ronboley
04-09-2014, 11:48 AM
There is great information in Tips and Tricks on the construction of scanning and carving sleds. Several threads have discussed the advantages, dimensions, thickness and configurations that work in the machine as well as sled features that accommodate how the machine measures the object to scan and the "board" to carve. I thought a smattering of examples of sleds that users have come up with and work for their situations would not only be very interesting but give those who have yet to venture into sled land some good direction. So here are some of my sleds that have served me well...
The scanning sleds are just a bottom and rails. Rails are usually 3/4" wide and I use 1/4" to 3/4" material for bottoms, but could be anything. I use one deep sled and one shallow sled to fit objects of different thickness. The deep one I've even cut out part of the bottom to fit a particularly large piece that would barely fit into the machine and scanned the top 3/4". I use scrap materials with hot glue and double stick tape to fasten most of the scan objects to the sled and create an area to set the probe depth.
The carve sleds I like use equal end pieces 3-1/3" to 4" wide to accommodate the 7" added length for the "board" to stay under the rollers while carving. I of course select No to the stay under the rollers query to avoid scaling, keep original size and center on board to simplify things. The side rails are equal also at 1-1/2" wide but could be only 3/4" wide...just my preference. Bottoms are 1/4" to 3/4" thick depending on what scrap material I have to make them. The sleds are convenient to carve many pieces that are of the same size, like the 32 table leg pieces on my current project. I set my 3-1/2" x 24" board into my 4" x 24" (inside dimension) sled and shim the sides with wood strips. No other attachment is necessary. It makes for easy insertion and extraction of the carve boards.
So here are a few. In other threads I've seen some real cool adjustable sleds, sleds for typical situations and sleds for very specific applications. If you all find the time....please post pictures of your sled creations.
The scanning sleds are just a bottom and rails. Rails are usually 3/4" wide and I use 1/4" to 3/4" material for bottoms, but could be anything. I use one deep sled and one shallow sled to fit objects of different thickness. The deep one I've even cut out part of the bottom to fit a particularly large piece that would barely fit into the machine and scanned the top 3/4". I use scrap materials with hot glue and double stick tape to fasten most of the scan objects to the sled and create an area to set the probe depth.
The carve sleds I like use equal end pieces 3-1/3" to 4" wide to accommodate the 7" added length for the "board" to stay under the rollers while carving. I of course select No to the stay under the rollers query to avoid scaling, keep original size and center on board to simplify things. The side rails are equal also at 1-1/2" wide but could be only 3/4" wide...just my preference. Bottoms are 1/4" to 3/4" thick depending on what scrap material I have to make them. The sleds are convenient to carve many pieces that are of the same size, like the 32 table leg pieces on my current project. I set my 3-1/2" x 24" board into my 4" x 24" (inside dimension) sled and shim the sides with wood strips. No other attachment is necessary. It makes for easy insertion and extraction of the carve boards.
So here are a few. In other threads I've seen some real cool adjustable sleds, sleds for typical situations and sleds for very specific applications. If you all find the time....please post pictures of your sled creations.