After more than a year... my second carve, my first litho...

[karossii]

Okay, so the long and sordid history of how and why I had a carvewright sitting unopened in its box for nearly a year, and then why it took me 2 months to get my second carve done after I opened it can be had elsewhere.... but here's the result of that second carve (and my first attempt at a litho):

First, the image that I started with...
http://www.rosspubgrp.com/litho/GS2.jpg

Next, the images as I converted it for the designer...
http://www.rosspubgrp.com/litho/US_litho.gif

And next a shot of the cutting board after carving, not lit...
http://www.rosspubgrp.com/litho/US3.gif

(continued in second post, because there is a limit on # of pics per post)

[karossii]

And finally a couple of pictures of it held up to a light...


http://www.rosspubgrp.com/litho/US1.gif


http://www.rosspubgrp.com/litho/US2.gif


The lighting wasn't great, and it is a cell phone camera; however I am proud of how it turned out. I see a few things to look for to tweak as I do more in the future!

[James RS]

Looks very good, nice job

[fwharris]

karossii,

For the second carve I would say you did more than ok!!!

Now maybe you will not it sit around so long before the 3rd carve! :)

[CarverJerry]

Nice job on the litho, and yeah why did you wait so long to put your machine to work. Keep the projects coming and show us how you've done. Looks like you're on the right track and remember this forum is like an extended family, especially if you have any problems.

CJ

[mtylerfl]

Great job, karossii! Good to see you are enjoying your machine!

[TIMCOSBY]

is that one of those 1/4" cuuting boards from a big box store? always wondered if they would do allright on a litho.

[karossii]

Yes, I had to go to Lowes to find it, the brand I had heard was absolutely positively safe for the carvewright weren't to be found at Home Depot or Ace... it is a Sabatier 11"x14" poly cutting board.

When I imported the pattern, which I had converted to a 4 bit greyscale (16 shades of grey), I set it at 9"x12" and 0.185 depth. When I laid it out, I set the carve at 0.20" depth and the height at 400%. It was a mistake on my end; I meant to set the carve depth at 0.185... but it turned out fine anyway.

I set it to no feather, no draft, and set the bit optimization to best. When I exported to the card, I set it at optimal; which at just over 2 hours, was twice as long as normal would have been. I noticed my flex shaft getting warm at about 45%, and so I stopped the carve for 15 minutes or so (I checked that it was lubed when I first unboxed it, but that was 2 months ago now...I'll lube it up myself this time); then I started it back up and let it run to completion; actual carve time (I assume it included that 15 minute pause, it adds up that way) was just under 2.75 hours. It ran fine, other than that warm flex shaft.

I have a fairly powerful dust collector and used a top mount attachment (bought the aluminum one from RingNeckBlues after much deliberating over making my own or buying one)... and I had no issues. There was almost no cleanup needed after the carve was done, I sprayed out the machine and brushed it down by hand.

I ran the cutting board through the table saw after the carve (and after the above photos) to trim it down and it went through that fine as well...