Actual carve is half size problem

[Dartman]

On a new project I have the board set to 18x7x.75
The carve region is 17.292x6.544
I'm carving text only at a depth of .125

Problem -
Once the carve is completed the actual size is only 9.5x3.5
or roughly half the actual setup size. Dimension setting is set to inches.

Can someone advise as to what I'm doing wrong?
Project is attached here.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Rick

39127

[dbfletcher]

What size boasrd are you loading in to the machine? My guess is your not following the +7 rule. Your actual board should be 7" bigger than your deisgner project board. If not and you tell it to stay under rollers, it will ask you to scale the project down to fit.

[fwharris]

On a new project I have the board set to 18x7x.75
The carve region is 17.292x6.544
I'm carving text only at a depth of .125

Problem -
Once the carve is completed the actual size is only 9.5x3.5
or roughly half the actual setup size. Dimension setting is set to inches.

Can someone advise as to what I'm doing wrong?
Project is attached here.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Rick

39127

Have not looked at the MPC but I have to ask,,
Was your actually carving board at least 7" longer than your design board?
Did you tell the machine to "stay under the rollers"?
Did you get a "scale to size" msg at the machine during the set up routine??

If the answer is yes to any of these the machine re scaled the project size to fit the board and stay under the rollers for the carve...

[Dartman]

What size boasrd are you loading in to the machine? My guess is your not following the +7 rule. Your actual board should be 7" bigger than your deisgner project board. If not and you tell it to stay under rollers, it will ask you to scale the project down to fit.

The actual board was 18x7.25
Yes I did select Stay Under Rollers

If I'm understanding the 2 replies here correctly the actual board length for this project should be at least 25"
Now what about the Width of the actual board?
Am I good at 7.25" or should I start with something wider?

On a side note - is it recommended to Stay Under Rollers?

Thanks

[fwharris]

The actual board was 18x7.25
Yes I did select Stay Under Rollers

If I'm understanding the 2 replies here correctly the actual board length for this project should be at least 25"
Now what about the Width of the actual board?
Am I good at 7.25" or should I start with something wider?

On a side note - is it recommended to Stay Under Rollers?

Thanks

Your width is good as long as it is wider than your design project and there are no carve regions/areas the full width of the board. You should have enough of the board on the top and bottom so that the compression rollers stay compressed during the full carve.

Yes, the recommended board length should be at least 7" longer than the design board to stay under the rollers at all times during the carve. Not doing so could result in a broken bit do to the board raising up on the end. This is actually stated in the manual I believe..

If you will click on the "customer documentation link" at the bottom of my signature it will take you to a CW page that has a lot of great info that will help you out. Take a look at all of the tips and tricks newsletters..

[Dartman]

First off thank you to all that responded.

I'm staying under the rollers and changed to a longer 30" X 7.5" X 1" board and still getting carves nowhere near the dimensions they should be.

* On top of this problem and more importantly - now the machine is chewing up the wood vertically in the carve region as you can see in the pics below.

Here's the MPC for this carve - 39418
This was done on cedar if it makes a difference.

The setup calls for a carve that is 18.9" X 6.4"
The finished carve is actually 14" X 4.75" so I think there is still some problem.

While the text is not bad the machine chewed up the base of the image as you can see in these pics. Now this is something new as previous carves had a nice and smooth base area. I haven't a clue on why this is happening and hopefully someone here can offer some solutions. Wondering if the CW is somehow out of calibration. I'm using version 1.175 build 8804.
Thanks in advance.
Rick

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[Digitalwoodshop]

Interesting problem..... First to put the Scaling thing to bed.... IF you tell the machine to stay under the rollers then the physical board need to be 7 inches longer than the board in your designer. If the board measures 7 inches longer and you did say to stay under the rollers then all will be fine. IF you tell the machine to Stay Under the Rollers and the physical board is the SAME length as you DESIGNER Board then it... the Machine needs to find 7 inches of wood from your board.... To do this it will SCALE the PROJECT DOWN so the Machine now has the 7 inches of would to stay under the rollers.... If you tell the machine to NOT stay under the rollers as your physical board is the SAME length as your DESIGNER BOARD then the project will NOT SCALE the project. The DANGER is that while the board is being held by ONLY ONE ROLLER and not FLAT to the table by 2 rollers, the board can TIP UP or LOOSE Contact with the X Brass Roller and you will get missing carved areas....

