# New and need help.



## Rowdy Lisby (Feb 24, 2017)

Hello everyone. 
I'm very new to the CNC world. I am somewhat computer literate and love learning new things. I recently purchased and built a E3 from Bobscnc and I have had some success routing letters into my wood with it using f-engrave to input the letters and generate the g-code then use ugsplatform (Netbeams) to run the machine. I would like to now perhaps create something like a coaster for a drink to begin with that has a letter with a circle routed into the wood at about a .10 of a inch. Can't figure it out with the software I'm using. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. If I can see how this might be done the it could open the door to other things. Thanks in advance.


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

Welcome to the forum !



Gary


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## Rowdy Lisby (Feb 24, 2017)

Thanks Gary Question: How do I know if someone responded to my post?


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Hello and welcome to the router forum.
At the top of your post it says thread tools open and click on subscribe then anytime someone post to your thread you will be notified by email


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## Scottart (Jan 8, 2015)

You are basically asking how to build a 2 D model. A great place to start. 

I can't comment on the software that you use, but might suggest that you visit Vectric's web site and look at all their training videos.

Vectric Ltd - Passionate About CNC. They show many aspects of 2 D (flat, letter building), and 3 D modeling . you can down load their software for free to try it... just can't convert any models to tool paths with the free samples..

good luck.. CNC is a riot.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Scottart said:


> You are basically asking how to build a 2 D model. A great place to start.
> 
> I can't comment on the software that you use, but might suggest that you visit Vectric's web site and look at all their training videos.
> 
> ...


Like a woman -- can be fun and frustrating - often at the same time.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Welcome to the forum Rowdy.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Rowdy...to see the responses, just come back to the same forum you posted and you will see responses to the thread you started...

You might also click on "Active Topics" tab and find your original post, click on it and scroll through it...


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Welcome to the Router Forums. 

Rowdy Lisby open source programs are often very limiting because they are usually written with just one use in mind so several programs may be needed to do what a full featured program can do. Often open source programs do not have adequate documentation to understand everything the program is capable of and when the program is updated the documentation falls behind. I looked for enough information to help you out and there is not very much to be found. Of course open source programs are normally free for use and it is a nice gesture to donate to the programmer if you like and use his software. It helps him justify the time spent in developing new features or maybe update the documentation.

One thing I know is no one program will do it all and but I recommend looking for a good program that is well documented to do your design files and out put the gcode to cut the project. You may have to pay for a full featured program but you will save time not having to find how to do something or time learning one more program to do a project.

Like Scott suggested go to the Vectric site and download a trial version of their software so you can see what a good user friendly program could do for you. I would recommend VCarve Desktop because it will do jobs that cover the size of your machine, it will do 2d, VCarve and basic 3d carving and comes with 100+ 2D clip art designs and 300+ 3D clip art models. You can not design and sculpt 3d models but can import a third party models in several formats. Remember you can try it for free so you have nothing to lose but time to try it out. They have great tutorials and documentation for all of their software and if you want to upgrade to a different program later they are really fair on their upgrade pricing.

One more plus you have with Vectric software is the number of people using it for their design software. That gives you more people that have the software and can help you if you have a question. Our most of the people in the local CNC user group use Vectric software and most of the presentations involve the use of VCarve Pro. A lot of new machines sold are bundled with Vectric software.


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