cnsranch
01-06-2011, 01:56 PM
I've sent the following as a PM a number of times, thought I'd pass it along to those who may find something in it of value (nothing original here - just what I've learned from all y'all). Happy New Year!!
To begin with, I typically use 1/2" Corian, so if you're using 1/4", there will be some adjustments you'll have to make.....(the attached were all carved in 1/2" - the ornament finished at about 3/16")
Here's how/where I start (lot's of arguments as to what to do with it, but, again, this is what I do) -
You'll need a high quality photo - the higher the res, the better (lower res makes for a lot of "noise" that makes your litho too "busy".
PNG's make for a better import, but you can't turn a jpeg into a png, a jpeg is a jpeg, but that's ok (I have actually taken a digital picture of an old photograph, and carved it, it turned out great).
(The program I use to manipulate jpegs is "irfanview", it's simple, and free on the 'net).
Bring your jpeg into irfanview (or your own manipulator), make it a greyscale image (Designer can't read 256 colors anyway), crop it to the size you want, invert it (or not, I'll explain why in a minute), save it on your desktop at hi res.
Open Designer, import the image, and save it as a pattern. You can then bring it into Pattern Editor, and clean up any areas, or random "dots" that show up (those "dots" can be a piece of lint on a man's suit jacket, or simply scratches from that old photo, random glare from the sun when the pic was taken, or a pebble that didn't really belong wherever, etc - remember that what you see is what you get WYSIWYG - Designer doesn't analyze the carve, it just carves what you tell it to carve).
Create your Designer board - make it the exact same size as the sled you're going to place the piece of Corian you're going to carve on (always use a sled when carving Corian), drag the new pattern on to the board, and start with a setting of .150 depth, and 400 height (that's for 1/4" Corian, if you're using 1/2", the depth should be at .400 - the original .150 plus .250 for the additional thickness of the Corian).
Here's the critical part about inverting your image or not - it really doesn't make a difference if you invert it before you import it, so long as you realize that the lighter colors of the pic carve deeper in the Corian - it's simple to think of it this way - deeper carves let more light through, so look at your pic, understand where the lightest area of the pic is (someone's white shirt, for example), then go back to the Designer board, and hover your cursor over that same area. The depth setting on the bottom left of your screen should be the deepest part of the carve - if it's the shallowest, you need to simply invert the pattern - you've got the pattern set right.
Re final settings on depth and height of the pattern overall, I've found that the final product looks the best when the deepest part of the carve is no more than .11-.13 inches thick (back of the Corian to the carved-out area). Mess with your depth till you've got it there. The height is something you'll get a "feel" for - the problem with a litho is that you really can't "see" what the thing is gonna look like after carving like you can when carving a sign, etc. The thing looks goofy, and you've just got to trust the machine.
Finally, less detail in your original pic is best - more detail makes it typically too busy. Plus, if you're carving on, say, a 5x7 piece of Corian, lots or trees, or "stuff" will wash away, 'cause the carving bit can only carve detail that's basically the same size as, or larger than the tip of the bit (make sense?)
Back to the sled - let's use the example of a 5x7 piece of Corian - the sled has to be at least 7" longer than the Corian (3.5" on each end - 4 or more is better - gives you some wiggle room).You'll probably be carving real close to the edges of the Corian, so make your sled wider by, say, 2", and place rails on each edge of the sled equal to that extra width, and end pieces on each end equal to the extra length. Make certain your Corian is exactly centered on the sled, ends and edges are the same thickness of the Corian, and that your design, or carve, is centered exactly on Designer's virtual board (remember that the virtual board is the same size of the sled, so it all has to "match" when uploaded into the machine.
To avoid problems with scaling your project (you NEVER want to do that, trust me, I screwed up and re-scaled a project that ruined a 150 year-old piece of barnwood) when you load the project, and the machine asks you if you want to stay under the rollers, tell it NO - you have the extra length on each end, so it will not leave the rollers, anyway. If you tell it YES, it will re-scale your project to leave 3.5" on each end and everything will be "squashed" to make up for that difference.
Keep your machine vacuumed during the carve - the fine shavings of the Corian will cause the rollers to raise, messing with your carve.
