Shallow Engraving on wood

[kcc2012]

67772I have been asked to engrave some plaques for the local high school girls basketball team. The wood will be material from the court that has recently been demolished to make way for a new court. The coach would like as shallow of a carving as he can so as to preserve as much of the court as he can. I've enclosed an MPC of what he wants. Any help or advice in making this as shallow of a carve as possible would be great. There will be 9 of them to make.

Thank you
Ambrose

[RogerB]

Thought you would like to look at this sample.
67773

[fwharris]

I guess I do not follow what he is asking about keeping it shallow to preserve as much as possible. Unless the thickness of the boards are very thin. On you mpc it looks like the depth of carve on the text is around 0.05 +/- so the is not very deep but still show up very well when stained or painted.

[RogerB]

This is a sample on hard wood flooring. He can carve on 1/4 inch if he uses a sled or build up from the bottom if it is a shallow carve.

[kcc2012]

I guess I do not follow what he is asking about keeping it shallow to preserve as much as possible. Unless the thickness of the boards are very thin. On you mpc it looks like the depth of carve on the text is around 0.05 +/- so the is not very deep but still show up very well when stained or painted.

Its being carved on the flooring from the basket ball court so it will have its own finish etc. The coach wanted to preserve as much of the look of the court instead of having it carved out for a pattern. Since posting this I re did the basketball in the middle to be just an outline. Where did you find the depth of the carve for the centerline text I cant find it?

[kcc2012]

This is a sample on hard wood flooring. He can carve on 1/4 inch if he uses a sled or build up from the bottom if it is a shallow carve.

I should be getting a sample of the wood tomorrow so Im not exactly sure how thick it is and he didn't know last night when we talked.

[fwharris]

I zoomed in on the carving and moved the mouse over the carved area and viewed the depth reading (3rd number) at the bottom left of the screen.

[kcc2012]

I zoomed in on the carving and moved the mouse over the carved area and viewed the depth reading (3rd number) at the bottom left of the screen.

Wow that's cool. I knew you could do that in pattern editor but not in designer. I am so thankful for this forum I have so much to learn I know I haven't even begun to scratch the potential of this machine. Thank you very much.

Ambrose

[brdad]

If you want to preserve as much of the finish as possible of the original flooring, why not skip the carving and route the image as a vector?
Something like this...

[RogerB]

brdad Thanks for the fix but this was a sample for kcc2012 to see what can be done with flooring. Thank you again will be asked to carve more this summer. Yours looks a lot cleaner than the one's I have done.

[bergerud]

I think you should just go for it with the basket ball and carve it as deep and round as you can since you will be going through the finish anyway. There will be enough of the finish left around the centerline letters. Just make sure that the basket ball does drop a little below the finish in the center.

[kcc2012]

Here's a test carve of the plaques that I'm doing. My first time to use a sled for carving. 2 down and 6 to go. It's going to be a busy night they are taking a little over 35 mins to carve. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/28/a3u3utuz.jpg

[fwharris]

It looks like the floor has had a lot of games played on it and was ready for a new one. Your plaques will keep it's history alive..

[kcc2012]

They are in the process of remodeling the high school and building on to it and getting a new court as well. These plaques are for the seniors who are the last to play on it.

[cestout]

The wood is going to show thru, and your original shows a lot of what in newspaper editing is called white space, so I think the old wood showing is covered. I would drop the ball down to .125 to show the curve more and feather the edges. The depth of the text depends on the size you drag it to and the font. You are stuck with the size, so find a thinner font, and maybe not all caps. I think you design is good.
Clint