Avoid cutting top surface of board

[fiddlinpete]

8786087861

I have depth set at .4 and height at 999. I would like the top of the letters to not be cut into the black stain of the surface. Any ideas?:confused:

[fwharris]

You can verify the depth of cut by placing the mouse pointer on an area on the board and viewing the depth of the area in the bottom left hand corner in Designer. There will be 3 different numbers. The first two are the X and Y location that the mouse is at and the third number is the depth.

Looking at your pictures it looks like you are importing and image in and the image has a lot of pixilation/noise. That is the jagged/dotted areas in the carving. That can be removed in a photo editor or the Pattern Editor software. Try raising the depth of carve up and that should help to raise the top of the pattern up closer to the top surface of the board.

Once you get the image cleaned up and still find it wanting to carve some of the top surface try using a thin shim on the board for when it is doing the "finding surface" step during the carve set up. Practice on some scrap material before doing the actual carve.

[oscarl48]

The software treats the images as height maps. Black to white is the range of the pattern.

As mentioned, in your example you have a lot of noise in the image and pattern. If you have the pattern editor you can remove the noise by raising the height of the pattern and eliminating the random noise or you can select the individual letters and establish a single height.

If you have a graphics editor software you can clean it up with that as well. For your pattern you really just want black and white with no gray noise.

If you don't have either, post the image and we can take a crack at cleaning it up.

Posting an example to see what I mean. Save the image and import it into designer and invert. The letters will be at zero height.

[Mugsowner]

When you load the carving bit, place a shim on the keyboard edge of the board. The board does not move while finding bit and surface. After the machine goes thru the bit finding you can hit the stop button and remove the shim. This method works well as I use it for carving edge lighting projects, where hitting the surface where you don't want gets expensive real fast. I look at the lower left z axis numbers and normally shim around twice that amount, just to make sure.

[bergerud]

Another method is to cover areas which you do not want the bit to touch with 0.00 depth carve regions. (The whole region must be 0.00 depth region.) The bit will "jump" over the region.

[DianMayfield]

I need to run off to my day job. I am working on your graphic. What software version are you using? Do you have the dxf importer? Message me if you would like me to send this to you, put your e-mail in the PM, not in the message reply :)

[DianMayfield]

Hi Pete, I found a file online that had the graphic embedded as a vector drawing. Here is my attempt. It is set to .25 deep, with the distress marks at .05

PM me and I can send you the MPC or turn it into a pattern if you have the basic software.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I like the Shim Idea posted above.. That is what I would do.

[fiddlinpete]

Thank you! I am not sure how to PM you in this program. I believe I do have the DXF importer. I do not have pattern editor.

[spalted]

Thank you! I am not sure how to PM you in this program. I believe I do have the DXF importer. I do not have pattern editor.

Click on the name of the person you want to message and you'll see "Private Message" link to click on.
Good luck!
Let us know how it turns out too.

[DianMayfield]

Hi,

If you do not have the DXF importer, I can save it as a pattern. You just won't be able to tweek it other than size. If you use Corel or other vector programs, the dxf is pretty important to have.

I use a shim, too, for every job that should have an original top surface., but it is a business card:
I have used a biz card to raise the starting point. You may notice in softer woods that the bit actually dents the surface. This dent is now the surface as far as the software is concerned.

When the machine goes to finding surface, you can hit stop to jog to touch surface. I open the lid and place a business card where I will jog to. Then remove it before the carve starts.

Caution! If you hit stop twice in a row it will cancel your project!!