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View Full Version : Block Printing and the CW.... Interesting Concept...



Digitalwoodshop
08-11-2012, 12:06 AM
Found this Youtube video tonight and though of the CW... I have a local High End Tourist Gift Store that prints it's logo on brown bags with rope handles.

This Carving Material was the missing piece of the puzzle... Picture mounting this Pink Carving Substrate on a wood block with Double Stick Tape. Mounted in a Carrier Board Sled like Corian with wide sides to support the CW Rubber Rollers and not depress into the substrate.

Now design a logo art and carve away the EXCESS..... You could even Cut Path the block out of the bigger block... Watch the Video for printing methods.... and Even making Rubber Stamps....

The TRICK is weather the CW Carving or Cutting bits will cleanly cut the Pink Substrate.....

Food for Thought..... Could be a Marketable Product....

AL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNsTQpVlmw4&feature=related

55president
08-11-2012, 11:48 AM
Al--I’ve been doing this for years , or actually for almost 5 years ,it’s the reason
I bought the machine. This pink material is really a kind of rubber and although
it cuts well with the cutters they are using that are designed to cut these type
of materials, The carvewright bits will just chew rubbery materials like this
up. The bits need a harder surface to cut. I’ve tried alot of materials -
End grain wood is OK but even that chips, Linoleum the traditional block print material
is pretty gummy and will gum up your machine, ( especially in the summer) rubber gets chewed up. I have finally settled on Composite Vinyl tile , you can get this at Home depot or Lowes for about .75 a square foot. I mount this on 1/2 plywood with rubber cement. I import a High Contrast image into Designer with a depth of .07-.09.
Drag this pattern onto my board and set my carving parameters , and carve
quality and I’m ready to go.


I’ve made Many many blocks this way and have used them to print images for my paintings. Will try and post some pictures.


I am having some problems I wanted to ask about with my block carving , but need to get my machine back on it’s feet with the edge detection error I’m getting right now .

lawrence
08-12-2012, 08:39 AM
I'm VERY interested in seeing your pics - this sounds like a wonderful new direction for our machines.

Lawrence

chebytrk
08-12-2012, 09:07 AM
me too... Would really like to see some pics. Also maybe a pic of the material purchased at HD.

CNC Carver
08-12-2012, 09:14 AM
Sounds like a great idea please post more details finished product and material would be great!

Digitalwoodshop
08-12-2012, 01:22 PM
Thanks for the Update... That Composite sounds like it would be a money maker.... A one time investment by a Store Owner and a lifetime of Printed Bags.... With OUR ability to quickly turn a logo into a Carving Pattern since the logo would most likely be one color....

The Edge Detection could be a snapped off LED in the Board Detector or a intermittent FSC Cable... Look for a 156 reading on white copy paper with the head cranked down.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/flooring/vinyl-resilient-flooring/armstrong/12-in-x-12-in-vct-bluegray-imperial-texture-excelon-commercial-vinyl-tile-carton-of-45-44451.html


AL

cestout
08-12-2012, 05:16 PM
Interesting, but kind of a hassel to print. I am lazy and use MS Publisher or PrintShop.
Clint

Digitalwoodshop
08-12-2012, 07:22 PM
Sort of a Artsy Niche Market.... Many "GREEN" stores are selling the Canvas Grocery and Shopping Bags. This gives the store a ability to print Canvas, fancy brown paper bags and the likes.... I know a lady that does fancy Wedding Cards with this type of printing process.

AL

55president
08-12-2012, 11:32 PM
Y'all -- Here a a few photos of the composition vinyl tile -- y’all know the stuff.
It’s commonly used on diner floors and kitchens. Some of you probably have this
in your house. It’s made by armstrong and you can get it at any Home depot
or Lowes or anywhere they sell flooring.It comes in 12” by 12” sheets for an
average of .75 a square foot. I buy a case of it at a time now. It’s .125 in thick.
It bends cuts and breaks easily. It has no structural integrity except on the flat
like it’s designed to do. After much experimentation I’ve arrived at this material
because it’s cheap , readily available and performs pretty well for my application.\:
Block printing. Next the process........
553395534055341

55president
08-12-2012, 11:38 PM
The next posts will be:
1.Image process
2.Software process
3. carving process
4. problems I have ,had

badbert
08-13-2012, 01:04 AM
I am pulling up a chair! That stuff is awesome to use as flooring. A little imagination... and a sharp knife. And I have seen floors that were works of art! Now I get to see art created with it!

