My Machine came today, tried it out :(

[HillbillyBill]

Hello Everyone:

I just hooked up my machine today, Tried a simple drawing and started the machine. It skiped more then a few places and the lettering skipped too. Fuzzies where all over the finer carvings - grapes... Can you guys point me to some forum topics that may have something to do with this.

I uploaded the file if anyone cares to look at it. Seems ok with me???

Al

[badger]

Might also state what kind of wood it was. Using Pine you will most likely get fuzzies.

[LollyWood]

Good Eats: Space letters 12-15. Set Height 400-600. set Drift small.

Grapes / Holly: set hieght 300-400, Drift to small.

Try carve set to "best." wiil take a bit longer but less fuzzies.

[HillbillyBill]

It was pressure treated. Figured my first project would be a sign for the wife's greenhouse. It was and old piece 5 1/2" X 36" I've had in my heated studio for some time.

I will try from scratch using the parms supplied.

One other thing, the board sensor gave me a load of trouble before it worked. I blew the machine off with compressed air several times, wiped the sensor off etc. Figured it's something I am doing wrong till I get the knack of it all.


Thanks!

[Dan-Woodman]

Presure treated wood will usually leave fuzzies because it is usually wet and pine. If it it 5/4 decking try removing the rounded edge at least on the keypad side where the board tracking sensor is . Rounded edges would acount for your tracking problem.
later Daniel

[Jeff_Birt]

It was pressure treated.


'Well there's your problem!' :)

You need high quality, DRY, square lumber for this machine (or any CNC machine). Treated lumber or #2 or lower quality will not 'cut' it. You will always be disappointed with the results.

Go pick up some 'select' grade pine for your first tests. That will give you much better results. Then when your more comfortable with the machine carve your wife's sign out of some white oak, cypress or even ceder will work well.

[ChrisAlb]

I agree with Jeff. Pressure treated is great for building the "frame" of decks but that's where it ends.

You can use any wood for outdoor signs (harder "carves" better). Just use a few coats of a good marine finish and it will last for many years.

[mtylerfl]

Hello AL,

As already mentioned, don't use pressure treated wood in your machine, so you now know that. However, I thought I would answer to the "skipping" issue you mentioned...

The skipping could have been caused by the board not tracking properly -

- if the sides were not "square" (make sure the edges are trued-up, square, and are totally free of any defects)

- if the board was "slick" (apply masking tape to the bottom edge where the brass tracking roller contacts the board)

- if the sliding guide plate was too tight against the board (use two playing cards as a spacer when you slide the plate to the board edge)

- if the board was too heavy for the built-in outfeed tables to support the board through the machine properly (use additional outfeed support rollers)

- if you did not add the required extra 7" to the board length (your design layout is 36" long - that means the real board that you put in your machine must be at least 43" long)

Also, the board sensor does not like darker woods and can fail to get a good reading from darker-toned wood. Try placing light-colored masking tape over the area where the sensor will take its reading from on darker woods and that should take care of the problem. Another possible cause is that the sensor may have dust either on the outside or inside of its clear plastic window, but since your machine is so new, that may not be the case here.

One thing I noticed in your design layout is that you did not use "Bit Optimization BEST" on your grapes and leaves. Right-click on each pattern and select the BEST Bit Optimization to improve the carve quality. When you upload to your memory card, choose either 'Best' or 'Optimum' to further improve the carving outcome.

One more thing - be SURE to read the Tips & Tricks Newsletters - particularly the Dec '07 and Jan ' 08 issues, since you are just starting out. They will help you avoid common new-user mistakes and teach you the basic maintainance of your machine.

All the Best!

(PS - Lollywood mentioned applying "Drift" ...he meant "Draft" - no such thing as a "drift setting" :). Actually, there's really no need to use any Draft on the grapes or leaves in this case, but you might consider some Draft on the Lettering, as Lollywood mentioned.)

[JVallario]

Just a thought - you may want to check the roller head pressure if getting skipping. The instructions say to do it as part of the inital setup - I didn't until I saw some issues.

[Kenm810]

Here's a pass post from sometime ago.

