Machine not carving consistently

[odsratt]

The problwm ia when i do a test carve its fine. as soon as i start a second carving with the same boards it goes to hell. I have a 1 to 2 mm tolerance in the clearance with the media i use. So what I am looking for is something to reduce the waste material both in carving media and the jig. because right now I end up cutting an outline 1/8 in all the way aroud my project, which mean a new jig every two to three cuttings. LOts of waste.

"I think you need a better piece of wood (thicker, stronger) to use as a jig as thin plywood tend to bend under pressure"

If 1inch plywoods is not good enough for a jig i do not know what is. Pure hardwoods like oak or hickory or maybe an exotic like Cocoba? that would be a true waste of money. Not like this machine is not a big enough money sink as is.

[liquidguitars]

Your going to have a little wast but no need to destroy your work if you layout right.

here is how i build mine I have over 20 sleds that i use.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthr...highlight=sled

LG

[odsratt]

Your going to have a little wast but no need to destroy your work if you layout right.

here is how i build mine I have over 20 sled that i use.

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthr...highlight=sled

LG

Ok so based on that I will still end up replacing the side boards each time. My biggest problem is the size of my media has a zero tolerance on it I am carving side to side and actually into the jig. Mind you I would not mind this if I could reuse and get quality cuttings each time.

[liquidguitars]

I think it comes down to waste over a good clean part, I know, I struggle with working with Ebony wood, very expensive and now getting rare, I opted for making my blank a little bit bigger to fasten the ends with screws, it a little bit faster than tape for me and i can make fine adjustments centers for 2 sided MPC's on my sleds- two sided tape good 2 as long as you have no slipping.

LG

[odsratt]

I think it comes down to waste over a good clean part, I know, I struggle with working with Ebony wood, very expensive and now getting rare, I opted for making my blank a little bit bigger to fasten the ends with screws, it a little bit faster than tape for me and i can make fine adjustments centers for 2 sided MPC's on my sleds- two sided tape good 2 as long as you have no slipping.

LG

I do agree with that. My problem is I can not get the media in larger sizes it is 1.5"x.375"x6" I can make it thicker but not wider or longer. Thickness becomes an issue over 3/8" too much sanding to get proper fit. So with no room in width to play with I am stuck. I can not even put in cut out tabs so i need a good method to keep the piece in place to carve. Even using screws is not an option due to the fact i carve the full length of the boards and through the entire thickness.

[liquidguitars]

That makes sense.. back to 2 sided tape with a bigger sled but the same pocket size as media should do the trick..

LG

[liquidguitars]

I not sure if this will work for you but here is a side by side version..

cut a piece of 3/4 plywood 17" x 6" place wood in the unit then run the "sledlayoutR03.mpc" when finished, add the 3/8" deadwood sides to the scribed lines second, Only use glue on the sled when adding the dead wood cap. load the sled with your medium, use 2 sided tape on the bottom of the pocket, place the media tight to the sides.



At the keypad select the following,

stay under rollers = no
keep the same = yes
place on corner 03
cut to size = no

good luck!

[TIMCOSBY]

a bigger sled and put in 1" spacers all around and after you get it hot glued into position remove the spacers and they would be reuseable. as long as you have 3/4" on the keyboard side and far side for the rollers to push on you will be o.k.

[TIMCOSBY]

Ok masking tape for roller in use. I also usually put tape across the top of the board to help hold the media in place.

material into the pockets and put tape on top and it stay. this is not the machines fault its pilot error. if your going to use a pocket sled like that you must use hot glue or some other method of securing the media. also when it carves part of the sled away dont worry about it as long as you glue the media into the proper position that gap wont bother anything.

[Metalhead781]

This is a bit more work and a little bit of an expense however may be worth it. Along with that this is only a suggestion. Machine your holes into the material On the sled, use the cw to machine small pockets and glue in nylon nuts in the base in the proper location. Use nylon screws to hold the pieces in place, Keep in mind that the holes need to be countersunk with a tapered head screw because obviously the head is going to be machined as well. If it works, you'll still have your counter sunk holes for the scales and enough of the nylon screw head left to hold it. Use a cheap easy out to remove the screws and the piece from the sled. If it works well, you can buy the screws you need online a lot cheaper and in bulk compared to a small package at the store. You could also put T nuts in from the back of the sled, just make sure to countersink them with a larger flat cutting bit or a pocket with the cw on the back side. Don't let them stick out. With this setup it shouldn't matter how much the side rails get damaged on the inside edges. The positioning, as long as your holes are accurate in the material, Will be the same every time as long as the machine holds up.

Good Luck

MH