Craftsman compucarve accuracy

[zaneken]

HI, I'm thinking of purchasing a compucarve from craftsman. I have been messing around with the carvewright software and when i put one of the patterns on the board it shows tool marks on the edge of the pattern. I really need for the whole carve to be smooth without any tool marks at all. So my question is, is it just in the software or is the machine not accurate enough for it not to leave tool marks. And what kind of tolerances does the machine have as far as staying accurate.

[AskBud]

HI, I'm thinking of purchasing a compucarve from craftsman. I have been messing around with the carvewright software and when i put one of the patterns on the board it shows tool marks on the edge of the pattern. I really need for the whole carve to be smooth without any tool marks at all. So my question is, is it just in the software or is the machine not accurate enough for it not to leave tool marks. And what kind of tolerances does the machine have as far as staying accurate.

It would help if you would attach the MPC that you are designing.
Also tell us what you wish it to look like when finished.
AskBud

[zaneken]

The marks seem to show on all the patterns that i get out of the pattern tool basic folder. They also show on all the the patterns that I have made. Are the marks put there on purpose and can be removed or is it that the machine is just not accurate enough to make a really smooth rounded surface. I work with fiberglass and use wood to make some of the plugs that i make molds from. So everything has to be smooth with no tool marks or at least minor enough I can take out with some sandpaper.

[zaneken]

One more question. I was wondering if you could use other cad programs with the compucarve. Is there anyway that i could use 3d models.

[mtylerfl]

The marks seem to show on all the patterns that i get out of the pattern tool basic folder. They also show on all the the patterns that I have made. Are the marks put there on purpose and can be removed or is it that the machine is just not accurate enough to make a really smooth rounded surface. I work with fiberglass and use wood to make some of the plugs that i make molds from. So everything has to be smooth with no tool marks or at least minor enough I can take out with some sandpaper.

Hello,

The machine is very accurate in reproducing what it is 'given'. If a pattern has 'noise' then the machine will reproduce it - faithfully. Really depends upon the quality of the pattern, but also on the type of material you carve upon. Hard woods with a tight grain carve better than soft woods of course. In any case, sandpaper, etc. will remove whatever undesirable tool marks might be present. There is usually going to be some amount of sanding necessary, but that's normal for most wood that has been machined.

TIP: After you place a pattern on the board, right-click the selected pattern and choose Bit Optimization: BEST to get the best rendition of whatever pattern you are going to carve. (Bit Optimization takes into account the geometry of the bit and tries to balance the pattern detail with the bit geometry - the process usually makes the pattern detail look and carve a lot better)

NOTE: Some patterns (usually home-made) may actually look better if you set Bit Optimization to NONE...the reason being the pattern quality is such that you may NOT want the machine to carve all the details. A setting of NONE, can sometimes 'mask' the excess noise in some patterns.

Generally, for high-quality patterns you will get a better result if you select the BEST setting for your Bit Optimization. The on-screen preview is pretty accurate, so you can freely experiment with different settings and see what looks best to you before you actually carve the piece.

As far as your question about CAD programs...if you can export to STL format, then you can purchase the optional CarveWright STL Importer to convert your STL models into the CarveWright PTN (pattern) format.

If you want to create 'organic' type relief patterns such as animals, plants, flowers, decorative appliques, flourishes, etc., you may want to check out a software program like Aspire (www.vectric.com (http://www.vectric.com)) which is specifically featured and optimized for that purpose.

[cnsranch]

zanekin -

By "tool marks" you may be referring to the "feather" that is automatically placed around a pattern when you place that pattern on Designer's virtual board. Without giving the program some specific direction, it is carving your pattern down into the board, and that, obviously, leaves some sort of edge around the pattern. You can make that transition larger, or smaller, depending on your preference.

There is an alternative to the "feather", and that occurs when you carve the board down around the pattern - that is called creating a "Carve Region".

The image below shows the same pattern, intended to be carved four different ways on the same board. The first is with a feather of 1/2" around the pattern, the second has a 1/4" feather, the third, no feather at all, and the fourth with a Carve Region around the pattern.

I suspect you're looking for the results gained through the fourth method.

[mtylerfl]

It never occurred to me that you might have been referring to the feather around a pattern as tool marks. Anyway, Jerry is right - a carve region may be the effect you are after. I posted a closeup screenshot of an eagle set within a carve region, as another example for you...

[CarverJerry]

Hey Michael, is that pattern available somewhere to download? Thats a nice one... :rolleyes:

[Chief38]

format can be done in .75" slices and glued up if you have the STL program option. ($300.00)

Herb

[mtylerfl]

Hey Michael, is that pattern available somewhere to download? Thats a nice one... :rolleyes:

Thank you - it's one of our Eagle patterns at the CarveBuddy website:

http://www.carvebuddy.com/birds.html

[zaneken]

Thank you everyone who posted. All the info was very helpful
Ken