Carvect™Quick start
Setup, Design, Manufacture.
Those three words are the Stage selector at the left end of the ribbon, and a job moves through them in that order. Choose a stage and the ribbon changes to its tools. This page walks one part through all three, naming each command where you will find it.
Why Setup comes first
The machine and the job are the two things everything else is measured against. The machine decides how fast the tool may move, how far it can travel and what the finished file looks like. The job decides where zero is: every depth is taken from its Z zero and every position from its datum. A drawing and a toolpath can be perfect and still cut the wrong part if either of these does not match what is on the bed.
You can go back and change them later. Toolpaths already made are then out of date, and Manufacture ▸ Operations ▸ Recalculate All brings them up to date.
Install it
Windows takes the signed installer, macOS the disk image: drag the application to Applications and open it. Nothing else is needed, and no account to get this far. It opens on its Home page; press New Job and you are on the Setup stage with Job Setup showing, which is where the next step starts.
Stage 1 of 3
Setup: tell it what you are cutting on.
The machine, the piece of stock and the cutters. Everything after this is measured from what you enter here, so it comes first and it is worth being fussy about.
Choose your machine
In the appSetup ▸ Machine ▸ Machine Library… to describe it once, then Set Active Machine… for this job. The Machine card in Job Setup chooses it too.
The machine carries the travel on each axis, the spindle range, the feed limits and the post that writes the file. Feeds are clamped to what it can do, a job bigger than its table is refused before you get to the shop, and the G-code comes out in the form its controller reads. Pick the wrong machine and every one of those is wrong with it.
Set the job up
In the appThe Setup tab in the left-hand panel holds Job Setup: Job Type (single or double sided), Job Size (width, height, thickness and units), Z Zero Position, XY Datum Position and Material. Press Apply.
Every depth in every toolpath is measured from Z zero, and every X and Y from the datum. Get the thickness wrong and a cut-out stops short or goes into the spoilboard; put the datum in the wrong corner and the machine cuts the right shape in the wrong place. Set them to match the stock and how you zero the machine.
Put your bits and your stock in the libraries
In the appSetup ▸ Tool Database for the cutter, Setup ▸ Material Database for what you are cutting.
A material holds a feed, plunge, speed, stepover and stepdown for each shape of bit, and choosing that bit in a toolpath fills them in. Do it once and it carries to every job.
Stage 2 of 3
Design: draw the part, or bring it in.
The drawing tools, the editing tools and the 3D model. What you make here is what the toolpaths will follow.
Get the shape in
In the appDesign ▸ Draw for lines, shapes and text, or the Import card for an SVG, DXF or picture (it is on the Setup stage too). Design ▸ 3D Model ▸ Import 3D Model (STL)… for a relief or a model.
For a first cut a rectangle drawn on the sheet is enough: the point of this run is the machine, not the artwork.
Size it, place it and check it
In the appDesign ▸ Modify to scale, rotate or offset; Design ▸ Arrange ▸ Align to Job to put it where it belongs; Design ▸ Inspect to measure a distance or an angle.
A shape that hangs off the edge of the stock will be cut in air or into the clamps. Two minutes here saves the part.
Stage 3 of 3
Manufacture: turn it into cuts, watch them, write the file.
Toolpaths, the simulation, the checks and the G-code, in that order.
Make one toolpath
In the appSelect the shape, then Manufacture ▸ 2D Toolpaths ▸ Profile. Cut outside the line, full depth of the stock, holding tabs on, and press OK.
It appears in the toolpath list on the right. 3D work is under Manufacture ▸ 3D Toolpaths.
Watch it cut before it cuts
In the appManufacture ▸ Simulate ▸ Simulate All Toolpaths.
The stock is carved away one pass at a time, at whatever speed you like. When it ends, double-click a waste piece to drop it and see the part on its own.
Check the numbers
In the appManufacture ▸ Simulate ▸ Estimate Time, Check Gouges and Job Sheet / Report….
The job sheet lists every tool, depth and operation in order, to print or keep on a phone at the machine.
Export the G-code
In the appManufacture ▸ Output ▸ Export G-code…
It is written by the post of the machine you chose in Setup, with that post's file extension. This is the one step the trial holds back.
Cut air first
In the appAt the machine.
Zero X and Y where the job's datum is, set Z about 20 mm high and run the file once above the stock. If it traces the shape you expect, re-zero Z on the surface and cut it for real.
The trial runs every one of these steps except writing the G-code file.