PDA

View Full Version : What can I do with these boxes....



SharonB
03-03-2011, 03:44 PM
Found a good buy on two ready made boxes....$6.99 each. I would like to put a design on the tops of each lacquer box. I was thinking of an overall design, yet something that would show a lot of the lacquered top. The design that's in the first box lid is only about 1/32"deep and I thought I'd leave that and work something around it.

I was also thinking of maybe a "chip" design but have been unable to find one listed in the pattern store or here in the forum....I've really looked until my eyes crossed. What other possibilites do you think might work with these projects and yet not be over powering?

Also, do you think the lacquer will chip if I try and carve into it? Thanks for any ideas or comments.
42727427304272842729

mtylerfl
03-03-2011, 04:24 PM
Found a good buy on two ready made boxes....$6.99 each. I would like to put a design on the tops of each lacquer box. I was thinking of an overall design, yet something that would show a lot of the lacquered top. The design that's in the first box lid is only about 1/32"deep and I thought I'd leave that and work something around it.

I was also thinking of maybe a "chip" design but have been unable to find one listed in the pattern store or here in the forum....I've really looked until my eyes crossed. What other possibilites do you think might work with these projects and yet not be over powering?

Also, do you think the lacquer will chip if I try and carve into it? Thanks for any ideas or comments.


Hi Sharon,

A chip-carve would be nice. I'm designing a chip carve box right now for Vectric (using Vectric's VCarve Pro software) and it's proving to be a lot of fun.

For relatively 'involved' designs, the process goes faster if you own the DXF Importer and do your vector layout in InkScape, CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator for projects destined for CarveWright Designer. Just make your design, save as DXF, then import it using the DXF Importer. Then you can assign a V-Bit to the vectors. It won't be exactly the same as a true chip carve, but can be very attractive with almost the same artistic impression.

On the boxes, do you know if they are solid wood? Sometimes they are, but sometimes they are ply or some form of pressed board with a wood finish applied. Hard to tell the difference until cut into. You may want to buy just the couple at first, to see how they'll work out, then get more later if they do come up again.

Another possibility to 'dress them up'...maybe you could carve some reliefs and use them as glued-on onlays (i.e., a center item with four corner designs for example).

Oh, you asked about the lacquer flaking/chipping when carved. It's a possibility - depends on how sharp your bit is, what the properties of the wood are, and the quality of the lacquer used. Only way to tell for sure is do a test run or two.

atauer
03-03-2011, 04:32 PM
Mike,

I was thinking the same thing about the boxes. If they are pressed fiber-board or MDF, carving into them may not be a good idea. Better to get a test one before making a large decision.

Capt Bruce
03-03-2011, 05:00 PM
I think they will both be interesting projects to try Sharon and your material cost going in is just right at $6.99 apiece. If the lacquer chips, Oh Well nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'd recommend a chip carving into the rectangular plain lid box and perhaps something in a Celtic knot work carving surrounding the centered design on the square lid. I recall a file labeled chipframe.zip which I think was in the old paperclip long list and if I remember it correctly had an open center and nice authentic chip carving details. As for Celtic designs they abound around here with our many skilled colleagues.

A key factor is going to be how thick the lids are to allow carving depth and we can't really judge that in the photos. Please let us know what you decide to do and we'll look forward to the results. I've considered doing some similar projects but never got around to figuring out how to design an adaptable sled for the work.

And that will be 400 posts - Just a few thousand to go . . .

SharonB
03-03-2011, 05:19 PM
Michael....no, I don't have the DXF or any external program...expect Photoshop. The one box that has the design in the middle does look like it's wood....don't know about the other one. I guess the thing to do is try one and see how it carves. Then, if it chips I could always cover it with some reliefs like you suggested.

Capt. Bruce....I'll try and find the chip frame you mentioned. It doesn't seem like those old files are showing up all that good because I remember when I first got my machine someone was doing chip carvings. But, for the cost of the boxes I guess a person can't go wrong trying to carve a lid (one lid is 5/8" thick and the other is 3/4" thick) it's just finding a nice simple, but elegent design.

So, guess it is full speed ahead.....and back to checking out patterns. Thanks for the suggests everyone.

AskBud
03-03-2011, 07:09 PM
Sharon,
Go to this link and drop down to "chip". You may find something you like. At least one MPC gives the cutters, rather than just a pattern. That may help you determine how to design your own.
AskBud
http://forum.carvewright.com/misc.php?do=showattachments&t=2046

liquidguitars
03-03-2011, 08:53 PM
Designer will do chip carving" if I understand the term " built in, all thats need is to assign the v90 bit to a vertex and use "Depth Profile" no need for external programs if you make your own designs. works well..

SharonB
03-03-2011, 11:34 PM
LG...since your idea is one I've never played with in designer I just might try my hand at it and see what I come up with. I did look at the mpc that Bud mentioned and the Chip Frame like Jpaluck made is a lot like what I had in mind. I would like to leave a lot of the lacquer finish showing. This project is sure going to put the old brain to working.

liquidguitars
03-03-2011, 11:42 PM
Hi Sharon,

I think it's a good all around tool to play with and would be very fast to carve.
you could put a raster pattern in the background then click points around the details to get the paths just right...

mtylerfl
03-03-2011, 11:46 PM
Designer will do chip carving" if I understand the term " built in, all thats need is to assign the v90 bit to a vertex and use "Depth Profile" no need for external programs if you make your own designs. works well..

Hi LG,

We can do a lot with the CW vector carving tools and make some very creative and beautiful carvings, but we cannot do certain types of true chip carving using the CW Designer software (yet).

See the two screenshots below for clarification. One is the chip carve of a box top I just designed for Vectric. It is a 'true' chip carve...in other words, it uses a V-Bit to do all the clearing of the areas around the vector designs as well as some details on the flat areas themselves...just like a hand-carved chip carving.