What I do 100% of the time is tell the machine to NOT stay under the Rollers. BUT I ALWAYS have my project designed so BOTH ROLLERS are holding the board at ALL TIMES.... I do this by placing a DEAD AREA of 4 inches on the RIGHT side of DESIGNER. In the Bear Cut Out... I tape a piece of 4 inch scrap wood on the end of the board to be FRUGAL..... See the pictures..... IT is all about UNDERSTANDING what the machine is doing.....

Now for the project.... It looks like the Letters are CORRECT just the base of the Carve Region is JUNK.... If I see this correct..... My thinking is that the base area has texture built into it.... As in it is you ARTWORK......

IF I am wrong.... And the letters are NOT Correct..... Then the Z is having a Physical Problem..... Loose Screws, DUST on the Encoder, LOOSE WIRE, BAD Flat FSC Cable......

To test your machine make a test cut..... A circle and square on a scrap board as a CARVE REGION with a flat bottom.... That takes out JUNK ARTWORK from the picture...... If the machine carves good test cuts then it is JUNK Artwork and you need a expert like ASK BUD to look at your posted .mpc.

Good Luck,

AL

In the pictures below you can see my Designer Board with a 4 inch DEAD area to the right.... I tape a 4 inch board on the end of my REAL Board and leave the board LONG so the back is supported by 2 rollers. I cut the project off the board and tape the 4 inch waste back on the board and go again.... FrugAL use of WOOD...

I use NOT stay under rollers and PLACE ON END.... None of this Double measuring stuff with CENTER...... Watch the machine.... Use CENTER and it measures the board TWICE.... Use place on END and it measures so "ENOUGH" Board is measured and NEVER cares if it is 12 feet more of 2 feet more.... Just what it NEEDS.... Saves on Machine wear...

Stepping OFF my Soap Box and Quitting early tonight.... 10 PM..... 3 AM last night....

[Digitalwoodshop]

OK... I am gong to reply to my own thread.... Looked at the .mpc and did a trick that Chris taught me.... TURN the project to look at the END VIEW looking for BAD ARTWORK.... Bumps in the Artwork that show up in the carve region of the board....

I am surprised to see.... The Artwork looks good from what I SEE......

So back to PHYSICAL PROBLEMS.....

Is the board FLAT.... DO I see a bump in the thickness that matches some of the bumps....?

It the board uniform in thickness from End to End, Left to Right?

ARE any of the screws holding the SMOOTH VERTICAL POSTS LOOSE......? Can you pick up on any of the posts....


I am shot gunning ideas of things to check.... Unless someone asks, we don't know....

Let us Know...

AL

[fwharris]

Another thought on top of what Al has suggested,

How is your head pressure? To low and if you are letting the dust build up on top of the board during the full carve the head might be raising and lowering as the board and dust move under the rollers...

[LittleRedWoodshop]

On a new project I have the board set to 18x7x.75
The carve region is 17.292x6.544
I'm carving text only at a depth of .125

The actual board was 18x7.25
Yes I did select Stay Under Rollers

If this is all true there is nothing wrong with the machine ... if you tell it to stay under rollers with a board that is only 3/4 of an inch longer than your carve then the machine is going to shrink it the additional 6 3/4 inches to stay under the rollers .... correct.

[Dartman]

and the beat goes on, LOL

I checked the CW and nothing is loose. Head pressure is 88lbs. Dust blown & vacuumed out. Everything moves as it should. No error messages on the display. Checked the rollers and they check out ok. Test carve today using 44 x 7.25 x .75 poplar board. No bumps on board and dimensions are consistent.

Setup a test carve this morning which is just a carve region and 2 letters. 39480

On the same layout I also did just a basic text carve. Board is 44" long so plenty of room.
FWIW on the previous pics I posted the carve was an oval region with text (using the text tool) so images were not used.

On the pics below you can see the test carve is even worse then before. In fact on the first oval region carve the CW didn't really do much on the right side of the 2 letters.

* I should note that prior to downloading the latest version (1.175) I did not have the problem with the vertical gouging that I have now so IMO something isn't right now with the machine.

Here's the pics from todays test. What do y'all think?
Thanks
Rick

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[mark1945]

What chuck are you using?

[liquidguitars]

your QC is toast all you need is is some Jam. check you bits for play.

[Dartman]

your QC is toast all you need is is some Jam. check you bits for play.

Yep - checked the bit and it pulled right out of the bit adapter.
Tightened that sucker, pulled both sides for a vacuum and have a carve going now so will see how this one turns out.
Thanks
Rick

[Dartman]

Tightening the bit did the trick. Test carve came out good.
Looking at the bit it never dawned that it might be loose which caused the vertical play.
Thanks to all for your help.
Rick