Anyway to bypass the measuring?

[rbrown]

I'm using the same sled, the same size board, same program, I'm getting tired of having it go to the one end then, 7 foot one way, 7 foot another way, 7 foot back to start carving. Then ask for the bit and find it. I want to jog it to the starting point and hit go. I have another 20 boards to do... this is a huge time waste.

Anyway at all to do this?
Techs PM me if you don't want it "known on the forum".
Thanks,
Bob

[bergerud]

If you use place on end, it will only measure enough of the board to make sure the pattern will fit.

Or, if you can make your sled so that you can switch boards without letting the head lift, it will not measure the board again. For example, have rails on each side of the board a little higher than the board and use some trick to clamp the board to the sled.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes, I had thought of that too.... Make a project sled that is longer than needed and in your artwork have the machine use place on END so the machine only measures ONCE.... All you need to do is think of the Right Side of the Screen and the top of the screen as the brass roller. Measure out the blank area of the sled and draw a box that size for your guide. Place your are to the left of that...

Now for the trick... On the far left of the screen have the machine do a small carve region like .1 deep and .25 x .25... Put that in your Sled Design... AND put that carve region so that is where the machine ENDS it's carving.... At that point the sled is sticking out far enough to let you change the Carved Board in the SLED...

Start a new project and it MIGHT skip the measurement as long as you have not cranked the head up and released the rollers....

But Place on END will save you 1/2 the measuring time... Using Center on board is just a WASTE of machine time and wear and tear... in my opinion...

AL

[rbrown]

The sled is setup to be able to change the board without letting up the rollers. I have 2 - 9 foot x 3 1/2 x 3/4 oak base with a 3/4 x 1/2 sacrificial pine runners on top with a 2x6 pine board rabbited out to span the ends and hold the sled together and also is the board end stop. The boards are plain mdf shelf boards with a 3/16 grooves spaced out to hold various e cigarette juice bottles. I use masking tape to hold the board from moving around in the sled since the boards never the same size (12 - 11 1/4) (off the shelf from home depot or lowes) and the width isn't critical. Usually I stop the program if the boards are shorter than 8 foot. I usually do 6 foot but I set the programs up for 8 foot so I wouldn't need to have different length programs only different groove spacings. I use masking tape to trick the machine to think the boards are 8 foot when I do 6 footers. So to get this to work, I'll have to change the program so it won't run to the end and rip up all that masking tape. Then let it run to the end of the program, then change the board. Then what do I do to get it to rerun the program over? Just select it?

[bergerud]

After a run, you switch boards without uncompressing the rollers (or moving the sled). When you select the project again, it will proceed as if it has already measured the board. You cannot, however, abort the program. If you do, you will loose the measurement data and have to start again. Consider also placing on end instead of placing on center.

[rbrown]

k I'll try it. Thanks

[rbrown]

well changed the program so the grid snap was starting at edge, from the left added 4 1/2 for my end stops, started the first groove a 5 inches then added 38 more at 1 1/2 saved it.


So switched my sled tape to the right side of the sled, set the board on left side, started program, said not to stay under rollers, selected the end of the board and it tried starting at the right hand side of the board closest to you, if you are facing the keyboard. I thought if you selected end of the board it started on the left hand side corner closest to you.

So what am I doing wrong?

Also for some reason not measuring the whole board only goes about 70 inches when I told it the board size is 81

[bergerud]

It should first measure the width of the board and then go to the end of the board (left if facing keypad) and then roll up the board far enough to know the pattern will fit. In Designer, the board is the other way around. The tool bars on the top of the window correspond to were the keypad is. I hope that helps.

[rbrown]

well that is the problem... I reversed it in designer...

[rbrown]

redid it in designer with the grooves starting from the right 5 inches now it jumps about 12 inches before starting... but it is still trying to start on the right hand side of the sled... SO.... not sure what is going on now... It would seem like they would make the software so if you are drawing it, would be like looking at the machine from the keyboard side not the other way around...

[Digitalwoodshop]

Remember the top of your screen is the Brass Roller and Right side is the head of the board.

And the machine will stop measuring in place on end at the end of your Designer board I believe.

AL

[rbrown]

finally got it working... but I had to tell it to "drill" a hole at the other end of the sled. The first time I got it to "work" it stopped at the very end of the board so one roller was sitting on the edge of the board.

I think there is something up with the machine since I put the carvetight truck on. It has been doing some weird things. like sometimes not going all the way over to check the bit even though the machine is super clean, on the next board does it perfect. Then it asks the questions... keep original width, center on board, cut board to length, in different spots, it speeds up and slows down while measuring the boards in different spots. Sometimes, not all the time, after finding the bit, it moves 3 - 4 inches at snails pace like 1/16 every 3 seconds. then it wakes up and jumps to the starting point and runs.

I am running dust collection, I have super low profile dust collector. (It is flush with the front lip where the cover closes and runs the full width of the machine.) I made it myself out of Plexiglas so I can see what it does. I'll post that in the dust collector section once I get it looking real pretty. Been playing with vanes (different sections and diameters of pvc pipe) inside it to get a full suction no matter where the truck is in relation to the vacuum port. And with the front lip section where it curls over the roller. Tried matching the curve, 90 degree turn and angles in between and adding a deflector. I have a couple of other ideas too that I need to try yet. I haven't cut my cover until I decide on the final way to do it. I'm using small chunks of wood and the weight of the cover to keep the switches closed. I do at lot of mdf and particle board so there a ton of super fine dust generated.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes, like I mentioned in my post that you would need to place a carve region or in your case you used a hole in a place that spits the sled out to where you can change the blank inside the sled....

I will now address the Y Problem...

IF you have over 300 cut motor hours and have not replaced the Y Gearbox inner 2 bearings then you likely have a bearing failure.... The bearings are 5 x 11 x 5 mm and 2 of them.... A 685ZZ bearing.

Next is a frozen Y Roller Rail Bearing....

Next is that you need to make sure the Right Side Cut Motor Cover Switch wires are tucked into the far right corner... OR the Y cannot get to the Bit Plate....

My money is on the Gearbox Bearings.... That would explain the re size error too... The head is studdering....

AL

[rbrown]

resize error isn't an error in my case, it is because I got tired of it measuring the board a hair too small. I have the sled at 14 inches and depending on the temp or placement of the sled, it would say 13.998 "load new board". So I changed the size to be 13.5 so it asks every time to resize... I'm saying sometimes it is asking at a different time. from board to board or every other board doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for it.

I'll check the all the bearings again. I just got through taking the whole machine apart and cleaned an lubed everything while I was waiting for the new truck. Didn't notice any thing out of the ordinary. I have only have done about 20 boards since cleaning it out.