There you have it - simple, huh? :cool:
FWIW - that's my take.
To begin with, I typically use 1/2" Corian, so if you're using 1/4", there will be some adjustments you'll have to make.....(the attached were all carved in 1/2" - the ornament finished at about 3/16")
Here's how/where I start (lot's of arguments as to what to do with it, but, again, this is what I do) -
You'll need a high quality photo - the higher the res, the better (lower res makes for a lot of "noise" that makes your litho too "busy".
PNG's make for a better import, but you can't turn a jpeg into a png, a jpeg is a jpeg, but that's ok (I have actually taken a digital picture of an old photograph, and carved it, it turned out great).
(The program I use to manipulate jpegs is "irfanview", it's simple, and free on the 'net).
Bring your jpeg into irfanview (or your own manipulator), make it a greyscale image (Designer can't read 256 colors anyway), crop it to the size you want, invert it (or not, I'll explain why in a minute), save it on your desktop at hi res.
Open Designer, import the image, and save it as a pattern. You can then bring it into Pattern Editor, and clean up any areas, or random "dots" that show up (those "dots" can be a piece of lint on a man's suit jacket, or simply scratches from that old photo, random glare from the sun when the pic was taken, or a pebble that didn't really belong wherever, etc - remember that what you see is what you get WYSIWYG - Designer doesn't analyze the carve, it just carves what you tell it to carve).
Create your Designer board - make it the exact same size as the sled you're going to place the piece of Corian you're going to carve on (always use a sled when carving Corian), drag the new pattern on to the board, and start with a setting of .150 depth, and 400 height (that's for 1/4" Corian, if you're using 1/2", the depth should be at .400 - the original .150 plus .250 for the additional thickness of the Corian).
Here's the critical part about inverting your image or not - it really doesn't make a difference if you invert it before you import it, so long as you realize that the lighter colors of the pic carve deeper in the Corian - it's simple to think of it this way - deeper carves let more light through, so look at your pic, understand where the lightest area of the pic is (someone's white shirt, for example), then go back to the Designer board, and hover your cursor over that same area. The depth setting on the bottom left of your screen should be the deepest part of the carve - if it's the shallowest, you need to simply invert the pattern - you've got the pattern set right.
Re final settings on depth and height of the pattern overall, I've found that the final product looks the best when the deepest part of the carve is no more than .11-.13 inches thick (back of the Corian to the carved-out area). Mess with your depth till you've got it there. The height is something you'll get a "feel" for - the problem with a litho is that you really can't "see" what the thing is gonna look like after carving like you can when carving a sign, etc. The thing looks goofy, and you've just got to trust the machine.
Finally, less detail in your original pic is best - more detail makes it typically too busy. Plus, if you're carving on, say, a 5x7 piece of Corian, lots or trees, or "stuff" will wash away, 'cause the carving bit can only carve detail that's basically the same size as, or larger than the tip of the bit (make sense?)
Back to the sled - let's use the example of a 5x7 piece of Corian - the sled has to be at least 7" longer than the Corian (3.5" on each end - 4 or more is better - gives you some wiggle room).You'll probably be carving real close to the edges of the Corian, so make your sled wider by, say, 2", and place rails on each edge of the sled equal to that extra width, and end pieces on each end equal to the extra length. Make certain your Corian is exactly centered on the sled, ends and edges are the same thickness of the Corian, and that your design, or carve, is centered exactly on Designer's virtual board (remember that the virtual board is the same size of the sled, so it all has to "match" when uploaded into the machine.
To avoid problems with scaling your project (you NEVER want to do that, trust me, I screwed up and re-scaled a project that ruined a 150 year-old piece of barnwood) when you load the project, and the machine asks you if you want to stay under the rollers, tell it NO - you have the extra length on each end, so it will not leave the rollers, anyway. If you tell it YES, it will re-scale your project to leave 3.5" on each end and everything will be "squashed" to make up for that difference.
Keep your machine vacuumed during the carve - the fine shavings of the Corian will cause the rollers to raise, messing with your carve.
There you have it - simple, huh? :cool:
FWIW - that's my take.