2D Design: Merging (Welding) Vectors

Brad Castle

06 April 2025 12:01

Quick Summary

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use the Weld tool in Carveco to clean up overlapping vectors by automatically trimming intersecting parts. You'll also discover how to use Intersect, Subtract, Trim, and Explode for even more vector editing options.

Perfect for preparing designs for clean machining or merging complex shapes into a single outline!

Carveco Tutorial: Merging or Welding Vectors

Welding vectors is a powerful trimming method that automatically removes overlapping parts of different vectors — allowing you to quickly merge complex designs into a single clean shape.

🔹 How to Weld Vectors

Select the two (or more) vectors you want to weld.
Go to Vector → Merge → Weld.
This will automatically trim any intersecting areas and join the shapes together into a single vector.
Tip: You can also use shortcut tools like Trim or Explode depending on your needs.

🔹 Other Merge Options

Intersect – Keeps only the overlapping area between vectors.
Subtract – Subtracts one vector from another (depends on the selection order).
Trim – Cuts overlapping areas but keeps both objects separate afterward.
Explode – Breaks objects into separate pieces at intersections.

🔹 Important Notes When Welding

Both vectors must be selected — otherwise options like Weld will be greyed out.
Selection order matters for tools like Subtract.
After welding, the result is a new single vector without intersections.

🔹 Welding Complex Designs (Example: Heart Pattern)

For multiple overlapping vectors (e.g., rotated heart shapes), select all the shapes and use Weld.
This removes all internal overlaps in one click — leaving just the outer outline.
Huge time-saver!

🔹 Welding Overlapping Text

Select your text. If it's grouped, you need to Ungroup All first.
After ungrouping, deselect any internal islands (like the middle of an "A" or "O").
Weld only the main outlines to preserve those internal spaces correctly.
Tip: If you weld without deselecting the islands, they’ll disappear — so watch for that!

💡 Tip: Always deselect any inner "island" vectors (like the center of an 'A' or 'O') before welding text, to prevent accidentally deleting them!

⚠️ Warning: If you ungroup text, it will permanently turn into individual vectors and you won’t be able to edit the text anymore.

🔹 Quick Reference: Merge Tool Cheat Sheet

Tool	What It Does
Weld	Joins overlapping shapes into a single vector.
Intersect	Keeps only the overlapping parts between vectors.
Subtract	Subtracts the second selected vector from the first.
Trim	Cuts intersecting areas but keeps separate vectors.
Explode	Splits objects into independent sections at intersections.

Welding is a fast, powerful way to clean up designs for clean, efficient machining results!