Quote: Please be careful with the treated wood. I don't want to scare anyone,
but one of the most common causes of a rash from touching or handling wood
are the chemicals used to treat wood to be insect and and weather repelent.
If you sand, plan, or machine the wood, the dust or chip may be toxic.
Hopefully not, but I think it's better to error on the side of caution.
Remember not all treated wood is tinted green like "Wolmanized" Lumber.


Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA)
CCA treatment leaves about one ounce of inorganic arsenic in each 12 foot 2 x 6. This is enough arsenic, if released, to kill about 250 adults.
CCA pressure-treated wood contains arsenic which can be released from the wood in several ways:

When the wood burned
Mechanical abrasion
Direct contact
When acid contacts the treated lumber. Some years ago I had a very bad reaction, while building a outdoor storeage cabinet with CCA treated boards.
However, even North American oak has been known to cause skin rash or respiratory difficulties in some people.known to cause skin rash or respiratory

It may all amount to nothing, but please be careful,

http://www.origen.net/ccawood.html

[HillbillyBill]

Thanks everyone for some great tips and insight. I cut the pressure treated and left my studio but was in earshot and could keep an eye on the machine through an adjoining window. It took over two hours to cut. I went back in after three hours. My space is well ventilated and filtered. Its not to large, 16' X 32'

I've been reading tons of stuff about this machine for about a week. This experience tells me I need to read more.

Will the software ever have a cut preview feature? Seems if it did, one could save some time and catch errors before loading and cutting the real thing. Will it have an import DXF or other drawing import feature? Some of the bmp file, jpegs could have errors or spots not noticed until after something is cut.

If you need more then one bit to carve a project, does the software tell you when to change it?

What software produces the art files that are for sale?

I am going to look through the tips & Tricks newsletters. Seems a good place to start besides the on line help and tutorials.

Just a newbie with a whole bunch of questions!


Thanks!!! Much appreciated!

[ChrisAlb]

Hi HillbillyBill,

What you see on the board in Designer is pretty much your "preview" as the CW will carve it the way you see it. Unfortunately however, "most" folks only look at it from a "straight on" view. To "really" see what you've got, you have to rotate the board view to a steeper angle and look at it. This will show you all the "ups & downs" in the pattern and how the CW will carve it. You can leave it at this steep angle as you play around with depth and height settings to see the changes better.

When doing a carve with multiple bits, the CW has you load each bit at the start so it can calibrate the bit lengths. It will then prompt you for each bit as you progress through each step of the project.

The list of software folks use to produce the "pattern" files is long. From simple graphics apps to very expensive 3D modeling software. I suggest you learn how the CW uses gray scale to carve the various depths of patterns before spending any real money on these programs.

[TerryT]

Like Chris said, what you see in designer IS your cut preview. Below is a designer view and a photo of the finished carve. As you can see they are pretty much the same.

I made some changes to your mpc. This is the way I would have made this sign. Take a look at the differences between the grapes on this one and the grapes on yours. Also look at the lettering differences. With the text done this way you will get almost no chip out at all.

[HillbillyBill]

Thanks but I was thinking about a cut preview mode like Artcam has. Can you use other software with the machine?

Is there info out there about the file extensions - formats that CW uses?

[ChrisAlb]

I guess I don't quite understand what you mean by "cut preview mode" then. I have Artcam (although I'm just beginning to learn it) and I wish it would give me the same "real view" of a 3D carve that Designer does.

Artcam gives a 3D model plane but it's flat and only shows what "rises" from the surface. But again, I'm just learning it so I'm sure I'm just missing something.

You can import image files into Designer. JEPG, BMP and PNG. PNG being the best (Cleanest compression). The pattern editor can handle PNG and it's own MPW files.

The pattern files are PTN and the projects MPC.

When I use Artcam, I have to use BMP as it's the only format Artcam will generate a gray scale layer from the model to.

[HillbillyBill]

It runs the tool path on screen as if it were the tool carving in real time. This way you can see imperfections if any exist or if the tool skips a few inches or some distance as it did with my first try. Any way, thats a bit off topic and I am not selling artcam, I was just thinking...

I will try again Monday with a good piece of pine, surfaced planed, and squared. (with and added 7" - didn't know that!) I am going to use TerryT supplied MPC I'll see how it goes.

One thing, support is all over the place and you guys make a real difference too!

Thanks!
Al

[ChrisAlb]

Oh, OK. I know what you mean.

