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[grimm9066]

hello all.. i just bought one of the carve wright machines this past weekend.. looking forward to getting it here and set up... so i can start playing with it...

[geekviking]

Welcome to the family! Can't wait to see where your imagination takes you!

[fwharris]

Congradulations and welcome! While you are waiting for the machine one good tip,

READ

tips and tricks newsletters (http://www.carvewright.com/2010CWweb/tips.htm)

CW Maintenance procedures (http://www.carvewright.com/2010CWweb/maintenance.htm)

and as much as you can of the forum topics.


Happy carving!

[Deolman]

Make this project one of your first carves...

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?17634-Fletcher-s-DC-carve-it-yourself

[grimm9066]

thanks for the help. but i am getting to the point where i am about to give up. i have not made the dust hood yet. but i have been trying to get some carving done and no matter what i do i keep seeing the quality at normal no matter what i do. i have told it to go for best on image and bit optimization and still it always says normal quality. what am i doing wrong. cause it is upseting me if i can not get them to come out better going to give up and be really pissed i spent the money and it does not work or make things as good as i have seen on the sight... if it is just the dust cool.. if not i need to know what is wrong and how to fix it.

[skeeterman]

When you upload your mpc on the card did you set the quality there?
Steve

[Termite]

thanks for the help. but i am getting to the point where i am about to give up. i have not made the dust hood yet. but i have been trying to get some carving done and no matter what i do i keep seeing the quality at normal no matter what i do. i have told it to go for best on image and bit optimization and still it always says normal quality. what am i doing wrong. cause it is upseting me if i can not get them to come out better going to give up and be really pissed i spent the money and it does not work or make things as good as i have seen on the sight... if it is just the dust cool.. if not i need to know what is wrong and how to fix it.



You can set the carve quality on your machine. Turn it on with the card in place and hit options (number 0 ) and the carve quality should be the first to show up. You can scroll thru draft, normal, best and optimal. Set it for optimal if that is what you are looking for.

[grimm9066]

ok i have not tryed setting the machine. i will give that a try and on the other i set it before uploading is there something on the upload page also to set the quality? thank you all for the help i will give it all a try... and i will post on how it goes as well... again thank you all...

[gregsolano]

ok i have not tryed setting the machine. i will give that a try and on the other i set it before uploading is there something on the upload page also to set the quality? thank you all for the help i will give it all a try... and i will post on how it goes as well... again thank you all...

Yes you set quality during the upload of the project to the card. See photo. Take note that you will see the time to carve increase with higher quality.

43239

[AskBud]

Hello Grimm,
The "Optimal" setting requires the least sanding, however, it takes longer to carve.
I think the extra machine time is well worth the eliminated bench work.
AskBud43243

[grimm9066]

thanks alot that helps.. i guess the patterens i am trying to get to look better are eather two small in pixals or just to small... might have to just buy the ones that are close to what i want from pattern deperment. guess i will try a differnt try of carve... trying to do like a plaque with like miliraty logo and badges. might have to try something differnt for now.... but thanks for the help.... also i did see the machine option like skeeterman said. but when i went there it would not go back to the main window after setting the option. so i shut off the machine. was i spoust to wait and not touch anything or did i do right???

[AskBud]

thanks alot that helps.. i guess the patterens i am trying to get to look better are eather two small in pixals or just to small... might have to just buy the ones that are close to what i want from pattern deperment. guess i will try a differnt try of carve... trying to do like a plaque with like miliraty logo and badges. might have to try something differnt for now.... but thanks for the help.... also i did see the machine option like skeeterman said. but when i went there it would not go back to the main window after setting the option. so i shut off the machine. was i spoust to wait and not touch anything or did i do right???
Grimm,
What we're all saying, is that you set the quality as you "Upload" the project to the card.
Once you select and accept the setting the PC completes the Upload process. This quality setting applies to the raster carves in particular.
There is nothing you need to do , extra, as you place the card in the carver and begin that part of the process.
AskBud

[lynnfrwd]

One thing that I think may not have been mentioned is the machine will carve exactly what it gets in...so make sure your "pattern" is of a high resolution to start with. That may be why it is giving you a low quality carve no matter the quality setting.

Trash in is trash out!

You should have better luck with the patterns provided on the PatternDepot by our pattern vendors.

[mtylerfl]

thanks alot that helps.. i guess the patterens i am trying to get to look better are eather two small in pixals or just to small... might have to just buy the ones that are close to what i want from pattern deperment. guess i will try a differnt try of carve... trying to do like a plaque with like miliraty logo and badges. might have to try something differnt for now.... but thanks for the help.... also i did see the machine option like skeeterman said. but when i went there it would not go back to the main window after setting the option. so i shut off the machine. was i spoust to wait and not touch anything or did i do right???

Hello,

Welcome! As you may have already gathered, you do not need to make any quality setting at the machine for carving. You can leave it at whatever it is...makes no difference as far as running projects. The key to achieving great quality is "great patterns" and specifying the quality setting when you actually upload to your memory card, as already mentioned. (Not the quality setting at the machine itself - that's for specific machine-only functions - not for running projects from the memory card.)

