Gothic Quatrefoil

[Cavallo]

Basic shapes in Illustrator. The rest, all Photoshop.

Interesting thing - the first board I tried it on, the machine said it needed to be scaled down, then it carved at like 2" wide. Second board - same exact size board, carved at the intended size of 5.5". Huh?

[badbert]

Great job Cavallo! Take a few more pics at different angles,please. I would love to see more!

[fwharris]

Nice design! The machine wanted to scale it down because it measured your carving board smaller than your design board. Most times you do not want to let it scale. If you are using off the shelf boards set your design size smaller than the board size to save any frustration. Example, you have a 1x8 board and actual size is 1x7 1/4". Use a design size of 7".

[Cavallo]

Well, yeah - but I did two carves on identical boards. One scaled, the other did not. Can't figure it out.

[Cavallo]

Here's a second angle. It's a little blasted - sorry.

61176

I *REALLY* need to learn to make details not quite so fine. Note some of the fine ridge there chipping out.

[eelamb]

That is typical with red oak, flaking off of raised areas. Need tighter grain wood, or larger width of raised area, or add a little draft.

[Cavallo]

Yeah, I never was a fan of flat-sawn red oak anyway. As soon as I can score some better wood, I will.

[b.sumner47]

Nice job,Thanks for sharing., Capt Barry

[fwharris]

Well, yeah - but I did two carves on identical boards. One scaled, the other did not. Can't figure it out.

Just a measurement difference in the machine. The display on the machine should tell you the difference.
left hand number is the measured size -- right hand number is your design size..

some times if it is off just a smidgen put a piece of masking tape on the far edge over lapping just enough to satisfy the machine..

[badbert]

Here's a second angle. It's a little blasted - sorry.

61176

I *REALLY* need to learn to make details not quite so fine. Note some of the fine ridge there chipping out. Add a little bit of blur.

[Cavallo]

Add a little bit of blur.

This is one of those things I'll have to struggle to beat into my brain. I kind of intuitively get what the result would be, and why it would help, but in print publication it's anathema. I've spent 20+ years struggling against blur.

Also - thanks for the masking tape idea! I'll file that one away and try it someday.

[badbert]

I'll go one further, and this is really against everything you have done. The final step before I import into designer, is to change the transparency to 99%. This helps remove noise.

[Cavallo]

So, you mean you essentially save a transparent PNG file for import? I'm not entirely sure what effect this would have. If you have a moment, please explain.

[badbert]

No I import directly from Photoshop. Select all>Copy merged then in designer import from clip board.
Blur, feather, and Transparency all add radius to designer.
Black to white, or black to transparent gives similar results in designer.
Maybe I said it wrong, when I am done with the separate layers and merge them to add the final clean-up blur. I change the fill for the final merged layer to 99%. It is just barely transparent. But it makes Designer render the file smoother.

[CNC Carver]

That looks great. Can you share that pattern? Made smaller that would make great corner blocks for trimming a house I'm remodeling.
Thanks
Jeff

[Alan Malmstrom]

This is one of those things I'll have to struggle to beat into my brain. I kind of intuitively get what the result would be, and why it would help, but in print publication it's anathema. I've spent 20+ years struggling against blur.

Also - thanks for the masking tape idea! I'll file that one away and try it someday.

You don't have to blur. If you could make the peaks propogate according to the value it would make the peaks thicker. This is like being able to adjust your own bit optimization.
61208
The triangles in the foreground are the original and the ones with the peaks spread out are propogate.

[badbert]

You don't have to blur. If you could make the peaks propogate according to the value it would make the peaks thicker. This is like being able to adjust your own bit optimization.
61208
The triangles in the foreground are the original and the ones with the peaks spread out are propogate.

Alan how/what is propogate and how do you do it? LOL I have been using PS along time, and I have never heard that term.

[Cavallo]

Ahh. I haven't tried copy/paste directly from PS yet. I'll have to do that.

In the meantime, here's the pattern. If anyone tweaks/improves/adds to it, repost it here. I'd like to see what people do with it.

[Alan Malmstrom]

Alan how/what is propogate and how do you do it? LOL I have been using PS along time, and I have never heard that term.
Try Filter Other Minimum. Does the same thing I think.

[badbert]

Thank you Alan! That does work well!

[CNC Carver]

Cavallo, thanks for sharing. I'll update if I make any changes. Allen I'll also try your propogate.
Jeff

[Alan Malmstrom]

Ya you could also give patterns with thin lines a more drastic effect [Draft] using the same kind of thing with a little extra something by duplicating the layer, setting it to darken only, blurring it and then propagating it. That would bolster the thin lines of a design and you have a lot of control over what part and how much you want to apply it. You need to blur it in order to take a sharp edge that has no shades from dark to light and make one. Practice is what is needed to learn what can be done.

