Am i using my sled right?

[TurtleCove]

I've got a 1" thick piece of dry elm, as you can see in the pictures.
It's got a rough edge, thus the need for a sled.

So, in the pictures, you can see my sled here, with the elm fasten within it.

The side rails on my sled, are higher than my elm. Plus, there are gaps between the elm, and side rails in various places.

Note, in the near, right corner, I've got some shims stacked up. When the CW tried to measure the thickness of the wood, that is the place it tried to measure the thickness at. So, I stacked up some shims there, so the bit would touch them. They are stacked the same height as the wood, not the side rails.

That's masking tape on the very ends. The sled is about 14" wide, and 32" long. In the upper left corner of the picutures, the edge of the Elm is flat, and so I shot some staples thru the side rail, there, to fasten it within the sled.

My wood isn't perfectly flat, nor perfectly uniform in thickness....but it is close. I think I'm ok with that, tho, since I'm carving everything into a 1/2" cutout region.

Is all good? Does it look like I'm doing this right?

[DocWheeler]

TurtleCove,

That looks like it would work okay.
Since there are gaps at the sides, you need to set the width sensor over the taped area or add a piece of tape across it somewhere else, but you probably already knew that. Also, under "options', you can set the machine to manually jog to the touch-point so you would not need the stack of shims. I have had my machine set that way since the git-go.

It looks long enough to require roller-stands for support.

[TurtleCove]

How do I "set the width sensor over the taped area", as you wrote? How can I control where it measures the width?

When it's done measuring the length and width, it displays those measurements and then asks "keep original measurements" ? And I tell it "yes", and I assume that tells it to ignore the width and length it just determined, and instead it'll use the ones I gave it in the software. Am I wrong?

And are you saying that, under options, I'll find a setting where it lets me jog to selecting a point for the thickness measure, instead of it picking a place on its own?

[DocWheeler]

TurtleCove,

The machine will measure the width before moving in the X direction. So, if you have two inches or more of tape on the Left end of the sled, insert the sled so that the left (or back) roller is very near the end of the sled. This way the width sensor (on the bottom of the Y truck) is over the tape area.

Yes, there is an option to select the point manually. It is under options (sorry, my machine is busy or I'd go do that to be specific), it is easy to find.

[RMarkey]

...or when the screen says "finding surface" you can press the STOP key, and tell it to jog to position.

[hogiewan]

...or when the screen says "finding surface" you can press the STOP key, and tell it to jog to position.

Good to know - thanks for that!

[Chief]

Doc,

Are your lefts and rights from standing in front of the keypad or the way CC describes them which I don't understand. If you are carving a long board, who stands on the right where the board is moving in or out. Keyboard makes more sense.

Chief

[DocWheeler]

Chief,

I was thinking while facing the keypad.

[Chief]

Doc,

Good!! We think alike. Now, if only we could get LHR to think our way.........

Chief