Please do read through the Tips & Tricks as soon as possible...especially the Dec '07 and Jan '08 issues to start with. (I usually mention to new users that they shouldn't even turn on their machine until they've read those ones!) The link to the Tips & Tricks articles are below my signature. Lots of useful info that you will need to know for maximum enjoyment/minimum hassle as you are learning about your machine and software.

We're here for you if you have any questions not already answered in the Tips and here on the forum (or if you can't find the answers, just ask again!). Another thing I'll sometimes mention to new users...if you aren't sure of what you're doing - STOP - then check with the forum for an answer before proceeding.
Everyone wants you to understand and have fun with your machine. We're just a "click" away!

[Capt Bruce]

thanks alot that helps.. i guess the patterns i am trying to get to look better are either two small in pixels or just to small... might have to just buy the ones that are close to what i want from pattern department. guess i will try a different try of carve... trying to do like a plaque with like military logo and badges. might have to try something different for now....

To help us determine if the design quality you are trying to carve is part of the problem, can you post your design here?
Also what service branch do you want to carve for? Perhaps one of us can share an appropriate design to give you the basics of a good carve. There are some free designs here for just about every Service. Let us know and don't get discouraged too early. We were all there once.

[grimm9066]

ok i will check out the tips secoing as well.. and again thanks alot for the help.. i was thinking it was the patterens i was trying to use that i found on the internet but was not sure... and capt bruce to answer your question trying all the brances and to include the Air Force Academy logo as well... and most of the logos i found were at like the 240x240 . i did find one of the air force academy one that was at 1000x959. have not tryed carving that one yet... doing more reading before i do more.... it is i get really excited seeing what should come out of the machine and then seeing what i get really upsets me.. going to read tips but was woundering if anyone knew how to do say like coaster for drinks on the machine no pattern in it or anything just the coaster itself. how to make the are to cut ad to care into so it is recessed. tryiong to make circles in circles one that is like .25 inches smaller then the outer but the inner being recessed in and carved out from the rest of the circle.

[TerryT]

going to read tips but was woundering if anyone knew how to do say like coaster for drinks on the machine no pattern in it or anything just the coaster itself. how to make the are to cut ad to care into so it is recessed. tryiong to make circles in circles one that is like .25 inches smaller then the outer but the inner being recessed in and carved out from the rest of the circle.

Look here
http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?6215-Circle-within-a-Circle&highlight=coasters

[jaroot]

If you read and follow the Jan 2008 Tips & Tricks it will get you well on the road to making good carvings.

And as other have said:
1.The design software is very faithful to what the end result will look like. i.e. if it looks bad in designer it will look bad on the board.
2. Developing patterns is not just a simple cut and paste operation so to start out I would suggest downloading patterns from the forum (but some of them are not the best either) or purchasing some. I've had good and bad luck with purchased patterns but mostly they have been good.
3. Remember this is a complex machine. Don't get frustrated and keep up the cleaning/maintenance.

Most important; Have fun!

[AskBud]

ok i will check out the tips secoing as well.. and again thanks alot for the help.. i was thinking it was the patterens i was trying to use that i found on the internet but was not sure... and capt bruce to answer your question trying all the brances and to include the Air Force Academy logo as well... and most of the logos i found were at like the 240x240 . i did find one of the air force academy one that was at 1000x959. have not tryed carving that one yet... doing more reading before i do more.... it is i get really excited seeing what should come out of the machine and then seeing what i get really upsets me.. going to read tips but was woundering if anyone knew how to do say like coaster for drinks on the machine no pattern in it or anything just the coaster itself. how to make the are to cut ad to care into so it is recessed. tryiong to make circles in circles one that is like .25 inches smaller then the outer but the inner being recessed in and carved out from the rest of the circle.
Here is a quick and dirty Coaster. Note that all I used is the 1/8" cutting bit. The recess is made using the "Drill" Icon/function rather than the carve Area. The design is such that I will use an actual board 3/4 x 24" x 5.5".
AskBud

43501 43502

[ktjwilliams]

Chin up,,, you will get to understand the machine... There's is a pattern sharing section on this forum, some R good, some R not , but there free... Look at em in the designer software, see how they were put together, manipulate the ones U can to see what's goin on..

[Deolman]

One thing that has not been mentioned is the pictures with the jpg extension lose information when they are saved as a compressed file. You and I most likely will not see a problem but the Carvewright will. Even converting it to the preferred format of png does not correct the problem. The Carvewright will try to carve what it sees and consequently the quality turns out pretty poor. Do a search on "jpg" or "png" and you will finds lots of info. (Don't forget the quotes when searching.)

[grimm9066]

i thank everyone that has help and posted info to me.. i have not tryed to do much as i have been doing more and more reading.. do not want to get to mad at machine and give up on it after spending the money i have to get it. i was talking to a firned i work with that does a difffent type of business but he told me about a diffent type of pictures that are vector art. does anyone know if that type of pic file would work good for woodcarving and even litho's.

[DocWheeler]

If you feel frustrated and think you have made a mistake by getting a CW, get a piece of 1/4" corian or cast acrylic and carve a favorite picture. If you do not fall in love with the machine with that, you are way too angry/frustrated.

[grimm9066]

i have had to stop and read more before getting to the point of regreting getting this machine. i have seen the work you all have done and i know it has to be something i am doing so i am reading as much as i can before trying any more of the carvings