Way off center

[JimStaley]

I tried to carve the attached. During the set-up I replied that I wanted to center along the length. (Why it asks, I don't understand because the length of the board is the length of the pattern), The result was that the carving was way off center horizontally. The stopped grooves on the back went all the way to one end. I had to turn the board once during the operation, but that doesn't seem to be the problem because both sides were off center by the same amount. Any ideas how to prevent this from happening again?

[cmorlier]

Hi Jim,

The machine has a fairly tight requirement on length, so if your board is slightly different than what you specified or if the machine is slightly miscalibrated, then it may think the board is too long and offer the centering option.

Have you run "Calibrate Offsets" from the Options menu? Like a printer, it is sometimes necessary to recalibrate the sensors, which is what "Calibrate Offsets" does. It does require that you have the 3/8" Jointing bit. If possible, run this and see if it helps.

If it is still off center, how far off is it? Someone else on the forum is reporting something similar in one of the other threads, so I want to find out if the is a pattern here.

[JimStaley]

The length is accurate to ruler accuracy, not caliper accuracy. Even if it is not accurate, it should still cut equally from the center-line, shouldn't it?

I didn't run "Calibrate offsets" for two reasons.

1) The machine is just back from your shop. Did I assume correctly that you would calibrate it?
2) Instructioms imply calibration necessary for close tolerance. MIne seems to be off about 3/16" although I didn't measure it.

[cmorlier]

Yes, it should center properly when it scales.

As for calibration, depending on what repairs are carried out, we do calibrate the machine. However, due to the rough handling that we know occurs during shipping, we do usually recommend running "Calibrate Offsets" if you have any measurement related issues. It is a quick operation (<5 min), so hopefully it isn't too much of an inconvenience. If you are worried about wasting wood, we typically use a 1"x3" in either pine or poplar, of which only about 6" is wasted.

3/16" does seem to be on the large for the "Calibrate Offsets" to help. There may well be a firmware bug here, but we have not been able to reproduce the problem here in the shop. So if there is a bug, it only affects some machines and therefore, it is helpful to us to eliminate potential variables, by ensuring the machine is in calibration.

We will keep trying to reproduce the problem from this end.

[JimStaley]

Thanks. I will calibrate tomorrow. I will also post photo.

[JimStaley]

I calibrated using a new 3/8" bit an a piece of the same MDF that I used for the carving. Then I turned the original carving over and began to recarve. I could tell from the grooves in the back that it was ofset the same, so I aborted the run. I rechecked the dimensions. The length measured 1/16" longer than the pattern this time. What is peculiar is that I had run a 12" x 9" carving the last time, and it centered perfectly. I plan to test another pattern using straight cuts..

[DocWheeler]

While learning how to make and use a sled, I'm finding calibration problems and wondering what others have had.
My first attempt at sled carving went pretty well other than finding that the material was thicker than I had anticipated (and even thicker when using dbl-stick tape). Since the sled was "close" to the stated dimensions, I thought that the slight difference in where the carving was as opposed to where I expected was the sled's fault.
With new sleds (one 18 X 8 and the other 18 X 5) that were square and accurate, my carvings were about 1/16" wrong in the X direction and 1/32" in the Y direction (too close to the keypad and too far from the starting corner). I calibrated the machine (a really cool procedure) without causing a difference. I tried both telling it to center the carve and putting it on the end - same problem.
Is this a common problem that I just need to compensate for?
I was particularly impressed with the machine's ability to finish the "Last supper" carving after vacationing in Texas, so it indexes quite well in that respect. But I had no reference point as to where I expected the original carving to start; I do have a specific point when using a sled.

[liquidguitars]

With new sleds (one 18 X 8 and the other 18 X 5) that were square and accurate, my carvings were about 1/16" wrong in the X direction and 1/32" in the Y direction
Ken, I am seeing this from time to time could be slipping on the board, or could be a tolerance prob and that would be bad..

one trick that I use is to measure the board or sled first with the CW, then input this measurement into designer then run the project, this will get you spot on when using sleds not including the slipping your talking about. I use palce on end "key pad "03" not place on center.

Anyone using “repeat last project” this would show if the CW is cutting the same but this option never works for me...

LG

[Dan-Woodman]

The repeat last project only works on beveling or mitering from the keypad.
At least thats the only thing I can get to work even as a beta tester.
And only 45 deg. bevels will work at this time .
However I think all angles of miters work.

[DocWheeler]

Thanks LG,
I think that the next project requiring a specific sled size would be to have the CC carve out the area where I want to place the "carve object". All I would have to do is square the corners after cutting it with the 3/8" straight bit. Or I could leave the pieces a little oversized and have it cut them out. One of the problems is that my cherry is 5.75" wide and I need all of that width for the boxes that I'm making.
I tried putting tape on the "starting" end to pull the carve down 1/16" which worked, but I wanted a permanent solution rather than having to make the sled a different size than the dimensions in Designer.
I was trying to consurve wood by cutting it to size first, ended up wasting it because of this problem. I'll put tape on the bottom of the sled and see if that helps the X part of it.

[liquidguitars]

I think that the next project requiring a specific sled size would be to have the CC carve out the area where I want to place the "carve object".

This seems to work better for me overall. Build my sled, get the CW to measure a few times, take the measurement to designer, load up the sled and cut the outline body shape, screw my pre cut blank in the sled using the outline as the guide all made by the CW . Next is flip the wood and carve the under side cut making a 1/4+ overall thin wall carve.

LG