Feathering is a little different but is good to know how to do also.

[mtylerfl]

...
Interesting thing - the first board I tried it on, the machine said it needed to be scaled down, then it carved at like 2" wide. Second board - same exact size board, carved at the intended size of 5.5". Huh?

Something was definitely "different" between your two project runs. I know you said the boards were exactly the same size, but the machine didn't think so for whatever reason. Perhaps the board slipped (in X) whilst measuring, or perhaps a dark grained area threw off the measurement LED's, perhaps you selected an incorrect option at one of the prompts...no way of knowing what went awry, but it was 'something'.

Perhaps the following article will help. I hope so. BTW, your projects are looking GREAT!

ISSUE 18 March 2009 – Scaling and How to Avoid It! (http://www.carvewright.com/assets/tips/CarveWrightTips_and_Tricks_Mar09.pdf)

[Cavallo]

Excellent article! I already knew about the 7" length rule. Is there a similar rule for width? As for cupping - I checked that neurotically. I couldn't detect any, but in a previous carve, the machine found my width measurement shy by 5 thousandths of an inch. I suspect it can measure far more accurately than I can. Going forward, my workflow will be something more like;

1) Let the machine measure my intended board.
2) Tweak the virtual board in designer to match that size.
3) Place my design.
4) Upload to card.
5) Carve.

That way, if the machine gives me a wacky measurement in step 1, I'll see trouble before it happens. Does this sound reasonable?

[bergerud]

That was what I tried in the beginning. It made sense to me too. It, unfortunately does not work! The machine is not that consistent at measuring. It will be different almost every time. I have learned to always make the project board smaller.

[badbert]

Excellent article! I already knew about the 7" length rule. Is there a similar rule for width? As for cupping - I checked that neurotically. I couldn't detect any, but in a previous carve, the machine found my width measurement shy by 5 thousandths of an inch. I suspect it can measure far more accurately than I can. Going forward, my workflow will be something more like;

1) Let the machine measure my intended board.
2) Tweak the virtual board in designer to match that size.
3) Place my design.
4) Upload to card.
5) Carve.

That way, if the machine gives me a wacky measurement in step 1, I'll see trouble before it happens. Does this sound reasonable?

.005 usually gives a third option, "ignore scaling".

[CNC Carver]

It is also nice to have an outside edge so I always make designer board smaller than actual. Gives rollers consistant height.

[Cavallo]

It is also nice to have an outside edge so I always make designer board smaller than actual. Gives rollers consistant height.

How big an outside edge?

[Cavallo]

That was what I tried in the beginning. It made sense to me too. It, unfortunately does not work! The machine is not that consistent at measuring. It will be different almost every time. I have learned to always make the project board smaller.

So - is the masking tape trick meant to help with the measurement issue?

[lynnfrwd]

The measurement issue is a traction issue a lot of the time. The tape offers better traction for the machine to correctly measure it.

[CNC Carver]

Cavallo I use about.2 less than actual board and works fine for me. Saves some of the errors.

[bergerud]

So - is the masking tape trick meant to help with the measurement issue?

The masking tap trick mentioned earlier by fwharris is to put masking tape on the end or edge of the board to make it "bigger" after the machine measures it to be slightly smaller than the virtual project and asks to scale. It saves you from having to go back to the computer to make the virtual board smaller and upload again. You just put some tape over the edge and remeasure.

[Cavallo]

The measurement issue is a traction issue a lot of the time. The tape offers better traction for the machine to correctly measure it.

Gotcha. I was thinking maybe the tape gave a more optically neutral surface for some sensor somewhere.

[Cavallo]

The masking tap trick mentioned earlier by fwharris is to put masking tape on the end or edge of the board to make it "bigger" after the machine measures it to be slightly smaller than the virtual project and asks to scale. It saves you from having to go back to the computer to make the virtual board smaller and upload again. You just put some tape over the edge and remeasure.

Aha! So sometimes just the thickness of the tape is enough - as it might have been with my five thousandths issue.

[Cavallo]

Here are some pics of finishing. I'm just diddling around with various antiquing ideas. This is a combination of stain, deft semigloss, black shoe polish, more stain as a wash, and soon I'll tire of the experiment and buff it down a bit with steel wool, followed by deft satin or something. Kinda alright. Could be better.