Lettering heigth

[gumbo]

I am quite new to this so forgive me if i am missing something stupid. I was doing a lettering test project, the letters are in the center of the board with a carve region around the letters and a small margin around the outside edges of the board. I had the carving depth set at 0.25" and the heigth set at 999 shouldn't the top of letters be the same as the margins of the board (uncut by the carving bit)? I have read that some people are making two colored signs by painting, covering with contact paper, carving and then painting the parts without the contact paper. but if I can't get the carver to not carve the highs of the letters this will not work of coarse. It also seems that it carves the levt side a fraction deeper than the right side. Is there any adjustment or calibration for this?

Thanks in advance.

[Ike]

Gumbo, could you post your mpc? If you raise your cutting region higher then the letters then they will blend in or cancel out each other. Do you mean two toning letters? I have done this often I just paint the whole letter say white and then half with another color. I take a 3" roller and cut it to about 1" and then use a c clip or tape to keep the roller from slipping back. Then I torch the feathers on the edge.

Anyway let us see the mpc to help with the letters.

Ike

[AskBud]

I am quite new to this so forgive me if i am missing something stupid. I was doing a lettering test project, the letters are in the center of the board with a carve region around the letters and a small margin around the outside edges of the board. I had the carving depth set at 0.25" and the heigth set at 999 shouldn't the top of letters be the same as the margins of the board (uncut by the carving bit)? I have read that some people are making two colored signs by painting, covering with contact paper, carving and then painting the parts without the contact paper. but if I can't get the carver to not carve the highs of the letters this will not work of coarse. It also seems that it carves the levt side a fraction deeper than the right side. Is there any adjustment or calibration for this?

Thanks in advance.

My guess is that your letters are within the Carve Area. That area is set to some depth (possibly .25 by default). You are then placing the "Raised" letters there.
I think, you need to go to your Carve List and set the letters as Additive to accomplish the letters coming back the the higher plane.
AskBud

[gumbo]

No the high points along with the border will be one color and the carved out region will be a second color. I will try my hand at posting the attachment(never did it before).

[mtylerfl]

I am quite new to this so forgive me if i am missing something stupid. I was doing a lettering test project, the letters are in the center of the board with a carve region around the letters and a small margin around the outside edges of the board. I had the carving depth set at 0.25" and the heigth set at 999 shouldn't the top of letters be the same as the margins of the board (uncut by the carving bit)? I have read that some people are making two colored signs by painting, covering with contact paper, carving and then painting the parts without the contact paper. but if I can't get the carver to not carve the highs of the letters this will not work of coarse. It also seems that it carves the levt side a fraction deeper than the right side. Is there any adjustment or calibration for this?

Thanks in advance.

Hello Gumbo,

An easy way to get the letters in the carve region to be even with the top of the board is to simply set the text at a "zero" depth. No need to change height setting at all (keep it at 100).

As far as your carving height differential...

- make sure the board you put into your machine is at least 7" longer than the "fake" board in your Designer layout.

- verify that your outfeed rollers are not causing the board to lift or dip due to incorrect adjustment (if your board is less than 40" long overall, just lower the outfeed tables a little so the board doesn't touch them at all).

- confirm that your bit is firmly secured in the bit adaptor - if a setscrew is not fully tightened or the threadlocker has loosened, the bit could be moving up and down in the adaptor during the carve.

- silly to add this, but...make sure your board is flat and not warped, cupped or twisted.

[gumbo]

I'm not sure that I follow you. If I set the depth at "zero" the design goes away. This is a pic that I downloaded not text.

[mtylerfl]

Hello Gumbo,

I just saw you posted your mpc.

Since you are not using the actual Text Tool in Designer, the method I described won't work for you.

The Snapon Logo is a pattern. It will have to be adjusted in your photo editor to get the letters to be flush with the board. (Make the letters all white or all black.) Make sure you save to a PNG with a transparent background, then import the logo. Click the Invert Tool if necessary to make the lettering raised in the carve region and flush with your board surface.

Hope you followed all that.;)

[Ike]

No the high points along with the border will be one color and the carved out region will be a second color. I will try my hand at posting the attachment(never did it before).

Guess I don't know about the height, I do about the painting. You want the inside region and border a different color. It is easy don't worry about the border or letters at first. Spray paint the region or brush in the paint. Don't worry about getting anything on the border or letters. When the paint dries just sand or plane the board. This will take off the paint the border and letters.

