I know there are a million posts on kerf. I’ve been trying to read some of them to get up to speed but wanted to reach out with my perspective. I’m designing a part which uses some screws and I want it to be a nice tight fit. I am using illustrator and OK with vector design but not great…
So for example, say it’s a M4 screw, if I want to cut a hole that allows this M4 screw to fit, not too tight, not too loose, my first thought is to go for the shape tool and create a circle.
I would create a circle with a 4mm width and height… but what would my stroke width be so that I don’t end up cutting out more of the material (and by effect creating so much space the screw has too much “wiggle” room?)
In general - is that a stroke setting (in millimeters) that you should set so that you get a good cut - but excessive material is not taken away… I know the GF can cut pretty thin.
Does the thickness affect speed - or in this case is it so minuscule that it’s not an issue?
I know illustrator is not the best tool for this and I would be better in fusion 360 or something similar, but this is where I’m at now!
If stroke is ignored by GFUI (will this always be the case?) - how do you adjust the width of a cut or engrave (if I wanted to adjust this in the future!) ?
to expand the width of the engrave, do as @lairdknox said by expanding the stroke (Object>Expand… or Object>Expand Appearance), and give it a fill color and no stroke color.
You cannot adjust the width of a single cut line. If you want to cut something the width of a stroked line, you will expand the stroke into a closed-path shape, give this new shape a stroke color and no fill, and then cut out that expanded shape.
Others have already answered but yeah, no matter how wide you make a line it cuts or scores down the middle. To engrave you have to make an enclosed shape.
Has anyone used engrave or 3D engrave to countersink a screw? I was thinking about trying to do this so that the screw heads are flush with the board. I haven’t had a chance to use Fusion 360 yet, so there may be an easier way to do this that I am missing.