Centering on length

[jgowrie]

So far all of my projects are attached to the center of the virtual board in designer. So their placement with regards to the center of the length are predetermined I would assume. Why is it that the machine asks me if I want to place the design centered on the length when it's measuring the board?

So far nothing has turned out differently than expected but it seems odd that it's asking something that should be within the instructions from designer.

My virtual boards measurements are set to the actual length of the real board I'm loading into the machine. I'm telling the machine to " not keep it under the rollers" because I know all of the design elements are well within the 3.5" recommended for proper positioning under the rollers. Is this why?

[Bowengg]

Even though you have your dimensions in designer you can tell the machine where you want it on your board. Whether it in the center, corner, edge or your can manually jog it to position.

[hogiewan]

because the virtual board is shorter than the real board (even if it's .001"). If you placed a pattern 3" to the right of center on a 48" virtual board, it will be 3" right of center on a 50" board. However, it will be 27" from the left edge of the virtual board and 29" from the left edge of the 50" board.

[jgowrie]

OK. So would it be safe to assume that regardless of what I put into designer as far as attachments off center, the machine could possibly override what I have programmed?

Actually, in the case of this project, I took the board measurements with the machine and then entered that into the board dimensions within designer before loading the project onto the card.

[DocWheeler]

jgowrie,

This area can get confusing if everyone is not on the same page. Let me define a project in designer that has a virtual board of 3" X 6" and the pattern is only 2" square (and is centered both ways).
If I put a 24" long 1 X 4 in the machine, I am given some choices. The Firmware does not care about the 2" x 2" pattern, it "sees" a 3" X 6" virtual board and after measuring about 6" of the board you put in the machine, it wants to know where the 3" X 6" virtual board is to be positioned on the material.
You have the options of telling it to put it in the center of the material (where the center of the 2" X 2" carving will be 12" from each end). You could tell it to place it on the end where center the 2" X 2" carve will be 3" from the end if you tell it NOT to stay under the rollers and 6.5" from the end if you tell it to stay under the rollers.
So, the prompt it gives you is where you want to place the virtual board, not the carving.
I think I'm telling it like it is - sometimes those senior moments get in my way!

[jgowrie]

Doc, thanks. It makes sense now. I'll keep that in mind for the future :mrgreen:


psst, since you banged that one through my thick head so succinctly, perhaps you would like to take a stab at my last post about the machine not using the vector bit I assigned it in designer... :-D

john

[SeanMuir]

As the problem I am having falls into this same general area, I'll ask my question here. My virtual board is 7.25" x 25". The area I wish to cut away is 6.5" x 25". The actual piece of wood I am loading into the machine is 7.25" x 32", giving me the extra 7" to stay under the rollers.
When I try to upload the project onto the card, it says there may be a problem with the roller pressure, due to carving away so much of the board's width, even though I have left 3/8" down the length of both edges of the board. I have tried both the "Ignore" and "Auto Jig" options with similar results.
When loading the project into the machine, if I selected "Ignore", I am not asked where I want to place the project. Center on board would be my choice, if asked. If I selected "Auto Jig" I am asked if I want to scale the the project to the board. Although I already consider the project to be scaled to the board, and suspecting it is going to shrink my project, I hit Enter on the key pad. The machine goes through the rest of the set up procedure just like any other successful project, runs the board out the back of the machine and starts cutting. This is where things go quite wrong. The cut starts 5.25" from the end of the board instead of 3.5" from the end... possibly be cause it has shrunk my project by that much, and...
THE DIRECTION OF FEED IS BACKWARDS!!! :confused: :confused: :confused:
It starts carving toward the end of the board that is only 5.25" away, and only 1.75" from being out from under the rollers, feeding the board out the back of the machine as it cuts.
I had this same problem occur twice when starting 8x10 lithophanes, which made the initial cuts into my sled rather than the Corian :(. Feeling this may have been an error in the upload, I reformated the card and re-uploaded the project and everything went fine from there. With this current problem, I have tried reformatting the card three times and re-uploading the project three times, always with the same results; the machine feeding backwards.
What am I doing wrong? I'm getting tire of wasting $15 pieces of red oak.
Sean M

[fwharris]

Sean,

When you are setting things up on the machine to you tell it to stay under the roller Yes or NO?

[DocWheeler]

SeanMuir,

I have never seen it carve from left to right - something is not right!
There are funny things happening when the width is too close to being too narrow it seems. My first test would be to make the virtual board width (height) narrower than the real board to avoid that problem. If you position patterns from the edges, this might be a hassle, but that is why I always attach to the centerlines if possible.

If you can't change the board in Designer, maybe attach something to each side of your board to make it wider.

If it wasn't carving backward, I'd suggest that the rubber "damper" might be out of place and you were having problems with the sensor.

[SeanMuir]

Okay, I'm going to eliminate the 3/8" from either long side of the pattern, leaving just the cut area. This will surely bring up the pressure roller warning. I'll try the "Manual Jig" option this time. I'll load in the 7.25" wide board into the machine and, based on what options it gives me, go from there. I hope it starts cutting at the proper end. The manual jig option should allow me to control the first cut being made 3.5" from the end of the piece. The question is, "Which direction is it going to feed?" If it starts going backwards like it has each time before, I can stop the cutting and manually jig to the opposite end of the board. I think this is a really bad idea 'cause like Doc said, "something is not right!"
I'll check the rubber "damper"... and,
"Yes" I did tell it to stay under the rollers, every time.
SM

[SeanMuir]

The machine is finally cutting my project as desired. I didn't even end up jogging to a starting point as the machine asked if I wanted the project centered on board. I went ahead and let it do just that. 5 hours from now we'll see just how centered it is. The two errant starts, each 5.25" in from each end, wouldn't have been a problem except on every lithophane I have carved, and both starts on this project, the machine cuts a deep border along the starting edge and along the keypad edge. Someday I'll figure out how to get rid of that border. It's that unwanted border cut that is leaving a deep slot about 1.25" into my project... at both ends (because of two unsuccessful starts at this job). This border is also putting undue stress and wear on my bits. These pieces I'm cutting right now will be dive planes for a submarine, so I'll putty up the slots and put them on the down surfaces.
I'm going to try not worrying about the machine wanting to feed backwards... as long as it never does it again. :roll:
Sean