Then you can use a brush or like I do use the 3" trim roller you can find them at Walmart. Then cut the roller to 3/4 to 1" then take the end caps and reinsert them. You will need like I said a C clip or tape to keep the roller from moving from side to side. You will need to take a torch to lightly burn the feathers from the edges.

Then you can paint the border and letters a different color. Your carve region and letter height is set at 2 different settings. I was thinking of recessed lettering canceling out each other. That is why I asked to see the mpc.

Hope the painting made sense, by the way I don't use the rollers and have never had any problems.

Ike

[gumbo]

When I edited the patern I made the letters black and the background was white. As far as inverting the lettering I want the actual letter carved and the area around the letter raised. Will having the background white as opposed to transparent make a difference? I'm not sure I know how to make the background transparent.

[AskBud]

Hello Gumbo,

I just saw you posted your mpc.

Since you are not using the actual Text Tool in Designer, the method I described won't work for you.

The Snapon Logo is a pattern. It will have to be adjusted in your photo editor to get the letters to be flush with the board. (Make the letters all white or all black.) Make sure you save to a PNG with a transparent background, then import the logo. Click the Invert Tool if necessary to make the lettering raised in the carve region and flush with your board surface.

Hope you followed all that.;)

Mtyler is correct, but I think the making that portion Additive will still do the job, except for the tilt you seem to see. I tested the Additive option.
AskBud

[gumbo]

I read your post and I do understand how you are painting, but I don't get why its carving the high points just below the total thickness of the board. I want the area and the border the same heigth, by cutting the high points and not the border wouldn't that make your painting technique harder if not impossible? The machine is cutting the high parts of the lettering just a fraction and its also cutting the leftside a bit deeper then the right. I think that I have two issues going on here. One is operator error and the other is something with the machine.

[HighTechOkie]

Is this what you are wanting it to look like? All I did was choose the snapon pattern and uncheck Invert.

Rob

[gumbo]

Ok bud I read your post and opened up the carving list but I don't Know how to change the lettering to additive.

[gumbo]

sorry Bud I figured it out I will try the new carve tomorrow and let you know how it works. But what do you think about the "tilt" its really there, if I hold a straight edge accross the piece you can see the difference fron side to side. And when the machine starts the progect on the first few passes you can see that the left is being cut and the right is't touched until the depth gets deeper.

[AskBud]

sorry Bud I figured it out I will try the new carve tomorrow and let you know how it works. But what do you think about the "tilt" its really there, if I hold a straight edge accross the piece you can see the difference fron side to side. And when the machine starts the progect on the first few passes you can see that the left is being cut and the right is't touched until the depth gets deeper.

If the tilt in on everything, you have a Machine or board problem.
If only the letter section is tilted, the copy you used may have had a tilt in it, by accident or design. The only other thing would be if you assigned a Dome by using the Surface Icon as well.
AskBud

[Ike]

I read your post and I do understand how you are painting, but I don't get why its carving the high points just below the total thickness of the board. I want the area and the border the same heigth, by cutting the high points and not the border wouldn't that make your painting technique harder if not impossible? The machine is cutting the high parts of the lettering just a fraction and its also cutting the leftside a bit deeper then the right. I think that I have two issues going on here. One is operator error and the other is something with the machine.

No when you plane it will even out the surface, if not the border will be planned. Depending on the color over the lettering it will act like a primer and you still can paint over them. I have been making signs like this for years. Including recessed signs I spray paint the inside and then plane it off sand and finish. The same applies for raised lettering, here is a recent sign I made. I sloped in the paint in the recessed areas first and then painted the raised area.

Ike

Here are a couple more examples

[Ike]

Gumbo, I looked at the mpc again. My eyes must be going I rotated the sign and realize it is recessed letters! I thought it was raised from first look. So I see what you mean now. If you just want a border and recessed letters and carve region the same height. Will this work?

One more thing I went back and started looking your mpc. Since it was brought up snapon is a ptn I thought about adjusting the draft to large and the carve region looks close to the surface. See what you thinks? mpc 2

Ike

[mtylerfl]

Is this what you are wanting it to look like? All I did was choose the snapon pattern and uncheck Invert.