Well, there is no "tool path" per say for "carvings" with the CW as it just moves back and forth along the Y axis as the board is fed In the X axis.

The only "tool pathing" is in Centerline text and that actually does show the path it will take for each letter depending on the font used.

[HillbillyBill]

I 've been surfing around the forum and found Jeff Birt's Designer wish-list for improvements etc. (http://forum.carvewright.com/member.php?u=1008)

Great list but it's been posted since 5-07:

4 ) Improve toolpath verification as sometimes you can design something and it looks good in Designer but it won't carve like it looks. (I think that happened to my little first project)

Having that feature, would make life easier!

Jeff would also liked to see an SDK released. That would open up endless possibilities and another income stream.

Anyone know the version history of Designer? Is Jeff's wish-list being taken seriously by the designer developers?

[fwharris]

Bill,

Check on your hard drive under "carvewright" and there is a readme file that has all of the software update info..

[HillbillyBill]

Thanks! BTW - Nice Trout on your website!

Al

[fwharris]

Thanks! BTW - Nice Trout on your website!

Al

Al,

And thanks to you!;)

[mtylerfl]

...
4 ) Improve toolpath verification as sometimes you can design something and it looks good in Designer but it won't carve like it looks. (I think that happened to my little first project)

Having that feature, would make life easier!

Hello,

It has been my experience over the last two years or so, that Designer gives an excellent on-screen rendition of what your actual carve is going to look like. Variables such as your bit optimization settings, are also very, very accurate with the on-screen preview.

It is something I count on tremendously when I am designing projects for the CarveWright company before wide distribution. I have not encountered a situation yet where the on-screen preview did not jive with the actual results. ("Fuzzies" and "chip-out" don't count as a "difference" since that will depend upon the type of wood you are using, and whether you have optimized your project for the best quality outcome.)

An Aside: The toolpathing preview in ArtCAM has no relevance as far as the CarveWright machines are concerned. Completely different operation as compared to commercial CNC machines using G-Code, etc. With the CarveWright, no toolpathing preview is required, because you already and automatically see what you're going to get on-screen anyhow.

If you noticed a significant difference between the on-screen display and what you actually carved, we would be very interested in seeing both the screenshot of your mpc and an actual photo of the carved piece for our comparison. Usually, it is pretty easy to tell from a good quality photo of a carve where "the pilot" or "the machine" may have 'gone wrong', if there is indeed a significant difference between the preview and the actual result.

We are here to help if/when you need it.:)

All the Best...

[HillbillyBill]

Thanks Mike, I will send you both the file and picture. I believe it to be user error. It is dramatic. This was my first carve and I used pressure treated lumber.

The fuzzes were produced because of it being pressure treated. It didn't occur to me until I took a very close look. The skipped portion is dramatic, must have been a slip on the belts or some other error. I will get proper sized lumber and give it a shot.

Thanks and everyone has been very helpful.

Al

[HillbillyBill]

Mike:

PLease find attached the MPC file. I tried to upload the pictures (2) as pictures and a zip file.

The following error: Your file of 863.3 KB bytes exceeds the forum's limit of 97.7 KB for this filetype

So I put them here:

http://cid-412f023f5d102373.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/CarveWright?authkey=6sgozYlQGGY$&ct=photos

Thanks
Al

[mtylerfl]

Hello AL,

Thank you for the pics. That was most probably a tracking error due to intermittent binding of the board as it fed through the machine.

Many possible reasons why the board feed bound up - sliding plate too tight, insufficient contact with the brass roller, board not flush against the fixed guide, board out of square, damp wood binding on guides, board not supported evenly and sufficiently, board had defects along the edge, etc., etc. It was very fortunate that you did not break a bit or tear your traction belts.

Likely that you won't have that trouble again if you use non-pressure treated wood that is nice and square and dry, and take measures to assure your board feeds evenly and smoothly through the machine. Take note of the things that have already been mentioned in this post and in the previous post (http://forum.carvewright.com/showpost.php?p=81024&postcount=8) and take corrective measures. (Of course, be sure you add the extra 7" to your board as compared to your layout in the software.)

Please let us know how your re-run comes out! I bet it will be smooth sailing now. Don't put off reading the Tips & Tricks before running many (or any) more projects - could save you a lot of uneccessary grief!:)

All the Best...