building a sled

[dixie1]

I haven't used the forum in ages, so I may as well be a newbie, again. I've taken on a project for an association I belong to and am needing to run through many small pieces (the smallest are 5" x 4"), and carve an inscription in centerline on the surface. So I need to make a sled to mount these pieces on. Has anyone got any tips for me in building the sled. It would need to be able to handle the small pieces 4 wide by 5 inch long, and some larges pieces. The largest pieces will be 6 long by 4 wide, so I suppose the sled has to be adjustable. I'd like to have a few ideas from members here who have already done this, in order not to repeat mistakes already made. Any help would be appreciated. If there is an article on this or another post that has already been done on it, just point me in the right direction. Thank You.
Dixie

[fwharris]

This would be a good place to start with http://www.carvewright.com/assets/tips/CarveWrightTips_and_Tricks_Apr08.pdf

Ask any questions you might have.

[bergerud]

When I have to hold many small projects of the same size I make a carrier board out of MDF. The project boards can be press fit in or held with recessed screws from the side.

[myshop1044]

That is a very good link, I was not aware it was there. I will keep it, to show other friends
Thanks
Perry B.

[SteveNelson46]

Expanding on Dan's example. I recently participated in a CNC demo at a local woodworking club where the CNC was a home-built. For the sake of expediency, I carved up a bunch of coasters ahead to use for give aways and we needed a way to hold them down to the spoil board so we could individually customize each coaster with a v-carved name or drawing on the inside bottom. I used the Carvewright to carve a carrier board/template out of MDF that had snug fit holes for each coaster. Then double sided turners tape was used as a hold down to insure they didn't move or pop-up during the carving. In our case the carrier board was used mostly for indexing but you could use something similar by carving a carrier board with the extra 3.5" on each end and custom sized holes for each of your pieces.

[shortyscwater17]

So I have a project that I would like to reproduce a lot of. The project dimensions are 9.25 x 12 x .5. If I were to make something like this carrier board, should I make the carrier out of .75" material to provide a .25" lip on the bottom for the wood to sit on or should I make it out of thicker wood? I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to mass product this project I have with the perfect carrier base.


When I have to hold many small projects of the same size I make a carrier board out of MDF. The project boards can be press fit in or held with recessed screws from the side.

[bergerud]

0.75" with a 0.25" lip sounds good to me. That is what I would do.

[SteveNelson46]

So I have a project that I would like to reproduce a lot of. The project dimensions are 9.25 x 12 x .5. If I were to make something like this carrier board, should I make the carrier out of .75" material to provide a .25" lip on the bottom for the wood to sit on or should I make it out of thicker wood? I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to mass product this project I have with the perfect carrier base.

I think it would depend on the design of the project and how you plan to reduce the thickness to .5". If it's just a 2D project, you could make the sled's thickness .5" and start with a board that is .5" thick. That would be the fastest way. If your project is 3D you could start with a sled and board thickness as .75" and push the pattern down into the board .25" and let the machine carve off the top. If it's a combination of 2D and 3D you could use either method but you would need the Conforming Vectors add-on.

These methods are just possibilities. If you can post your project we could give you better recommendations.

EDIT: You could also just use the Carvewright to cut out a rectangle in material that is the same thickness as your project board and mount it to a .5" thick MDF board. This is the method I use most of the time.

[shortyscwater17]

The design is 3D. Its the Jesus Cross. I have quite a bit of family that like it so I want to be able to batch out a bunch.