carving a dark board

[neslot]

OK, this may fall under "do at your own risk", but it worked for me.
I had a red barn board I wanted to make into a sign. The machine could not measure it because of the low contrast at the edge. Here's my solution: I first used my surface sander to take the slight cup out of the board. Then taped paper to the surface to be carved, keeping the tape on the edge and back of the board. This gave the machine a good contrast to measure the board and got rid of the "clean board sensor" error. The top of the board still had a bit of concave cup to it and you can see the high spots in the pictures.

As I said before, enter at your own risk!

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[carrothers]

Great technique...I did one similar on a old piece of driftwood plank with uneven edges and a lot of ridges in the surface. Used masking tape to get the length and width and tacked a strip board on the brass roller edge. Tried to "fake" the machine on the depth by telling the machine that it was an inch thick when it was really 1.25 but it didn't work. I had a dozen "valleys" that I had to hand carve after I took it out of the machine.

[fwharris]

You can get the same results with just using masking tape on the edges and ends and across the width under the board sensor..

[neslot]

You can get the same results with just using masking tape on the edges and ends and across the width under the board sensor..

Thanks! will keep that in mind, sounds a bit simpler than my method.. A week into this and am learning a lot..
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[mtylerfl]

... A week into this and am learning a lot..


Good for you! Great projects already!!

[lawrence]

You're doing great from the looks of it- keep the projects coming!

Lawrence

[fwharris]

Thanks! will keep that in mind, sounds a bit simpler than my method.. A week into this and am learning a lot..
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Yes you are and job well done!!