Rob

Hello Rob,

That sure looks like what he was describing alright! Good job! (I think he needs to remove the "feather" on the logo too.)

[AskBud]

Ok Gumbo,
Here is a 21.0 MB AVI lesson on Additive. It is too late on Time Change day, but I'll post it the way it is even though it is not one of my better efforts. The concept is the important aspect.
AskBud
http://www2.wcoil.com/~nharbison/CW-Additive%20or%20Subtractive.zip

[Ike]

Gumbo did you want raised or recessed letters? I am confused now as I said at first I thought it was raised because of using a carve region. Or do you want recess with a border?

Ike

[Woodhacker]

I read your post and I do understand how you are painting, but I don't get why its carving the high points just below the total thickness of the board. I want the area and the border the same heigth, by cutting the high points and not the border wouldn't that make your painting technique harder if not impossible? The machine is cutting the high parts of the lettering just a fraction and its also cutting the leftside a bit deeper then the right. I think that I have two issues going on here. One is operator error and the other is something with the machine.

Attached is the file with your latters and the outside border at the same height. They are both set to 0" The carve region is set at .4" It can be changed if you wish. I just made the merge additive and inverted the file. Hope it helps.

[gumbo]

Ike I was looking at recessed letters with a border. I want to thank all of you for your help, I didn't get a chance to do the new carving using your suggestions yet but as soon as I get home tonight I will try.

Bud thanks for the video I will try it and let you know. Still concerned about the "tilt".

[Ike]

Gumbo what Bud means by tilt is rotating the sign. It allows you to see the board on edge or flat. Then you can see the height of the letter compared to the board.

I know too many cooks in the kitchen can ruin the soup! I hope I helped more then confused! I didn't think you wanted raised lettering, so hopefully just putting a border without a carve region will work. Adjusting the draft raises the letters too, but it is still not quite all the way to the surface.

Let us know how it comes out.

Ike

[gumbo]

No Ike you helped a lot, but the tilt I believe bud is refering to is the fact that I am cutting deeper on the left side more so than on the right. What I did today is I put a 12" wide piece of MDF (so I know that it is flat) put a carve region rectangle with a depth of 0.050" and ran it to within a half inch of each end. On the left it seemed to cut fine but it tapered out to the right, at 9" the cut was not touching the board. I have a post in the trouble shooting section and a call int tech support(they were busy today and were supposed to call me back but haven't heard from them yet.)

I guess any suggestion would help

[Ike]

No Ike you helped a lot, but the tilt I believe bud is refering to is the fact that I am cutting deeper on the left side more so than on the right. What I did today is I put a 12" wide piece of MDF (so I know that it is flat) put a carve region rectangle with a depth of 0.050" and ran it to within a half inch of each end. On the left it seemed to cut fine but it tapered out to the right, at 9" the cut was not touching the board. I have a post in the trouble shooting section and a call int tech support(they were busy today and were supposed to call me back but haven't heard from them yet.)

I guess any suggestion would help

Hmm, I watched his video and used the term tilt to rotate the sign. I not sure why it is doing that? I wonder if it is the pattern is doing it? I hope it isn't the CW. If it is the CW I am sure you will get the help you need!

Ike

[gumbo]

No Ike its not the pattern it happened on the snap on logo and on the two test paterns I just tried. hope the techs have seen this before and that there is an easy fix for it.

[PCW]

Ok Gumbo,
Here is a 21.0 MB AVI lesson on Additive. It is too late on Time Change day, but I'll post it the way it is even though it is not one of my better efforts. The concept is the important aspect.
AskBud
http://www2.wcoil.com/~nharbison/CW-Additive%20or%20Subtractive.zip

Bud

You are the best!! Not to many people would go to the trouble that you go through to help other. Please allow me to pat you and all the others that are dedicated to helping others on this site. You all are very appreciated. Dan

[AskBud]

If you put a wide board in the unit, and lower the head until it barely touches the wood, you could look to make sure that the "Head" and "Base" are fairly level. I'm sure you would see a gap, if it was that far off.

As I understand your description, my "guess" is that the track that the Truck rolls across may be loose, or broken, on the one end.
AskBud

[wasacop75]

How about the machine not being level??

[gumbo]

I have to second what PCW has to say thanks to everyone going out of their way to help.