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BobHill
06-12-2006, 07:05 PM
I am a wooden model ship maker and enthusiast and wish to make accurately scaled parts for my latest scratch built model (Union Army’s Civil War ironclad USS Cairo) project. I have chosen to use CorelDraw to design my custom parts in vector and to scale. Since Corel and most vector programs apply weight to any line 50% on each side of the dimension line, and CW Designer uses the line for cutting, I compensated using a 1point line weight and made sure the dimensions for the parts I need were true INSIDE the line.

Knowing that my wood would be 3/16” think cherry7, 24” long and 3” wide which made the thickness under CW minimums, I cut a pine carrier board ½” thick, 24” long and 3” wide, applied double sided carpet tape to hold my cherry board for cutting. This resulted in a total thickness of 0.710, which is what I set for thickness in Designer.

CorelDraw produced my finished graphic in vector CDR format and then I exported that into a raster JPEG format at 300ppi and highest quality (attached). I inspected this JPEG in Adobe Photoshop to be sure scale and aspect was maintained and found that it was perfect.

In Designer, I created a work piece 0.710 thick, 24” long, and 3” wide, imported my JPEG into Favorites and called upon it to go onto my work piece. Below is how it came in.

The wood is proper size. The JPEG did not come onto the wood piece to the size I created it. I note that the corners probably will enlarge the image in aspect, BUT,once I’ve dragged the corner anchors to fit the wood, how can I establish that my part will remain EXACT in measurements?

I need not explain, probably that I just received my CarveWright and I’m a real novice at both it’s operation and the Designer program.


Bob Hill
Tampa Florida

pkunk
06-12-2006, 09:57 PM
To check...go to 'view'..toggle off texture & toggle on grid lines. The grid is 1/2" squares. You can use the magnify glass to make it larger.
All else fails, put a piece of inexpensive wood in and try it.

BobHill
06-13-2006, 06:37 AM
Thanks for the clue. Actually from this idea I found that Snap to Edges worked better than the grid. But, I set my original piece dimensions to 24.000 x 3.000 x 0.710 and yet in Designer after placing my JPEG onto the piece, the status bar shows size to be 24.000 x 2.977. The depth is set to 0.250. I can change that OK, and I can stretch the JPEG to snap to the edges, however when I try to change the piece to exactly 24.000 x 3.000 one or the other changes (such as 24.000 x 2.977 or 24.186 x 3.000). Now if I snap to those edges, my parts are going to not be exact, as I need them to be. Perhaps I'm too used to exact, but exen zooming in and moving the image sides manually takes too long to be exact, and why does it change the wood when I'm dragging the image?

My test run turned my wood into a zoomed view of the California desert. I used the carving tool and it didn't just do a cut as shown in my design, it carved away both sides of the line as well as the line, the Z axis really had a ball whittling where it liked. I certainly did something wrong in my design, but what?

Need I repeat that I'm a complete novice to the CW and Designer? <g>

Bob Hill
Tampa FL

John
06-13-2006, 09:35 AM
The only way the CW will cut vectors is to use the trace (outline) or to draw your parts using the CW designer geometry. You will have to calculate the offsets manually. Remember interior corners will have a radius no smaller than the bit you use. I doubt you will be able to nest the parts as tightly as you have them drawn out. Remember pieces that are "cut through" need a method of keeping them in place. You will have to use double stick tape under them or possibly a spray adhesive. With some testing you may come up with some acceptable results. To be honest, your project is more suited for a cnc laser. Hope this helps.

BobHill
06-13-2006, 11:10 AM
Thanks for the assistance, John. At the moment, a laser is out of the question for me. As previously stated the board to be cut IS tacked onto a carrier board with double sided carpet tape. Using the 1/16" carving cutter, I made the area between the parts at least 1/16". Perhaps the "The Result" items influenced me, but it appeared that some pretty intriquate cuts could be made on the CW and certainly these first parts of mine aren't in that league as yet. There is no way to do the designs that I need in the Designer itself, and do it in this lifetime anyway. I understand that at this time the only vector the current software will accept is what it creates itself, but I was under the opinion that if I created it in a vector imaging program (CorelDraw, Illustrator, AutoCad) I could then export that into a JPEG that Designer will accept and I wouldn't then have to recreate it using Designer tools. Are you saying that that is not true? I hope that's not the case. I spend too much time as it is on the computer and I do want to make sawdust, so to speak<g>.

Bob Hill

John
06-13-2006, 02:53 PM
Bob, check your email.

John

BobHill
06-13-2006, 03:26 PM
Thanks, John, I indeed shall.

Bob

BobHill
06-16-2006, 07:04 AM
For those that may have been following this (my) problem with keeping scale aspect exact, I've found my answer, and as one would think, it was me. I'm a long time user of both CorelDraw (ver. 1.02 being first) and Adobe Illustrator (ver 4 being first) and due to that, I always put a rectangle mask (no weighted line) surrounding any work prior to making a vector into a raster.

Both programs have a tendency to clip, particularly if your image contains irregular shapes on the outer "edge" of the whole. The outter rectangle can be close to your image or image pieces, but it's now the boundry of the image, no clipping.

Since I wanted the raster to be exact to my layout (3'x24") I made the rectangle to the layout lines, but due to habit (and usually no need to be exact) I laid the lines over the work outline (which was 3"x24"), but did it by eyeball, as usual. Very close, to be sure, but without checking, it wasn't exact.

When I converted the CDR to a JPEG, IT did make it exact, but when I took it into PhotoShop to check it, I browsed right over that the 24" was exact, but that the 3" was actually 3.019" and when taken into Designer onto an exact 3"x24" workpiece, it kept changing the aspect when I tried to put those dimensions onto my imported JPEG. It wouldn't work, because the aspect of my JPEG was what I made it, not what I thought I'd made it (make sense?)

Anyway, this has cured me of an old habit that until now was never a problem<g>. I have made changes to my image and have loaded it into my memory card, but as yet I haven't tried the cutting. Unless I have other problems, now I fully expect to produce what I created, and pieced inside should be exact.

Bob

David M.
06-16-2006, 09:37 AM
I'd be intrested to here if it works and if it solved your probem, also how did those little pieces come out. I haven't tryed to da anything with that many cuts.

BobHill
06-27-2006, 01:38 PM
David,

I still haven't solved the exactness issue yet for the shapes I wish to make, which are truly very small and especially to also allow for as little waste of wood as possible. I'll post once I get it tow work the way I wish it to.

Bob