The other screenshot from Designer shows a vector V-carve carve too, but you can see there is a big difference between the two. At the present time, the Designer software does not have the ability to clear the areas around vectors with a V-bit, we can only assign a V-bit to a vector path itself, so the effect isn't quite the same. I'll bet someday we will be able to do real chip carving of this type though!

As a side note, I can 'simulate' a chip carve for the CW using Aspire's modeling tools and projecting the toolpaths onto a model, save as STL, etc., but the pattern will be carved with the 1/16th tapered carving bit. I did a test carve of a chip simulation a couple years or so ago and it turned out alright (looked nice) but it didn't have quite the crisp definition that a V-bit alone does in a real chip carve. Maybe I'll try doing a chip simulation for a future POM for the CarveWright. Seems to me I saw a couple 'chip-carve' PTN's or MPC's posted awhile back that looked pretty good!

earlyrider
03-04-2011, 12:44 AM
Speaking of chip carving and vector V bits, I have a need for a little help. When you put three circles together (hexagonal close-pack symmetry for the crystalographers out there), you have an intersection of a triangle with slightly curved lines. I need this shape (the interior of the triangle) cut with a 90 degree bit to a depth of 1/8" to 3/16".
If I try three circles and apply a V (90), moving them together creates a prominent line the full depth of the V. Doing the circles as a carve area results in a rough shape approximating what I need, however, rough, being a raster rather than a vector. I thought about using some font with a centerline cut, but haven't found anything close enough.
The triangles are about 1/4" corner to corner. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Ron

liquidguitars
03-04-2011, 01:09 AM
Hi Ron,

Here is a non raster, vector test version using "Depth profile" for the center hub. "Depth profile" is a powerful option that most people seem to forget about.. I use it on my violins... of coarse you would make random curves to look old and handmade like, but it would carve like the dickens..

earlyrider
03-04-2011, 01:23 AM
Thats pretty close. When I tried the depth profile originally, it wasn't comming out too well; I just didn't try enough profiles I guess.
Thanks
Ron

liquidguitars
03-04-2011, 01:30 AM
Thats pretty close. When I tried the depth profile originally, it wasn't coming out too well; I just didn't try enough profiles I guess.
Thanks
Ron

Hi Ron,
Thanks, I think you could import your raster version and add the vertex paths over the carving to get it right, would take some work but then you colud just copy and paste, just spit balling.

earlyrider
03-04-2011, 01:36 AM
I'll give it a go in the morning. Thanks

mtylerfl
03-04-2011, 07:43 AM
Hi Ron,

Here is a non raster, vector test version using "Depth profile" for the center hub. "Depth profile" is a powerful option that most people seem to forget about.. I use it on my violins... of coarse you would make random curves to look old and handmade like, but it would carve like the dickens..

Hi LG,

That's an excellent example of creativity and gives a glimpse of what can be accomplished using the vector tools in Designer. Thanks for posting that.

I started writing a Tips & Tricks specifically about the Designer vector tools, the DXF Importer and so on, but I put it on the back-burner temporarily. I need to go ahead and wrap it up (it was intended for Jan/Feb 2011). There is a lot of cool stuff we can do using just vectors and the Depth Profile features!

liquidguitars
03-04-2011, 11:24 AM
That's an excellent example of creativity and gives a glimpse of what can be accomplished using the vector tools in Designer. Thanks for posting that.


Just took a few seconds to make and I did not need any fancy bloated 2000.00 software to boot!!! < smiles> to be clear "Depth profile" tools have been in the software before 1.126, over three years now?

mtylerfl
03-04-2011, 02:01 PM
Just took a few seconds to make and I did not need any fancy bloated 2000.00 software to boot!!! < smiles> to be clear "Depth profile" tools have been in the software before 1.126, over three years now?

Yes, I think I recall those tools were in 1.119-1.120...they have been around for a very long time!

earlyrider
03-05-2011, 01:34 AM
The depth profile worked to satisfaction. The only real problem was apparently overloading Designer with ovals and vector "triangles". The program aborted several times. Eventually found a happy medium, and ended with an area about 12X8. I'll only have to cut 9 of these to assemble a master pattern for molding a repro of a front floormat of a 1917 Overland Touring.
Ron

liquidguitars
03-05-2011, 01:47 AM
Very Cool Ron! I did hear this type of carving can be a little stressful on the CW due to the roller interaction..

Capt Bruce
03-13-2011, 10:35 AM
Found a good buy on two ready made boxes....$6.99 each. I would like to put a design on the tops of each lacquer box. I was thinking of an overall design, yet something that would show a lot of the lacquered top. The design that's in the first box lid is only about 1/32"deep and I thought I'd leave that and work something around it.

I was also thinking of maybe a "chip" design but have been unable to find one listed in the pattern store or here in the forum....I've really looked until my eyes crossed. What other possibilites do you think might work with these projects and yet not be over powering?

Also, do you think the lacquer will chip if I try and carve into it? Thanks for any ideas or comments.
42727427304272842729

Good morning Sharon,

Did you have a chance to try the lid carvings you proposed on these two boxes? Just curious to see what you designed. Thanks

SharonB
03-13-2011, 11:55 AM
Capt. Bruce,

Sorry, I haven't had much of a chance to work on designing anything lately. My husband has taken over the shop with a project of his own, that can't be done without my help, so my "play time" is very limited. But I'm still looking for ideas to incorporate into a design.

Capt Bruce
03-13-2011, 04:29 PM
Thanks for getting back to us Sharon,
The positive side of that is that you're getting to spend some time doing something together. The boxes are just waiting for that "right" design to come to you.