55president
08-13-2012, 07:19 AM
More on compostion vinyl tile -- Don't use any tile you might find in your atttic or basement -- pre 1986 tile
may contain asbestos! Buy the new stuff, Be safe......

55president
08-13-2012, 08:41 AM
Image processing :

My image process starts with getting an image and sizing it to the size I want first.
If I want to carve a 12x12 inch image I will make the image 12x12. I also convert this to
128DPI ( dots or pixels per inch). The carvewright machine carves at 128 lines per inch.
I’m thinking this is because the carvewright CPU is a 128 bit processor? I then convert
the image into a high contrast image in Photoshop. This can be done in a variety of ways. I use a stamp filter in Photoshop. You are left with a black and white image,
no grey tones. Each color in photoshop corresponds with a number combination and a number(and or) letter combination.There seems to be a problem with the carvewright machine recognizing absolute black which is red:0 blue:0 Green:0 ,it’s number letter corresponds to 000000. Absolute white is red:255 Blue:255 Green:255 and his number letter corresponds to ffffff. I’m not sure what is the problem with black, maybe too many
0’s , but it will read white just fine and if you change the value of the black to red:1 blue:1 Green:1 ,and it’s number/letter will change automatically 010101. The white is
what the machine will carve, it’s supposed to leave the black , but more on this later....
I save this image as a JPG.
55342

55president
08-13-2012, 10:44 AM
Software process:

Now turning to the Carvewright designer software, I import this image into the pattern editor. If you saved @ 128 dpi it should be close to the size you are looking for. For carving depths I put no more than .09 inches. The vinyl tile is only .125 inches so that leaves .035 inches left which is a good base to hold it all together. I finish putting the image in my pattern editor. If I’m going to make a 12x12 inch block like the image I imported before from Photoshop, I’ll make a 12.25 x12.25 board. Or I’ll make a
12x12x6.25 inch board (1/2 inch plywood + .125 vinyl tile). After dragging the pattern from the pattern editor, I’ll resize it to 11.75x11.75. I’ll center it both ways: so it’s in the center of the board. I will set my carving parameters: no feathering , no draft, bit optimization usually on the higher settings, but it depends what you are carving. I’ll upload this to a card and I usually get the auto jig warning which I ignore. More
on this later......55349

CNC Carver
08-13-2012, 11:13 AM
That looks great! Keep sharing please!!!

55president
08-13-2012, 09:25 PM
I used to use 1/4 plywood and used a sled , but have gravitated to
using 1/2 inch plywood or MDF so I don’t use sleds anymore. I liked the 1/4 plywood as it was easier to store the blocks but can’t carve on a 3/8 board. Also
the 1/4 plywood sometimes has a tendency to warp as time goes by , especially if you use a water based ink for printing.So I start out cementing the vinyl on the plywood .I usually start out with a 12 x 48” piece of wood and laminate four pieces of 12 x 12 vinyl on top. I put a coat each on the wood and vinyl. Then after it dries I put another coat on each. I then carefully press the vinyl on the plywood. making sure there are no gaps.
I cut the board to the size I want and load it in the machine. I load my project from the card and it starts to measure the board and when it prompts me if I want to stay underneath the rollers I say no. I have a notched table and the carve wright sits down
in between the two table tops that extend 8 feet in each direction along a wall. The
table tops are even with the carvewright table. So If I am not underneath one roller it is still level in relation to the bit so there will be uneven carving. I go through the prompts
and start to carve .The vinyl residue is both dust and larger particles. My home made
Dust collector gets the dust but not most of the larger particles. So I’m still looking
for a better DC system. After carving is complete I wire brush the block with a
brass brush. THE vinyl usually get cloggedin the bottom Z-axis gear, so I use a
dental pick to get this out.Failure to so this usually end up with a Z-axis stall. So
at this point I have a block that’s ready to print
. 55370553715537255373

55president
08-13-2012, 09:29 PM
here's some more blocks and a few have corresponding images.
55374553755537655377553785537955380

mtylerfl
08-13-2012, 09:53 PM
Those are really cool...I love the appearance of block printing. Looks like you've got it down to a science!

badbert
08-13-2012, 10:13 PM
Those are really cool...I love the appearance of block printing. Looks like you've got it down to a science!

Yeah what he said! LOL That is really cool!

lawrence
08-13-2012, 10:25 PM
man, that is AWESOME- thank you for sharing your technique with us

Lawrence

CNC Carver
08-14-2012, 06:08 AM
That is cool thanks for sharing!! Great work.