2D Design: Trimming Vectors

Carveco Tutorial: Trimming Vectors

The Trim Tool in Carveco allows you to remove unwanted parts of overlapping vectors—essential when cleaning up artwork or preparing designs for machining. It’s fast, intuitive, and can even auto-join vectors for you.

🔹 Step 1: When to Use the Trim Tool

• Use it when vectors overlap or intersect and you need to clean up the design.
• Useful for both aesthetic design and preparing vectors for closed shapes needed in toolpaths (e.g., pockets or area clearance).
• Open or intersecting vectors can cause toolpath errors or unexpected machining behavior.

🔹 Step 2: Activate the Trim Tool

• Click the Trim Vectors tool from the left-hand toolbar (scissors icon).
• Your cursor will change to scissors. When hovering over a trim-ready segment, the scissors will open.
• Click to trim the unwanted segment away.

🔹 Step 3: Auto-Join Trimmed Vectors

• By default, trimming removes the segment but keeps the vectors separate.
• This may cause issues when machining if the vector is not fully closed.
• To solve this:
  • Enable Auto-Join (checkbox at the top of the Trim tool panel).
  • Trim the vector intersections again — now the trimmed segments will auto-join into a closed vector.

🔹 Step 4: Trim Rules – Intersecting Vectors Only

• The Trim Tool only works when a vector crosses another.
• If a line doesn’t intersect the vector, trimming won’t work as expected—it may delete the entire line instead.
• Make sure your vector crosses fully through the shape you want to trim.

🔹 Example: Trimming Between Lines

• Draw a horizontal line intersecting a vertical line.
• Activate the Trim Tool and hover near the area you want to remove.
• Click to trim — it will cut the vector up to the intersection point.
• Repeat for the opposite side if needed.

Trimming is a powerful way to clean up your designs, remove overlaps, and ensure your vectors are ready for accurate machining. Use Auto-Join to streamline your process and avoid toolpath issues!