Carve on contoured wood? variable thickness.

[piratealan]

The manual states the any wood used should vary in thickness by no more that 1/16". Is there any way around this? For example, if I were to scan in a gun stock, import it into the designer software, would I then be able to apply patterns and then carve the stock?

any IDEAS?

[TIMCOSBY]

be a crap shoot at best to get the stock in the right poisition in the machine and you would have to use a sled with side rails.

[TurkeyBranch]

I would believe you could. All the 1/16" variable is for is the wood itself. Since you are cutting the wood away to make the stock, it will then carve the pattern at the same time. As long as you are not trying to carve on a stock already made.

I hope I said it right.

Best way is to scan the gun stock, make a miniature pattern of what you want, say 1/4 scale (this will use less time and material) and try it.

And please, post a pic in the gallery to let us see how it turned out. We all love looking at each others work. :D


Ed

[rjustice]

Here's an idea...

If you scan the stock, then inverted the pattern you could carve a female of the stock to use as a holder or "Sled" for carving into the existing stock if that is what you are attempting to do. The trick would be to pick up the location correctly through some simple planning.

Ron

[natman]

I have another idea that may work if you want to put a carving onto an exsisting gun stock...Measure the stock you wish to carve..Be sure to get all critical measurements such as thickness, taper,length etc...etc..use the designer to draw up the stock outline and carve depth for the thickness..You now have a holder to place your stock into...Do I make sense to anyone at this point or am I just getting you all confused...Place your stock into the now what should look like a mold of the stock..You may have to use masking tape to fool the machine for setup..

[Dirtydan]

Ron has it right... and like someone else said, make a scaled-down version to make sure you have everything in the right place...

Here's a sea shell I scanned. The file shows it cut out with the same pattern on both sides.... Have fun..:)

[piratealan]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info and ideas. The one about inverting the pattern is pretty tricky, I would never have thought of that myself.

I came across this in the FAQ's:

Can the machine carve complex surfaces such as gunstocks or pistol grips?
Yes the machine can carve complex surfaces. A very accurate representation of an existing surface can be obtained by using the surface-scanning probe available on the for $399. Many times a jig will be required to index the material to be carved

I already have the probe, and I just downloaded plans for a scanning sled. I am going to try scanning in an object that is securely fastened to the sled. Adding a pattern in the computer, and then trying to carve while the object is still in the sled. I dont know if this will work, but half the fun is trying.:p

Thanks to dirtydan for the seashell.:D

[Dirtydan]

piratealan,

Your Welcome...

Here's something you can play with... Same Sea Shell, but both sides, Inside and Outside... as one... Need's some depth work, but it's something to work with...

Enjoy,

[TIMCOSBY]

should be dead on the money. i would have never thought of that.. good one...... on the probe and the sacn... the scan is going to be a little smaller in scale. i thinkk the scale factor if scanned on best is 1.28. jeff's program has buttons to do the scaling for you if you are still using version 1.20.

[Dirtydan]

Inversing the pattern will not always get it... unless the reverse side is a mirror image of the front side. It's best to scan both sides of a item and then put them together in Designer...


should be dead on the money. i would have never thought of that.. good one...... on the probe and the sacn... the scan is going to be a little smaller in scale. i thinkk the scale factor if scanned on best is 1.28. jeff's program has buttons to do the scaling for you if you are still using version 1.20.

[rjustice]

Dan,
The idea of inverting the pattern was to carve out an exact female shape to use as a holder for a sled. I would assume that most gun stocks would be symmetrical, but i suppose they could be somewhat different from side to side. If so, you could scan both sides, and carve it into one sled insert that had the left and right pockets to allow you to flip it.

Ron

[TIMCOSBY]

gunna need both sides anyway to get the depth of the pattern right. and don't forget the scale factor thing.