcarve with a 1/2" 90 degree Bosch Vbit from Lowes. Is this just the nature of vcarving plywood, or should I be using a different bit?

Thanks in advance,
Rod

Oak veneer plywood is notoriously prone to tear and chip out cutting cross-grain. I would make sure you're climb cutting the entire way if your setup is sturdy enough. Having a bit designed for v-carving may help. I use an Amana insert 90 degree v-cutter. Also, you might want to try applying a finish, or epoxy-fill, before doing the v-carve, to "consolidate" the wood fibers and help them from tearing out. Like adprinter said, there may be some post-processing needed afterwards.

I haven't tried oak plywood yet, but I have a few sheets of prefinished maple and cherry plywood that v-carves very well.

[gateman]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think my setup would handle climb milling, I see the complaining I get from my sx3 when I do that. What about solid oak? Like the pre finished stair treads you find at lowes/home depot?