Anybody using MDF for test carves?

[Lincoln96]

Is anyone using MDF to makes "trial" carves before breaking out the "good wood"? I was using pine & poplar for the trial runs, but it's so hard to fine a piece that straight & true with no twist.

I've sort of stayed away from MDF just because I hate the dust. Anybody using it? Anybody have a reason I shouldn't use it?

(yes, I have a 2 hp, dual 4", 2-stage dust collection system)

[spalted]

I use it for tests and for projects.
I don't have any data to support my claim, but I think MDF does have a tendency to dull bits a little quicker than some woods.
That probably the biggest downside I can think of, but I still intend to keep using it.
I like the stability of it, like you said no warps and twists.

[Lincoln96]

Thank you for the reply.
I read somewhere on here that any wood with glue in it would dull the bits over time, I guess that's to be expected. I've never noticed MDF making blades go dull, but I know cedar takes the edge off my planer blades in fairly short order.

How well does MDF finish in the CarveWright? Nice & smooth with no fuzz I would expect? I'm going to give it a try.

[fwharris]

It does carve very well but as stated it is very dusty and good dust collection is a must.

[Dale]

I've used MDF a few times, the only drawback that I see is the dust. Some people also use styrofoam and I guess that also produces a lot of "dust"

[Mike1]

I use MDF fairly often and have had no issues except I find the dust does tend to cake in the carve area, possibly my DC is not strong enough. I have also used rigid styroafoam and had no issues there as well.

[spalted]

I find mdf problematic to finish any time it’s machined not just in the Carvewright.
The cut surfaces are hard to get the finish as smooth as the face of the sheet.
Without going to industrial specialty primers I've had the best luck priming with an oil base primer and then sanding to get rid of the fuzzyness. But it still doesn't look like a tight grained hardwood like maple.
I haven't done enough of it to really give you a good foolproof finishing process.

[Lincoln96]

My experience is pretty limited. So far I've used pine, poplar, and birch. Haven't tried maple yet. The pine came out kinda ratty looking, for sure would take some detail sanding to make it presentable. The poplar was better, the birch a little better yet.
Good (straight/flat) pine is hard to find around here. Lowe's used to carry "southern yellow pine" that was fantastic. It had kind of a waxy feel to it. They don't bring it in anymore. I may have to make a "wood run" down to Washington.

Back to the MDF, Is it safe to use a shop vac to clean up the CW if I wait till the carve is over, the power shut off, and the memory card removed?

[fwharris]

My experience is pretty limited. So far I've used pine, poplar, and birch. Haven't tried maple yet. The pine came out kinda ratty looking, for sure would take some detail sanding to make it presentable. The poplar was better, the birch a little better yet.
Good (straight/flat) pine is hard to find around here. Lowe's used to carry "southern yellow pine" that was fantastic. It had kind of a waxy feel to it. They don't bring it in anymore. I may have to make a "wood run" down to Washington.

Back to the MDF, Is it safe to use a shop vac to clean up the CW if I wait till the carve is over, the power shut off, and the memory card removed?


What quality setting are you using when uploading the project to the card? Are you setting the bit optimization to best on your designs? The best and optimal settings on upload will give you the best results. Yes it is safe to vacuum out the machine if you have the power off and card out. How much moisture content does the wood have? The higher content the worse carve you will get.

To help reduce any static discharge also ground yourself to the machine by touching the metal head with the other hand.

[Lincoln96]

What quality setting are you using when uploading the project to the card? Are you setting the bit optimization to best on your designs? The best and optimal settings on upload will give you the best results. Yes it is safe to vacuum out the machine if you have the power off and card out. How much moisture content does the wood have? The higher content the worse carve you will get.

To help reduce any static discharge also ground yourself to the machine by touching the metal head with the other hand.

I haven't made any of my own designs yet. I'm just using patterns from the CW pattern depot at this point. The wood I use is dry, less than 10% moister. So far I've just been using the normal setting for quality, not best or optimal. I've also ran a wire from metal on the CW to metal on my dust system.

Something that does have me scratching my head is the depth of cut. I want to cut through on a piece of 1.5" material using a long 1/8" carving bit. The program says no can do. I even reduced the thickness to 1.25 and get the same message. I thought the long 1/8" bit was good for up to 2"?

88046

[lynnfrwd]

I haven't made any of my own designs yet. I'm just using patterns from the CW pattern depot at this point. The wood I use is dry, less than 10% moister. So far I've just been using the normal setting for quality, not best or optimal. I've also ran a wire from metal on the CW to metal on my dust system.

Something that does have me scratching my head is the depth of cut. I want to cut through on a piece of 1.5" material using a long 1/8" carving bit. The program says no can do. I even reduced the thickness to 1.25 and get the same message. I thought the long 1/8" bit was good for up to 2"?

88046

Carving bits are for carving not cut paths.

[Lincoln96]

Carving bits are for carving not cut paths.

