Need help with a box top

[mikem]

I am trying to cut a box top that would fit like a lid inside the box. To carve the lid I used two rectangles with cut region. The outer one is to cut at a depth of 1/4" and the inner one is to cut at a depth of zero. Looks good in designer, but I have two problems. Trying to upload it to the card I get a warning about "wide cuts across the width of the board may interfere with the compression rollers" and "carvings on the rear face will interfere with the aux roller". My attempts at fixing this was to make the board bigger and then use another rectangle to do a cut path on which should result in CC cutting to proper size. the problem is when I go to select cut path it is grayed out. If something like this would work, I know that the back gets carved first, so I could flip the carvings around and carve the front as the back and then the back as the front so the cut path would be the last thing it does and then would not be in danger of breaking away before the carving on the front could be done. However, I have to be able to design the cut out correctly first. Any suggestions and help would be very much apprectiated.
Mike

[mikem]

I solved my problem, by doing a work around which I will post. I just added an inch on length and width, then I will cut it out on the tablesaw and trim it up with the jointer. I was thinking with the accuracy of the CC that I would allow it to cut it out. So I am still interested in how to do this. I still can not get the carve path icon to be active no matter what I do. If I draw a line or a closed line segment path or a rectangle etc. it remains grayed out. What am I doing wrong?

[HandTurnedMaple]

If I am understanding what you are asking, then the problem with Cut Path is that you are doing on the back side. It works for me when I do it on the front, but not the back. And that is because Cut Path is the last thing the machine does, while the back is the first thing it does. And trying to carve with just the little tabs holding it together will only result in disaster.

On the other part, widening/lengthening the board is the only solution (to do everything with the CW anyway). If you have a low spot across the entire width, the rollers will drop when they reach it, loose compression, and lokely not be able to advance the board at all if its too short to touch the other roller. If the low spot is along the side, then the little brass sensor on the keypad side will not be able to detect the board.

And last, if you have a straight bit (preferably 3/8" or wider) you can have it follow a path (with select bit) instead of using carve region and it will probably save time.

Check out the changes I made. **Note** Dimension may not be what you want, check them before cutting.

[mikem]

That is exactly what I needed to know about selecting cut path. It is good they have built in safe guards for people like me. I always thought I would be a good beta tester, because if there is a way to do it wrong I'll probably choose that way first. I am still getting an error when trying to upload the project using the cut path, it says,
"The carvings in this project are arranged in a way that may interfere with the machines mechanics, requiring a manual or automatic jig, specifically;
*Cut-throughs along the far left edge may break cutting bits due to the board leaving the aux-roller."
It allows me to choose ignore, manual jig or auto jig.
I know that a lot of people on this forum have broken bits, and the bits are on back order, so I am back to cutting it out on other machinery, but know I understand the cut path tool better, thank you.
Any advice or comments about the above error?

[mikem]

Well I never got to finish the lid. My machine lost power while half way through cutting the back side of the board. I have a call in to Carvewright, hope they call back soon. This is my third major malfunction. My first machine never got to the projects menu start screen. The current machine had a board sensor die. this was fixed by Carvewright sending out a new part in 3 days! Way to go Carvewright! I was up and carving for a day and a half, now it looks like a dead power supply. :( I have power to the cord and the power switch looks ok as checked by and ohm meter (with the power off of course). Oh well.
I'll post the final mpc file in case anyone wants to use it. I think it is a really cute angel top lid that I will eventually use as a gift to my neice for a birthday (that I am already late with giving the present). However, this should be better than a gift certificate to toys r us.

[RBeau1954]

Mike, an alternative to your box top would be to cut the top with the machine and not chance ruining the bottom and using your table saw with a dado blade in it to undercut the bottom. You can control how far in you go with better results.

Rick