Oh...... I didn't see any long cutting bits in the CV store. Is there a "work-around" to this?

[fwharris]

I haven't made any of my own designs yet. I'm just using patterns from the CW pattern depot at this point. The wood I use is dry, less than 10% moister. So far I've just been using the normal setting for quality, not best or optimal. I've also ran a wire from metal on the CW to metal on my dust system.

Something that does have me scratching my head is the depth of cut. I want to cut through on a piece of 1.5" material using a long 1/8" carving bit. The program says no can do. I even reduced the thickness to 1.25 and get the same message. I thought the long 1/8" bit was good for up to 2"?

88046

When I said "designs" I was talking about the project you are making and the design elements you are placing on the board. All patterns and carve region areas including raster text style you can set the bit optimization tool to different setting to improve the carving detail. Most often "best" is the better setting. To improve the carve quality and the amount of sanding you need to do after each carve use as least the "best" setting for the upload to the card. Great job of grounding your dust collection system.

The maximum cutting depth for the 1/8" and 3/16" "cutting" bits is 1.0" There are no cutting bits that can cut deeper than 1". You can use them to cut a path that you can then follow with a band saw or scroll saw to finish cutting out.

This is a link to the bit description page that will show you the cutting/carving parameters of each bit.

http://www.carvewright.com/bits/

[Lincoln96]

When I said "designs" I was talking about the project you are making and the design elements you are placing on the board. All patterns and carve region areas including raster text style you can set the bit optimization tool to different setting to improve the carving detail. Most often "best" is the better setting. To improve the carve quality and the amount of sanding you need to do after each carve use as least the "best" setting for the upload to the card. Great job of grounding your dust collection system.

The maximum cutting depth for the 1/8" and 3/16" "cutting" bits is 1.0" There are no cutting bits that can cut deeper than 1". You can use them to cut a path that you can then follow with a band saw or scroll saw to finish cutting out.

This is a link to the bit description page that will show you the cutting/carving parameters of each bit.

http://www.carvewright.com/bits/

I can live with cutting them out. Most of the stuff I want to do is either 1-1/2" or 1-3/4" material.

Today's learning adventure was all about board not loading - caused by low head pressure I find out. I never did check head pressure on initial startup because I didn't own a bathroom scale. Now I do. I was in the 35 to 40lb range, probably explains the tracking problems I've been having.
Cleaned & lubed, no better. Followed the 7 pages of procedure for low head pressure, did the guide post alignment a few times, got it up to 65 to 70 lbs. Probably enough to load a board now, but still under spec. I'll call the tech line next week and see what they have to say.

[fwharris]

Yes the bathroom scale is probably the less used tool for the machine and should be used each day/time when you are starting up a new session of carves.

To increase the head pressure you can add a thin washer onto the shaft of the crank handle. The old machines had extra washers on top of the two right corner posts. You would need to remove the end cap (lateral stabilizer) to find them. They might be stuck in the grease and be on the under side if the stabilizer.

https://store.carvewright.com/product.php?productid=23468&cat=255&page=2

https://store.carvewright.com/product.php?productid=16321&cat=255&page=1

[Lincoln96]

Yes the bathroom scale is probably the less used tool for the machine and should be used each day/time when you are starting up a new session of carves.

To increase the head pressure you can add a thin washer onto the shaft of the crank handle. The old machines had extra washers on top of the two right corner posts. You would need to remove the end cap (lateral stabilizer) to find them. They might be stuck in the grease and be on the under side if the stabilizer.

https://store.carvewright.com/product.php?productid=23468&cat=255&page=2

https://store.carvewright.com/product.php?productid=16321&cat=255&page=1

Thank you sir. Much appreciated.

[Lincoln96]

Found a thin fiber washer the perfect size in a drawer of carburetor parts I had saved for some unknown reason. My head pressure now is right around 75 to 80 lbs. I fired it up, put my piece of MDF in, and away it went. Just like it was meant to be. :cool:

[fwharris]

Found a thin fiber washer the perfect size in a drawer of carburetor parts I had saved for some unknown reason. My head pressure now is right around 75 to 80 lbs. I fired it up, put my piece of MDF in, and away it went. Just like it was meant to be. :cool:

Great job!

[Lincoln96]

I was loading a piece of 3/4" MDF today for a test carve, and the machine stopped after measuring board thickness, and prompted me to enter board thickness. Any idea what that's all about?

[fwharris]

It measured the thickness different than what you had it set at in the board settings in Designer. Was your board on a sled/jig?

[Lincoln96]

That would do it. I don't t think 3/4 MDF measures .750 anymore.

No sled, just a 14 x 24 slab of MDF.

I'll be careful of actual thickness in the future. :) Time to get out the calipers. Designer was set to the good wood I wanted to use, not to the MDF test carve piece.

[fwharris]

Like most everything else, make it smaller and bump the price up.