2 side carving question?

[fwharris]

I want to carve a fish pattern on each side of the board (3/4") to make a full fish. My question is at what depth do I set the pattern to carve for each side. if I set it at 1/2 the board thickness for each pattern it would carve all the way thru when it carved the front side, right?

My thought was to set it at just short of the 1/2 depth and do a pattern outline and cut path on the front side.

I will attach my MPC if any one has done this and has any tips...

[mtylerfl]

I want to carve a fish pattern on each side of the board (3/4") to make a full fish. My question is at what depth do I set the pattern to carve for each side. if I set it at 1/2 the board thickness for each pattern it would carve all the way thru when it carved the front side, right?

My thought was to set it at just short of the 1/2 depth and do a pattern outline and cut path on the front side.

I will attach my MPC if any one has done this and has any tips...

Hello fwharris,

Noticed you were running 1.120, so I thought I would take a peek at your mpc to see if I could offer some help.

Unfortunately, it appears that the project was made in 1.125 (or 1.126) so I cannot view it in the 1.120 software version.

[fwharris]

OOPS.. I will update my profile.. sorry Michael

[mtylerfl]

OOPS.. I will update my profile.. sorry Michael

That's perfectly alright. Hopefully, the good folks at CarveWright will come out with an update that will allow an option for saving in the original "unprotected" format before the "licensing" scheme was implemented.

[fwharris]

Michael,
I am with you 100% on that...
With out looking at my MPC do you have any info to help me out?
I could post another in 1.120 if that would help

[mtylerfl]

Michael,
I am with you 100% on that...
With out looking at my MPC do you have any info to help me out?
I could post another in 1.120 if that would help

I have not done it myself (but I do recall seeing a fish that someone HAD done on this forum).

For a .75" thick board...One method would be to carve the fish on both sides to a depth just shy of cutting through the board. In other words, set the depth of the carve on each side to .313 to leave a center "seam" of just under 1/8". (I don't know if I would feel at ease with a "seam" much less than that - just to assure that the piece doesn't pop out and fly all over the place during the carve). Drawback: You would then have to separate the fish from the board manually at the "seam" running around the entire object (band saw, scroll saw, etc.)

Another method is carve the front and backside at the .313 as above, but then manually draw a sectioned "broken" outline with the Line Connect Tool around the shape of the fish, and assign the 1/8" straight bit to each outline section. You set the depth of the assigned bit to .375. The gaps between each section essentially forms manual tabs to hold the piece in place. Drawback: You have to manually draw the broken outline

I drew a quickie example for you using the "outline" with manual tabs method. (You are correct - you cannot use cut path for a two-sided carving of this type). NOTE: I set the line sections depth to .75 ONLY for the purpose of viewing the cutthrough clearly in the example photo - you do not need to set the depth more than the .45" for your "real" project though. NOTE: When set at a depth of less than .75" you will not be able to view the cut-through in the Designer display.

(Mel might have the best idea - carving/cutting (with the cut path function) two halves then gluing together. Safe and simple. But, since you asked how to do a two-sided piece, I focused my ideas to that alone.)

[fwharris]

Michael,
Thanks for the reply back. Based on your input I "should not" do a cut path on this then? just carve both sides and then cut out manually.... I think that might be my safer way to do and not take a chance on the piece jumping out... i will give that a try...

[hotpop]

fwharris,

I looked at your fish. See changes I made. I set the depth of the pattern to .350 and height to 999 on both sides. This leaves a .050" web to cut out. The backside will be machined first. Since you have a cut thru on the front side the fish will fall out before the program finishes as the machine will want to cut to a full 3/4" before it turns off.

I think you should remove the cut thru feature and separate it with a saw.

You might consider making making two fish one left and one right a about .700 deep then use the cut-thru then the tabs on the cut-thru feature will hold the pattern in place. Once both are done glue them together. Then you got a 1.4" thick fish.

[fwharris]

fwharris,

I looked at your fish. See changes I made. I set the depth of the pattern to .350 and height to 999 on both sides. This leaves a .050" web to cut out. The backside will be machined first. Since you have a cut thru on the front side the fish will fall out before the program finishes as the machine will want to cut to a full 3/4" before it turns off.

I think you should remove the cut thru feature and separate it with a saw.

You might consider making making two fish one left and one right a about .700 deep then use the cut-thru then the tabs on the cut-thru feature will hold the pattern in place. Once both are done glue them together. Then you got a 1.4" thick fish.
Mel,
thanks for the tips on this. As I replyed to Michael, I will not do a cut path on this. I will set my depth for each side less that 1/2 the thickness of the board and do a manual cut out...

again thanks...

[mtylerfl]

fwharris,

I looked at your fish. See changes I made. I set the depth of the pattern to .350 and height to 999 on both sides. This leaves a .050" web to cut out. The backside will be machined first. Since you have a cut thru on the front side the fish will fall out before the program finishes as the machine will want to cut to a full 3/4" before it turns off.

I think you should remove the cut thru feature and separate it with a saw.

You might consider making making two fish one left and one right a about .700 deep then use the cut-thru then the tabs on the cut-thru feature will hold the pattern in place. Once both are done glue them together. Then you got a 1.4" thick fish.

Right, you DO NOT want to use the cut path feature ("cut thru") with that type of carving - you'll break your bit, your machine, and your wallet!

The two halves idea is safe, although I don't think the depth setting is correct for each half since you want a 3/4" thick fish - you might want to play with that a little so you don't make a "puffer" fish or a flounder (unless that's what you want!).

EDIT: yes, the carve shy and manual cut out is just as safe - please post a pic of your fish when done!

[TIMCOSBY]

on a 1-1/2" thick peice to to get a fatter well fed fish.

[hotpop]

Yea! I didn't look to see how big the board or fish is. You might end up with a pregnant trout. :)

BTW: These anyone have a picture of a Discus (tropical aquarium fish)?

[dougmsbbs]

How about something like this?
(another tease for my software we're testing... Took less than five minutes to make.)

[hotpop]

Thanks Doug that's perfect. I have a friend that breeds these things and I
will make a little gift for him.

Thanks again!

[fwharris]

Michael, Mel and Tim:

Just got back from chasing the old SKY CARP (geese) no luck today.. saw all the feedback..Thanks for the good tips on this.

I think I will try it both ways (carve 2 sides and carve 2 fish) and see if I can either make a starved trout or a glutten trout and hopefully not a puffer.
:p;):)

Not sure I will get it carved today (last weekend for sky carp) but will get it set up in designer and try later. Will post the results when done...

Thanks again guys, you make this place a joy to visit..


I have not done it myself (but I do recall seeing a fish that someone HAD done on this forum).

For a .75" thick board...One method would be to carve the fish on both sides to a depth just shy of cutting through the board. In other words, set the depth of the carve on each side to .313 to leave a center "seam" of just under 1/8". (I don't know if I would feel at ease with a "seam" much less than that - just to assure that the piece doesn't pop out and fly all over the place during the carve). Drawback: You would then have to separate the fish from the board manually at the "seam" running around the entire object (band saw, scroll saw, etc.)

Another method is carve the front and backside at the .313 as above, but then manually draw a sectioned "broken" outline with the Line Connect Tool around the shape of the fish, and assign the 1/8" straight bit to each outline section. You set the depth of the assigned bit to .375. The gaps between each section essentially forms manual tabs to hold the piece in place. Drawback: You have to manually draw the broken outline

I drew a quickie example for you using the "outline" with manual tabs method. (You are correct - you cannot use cut path for a two-sided carving of this type). NOTE: I set the line sections depth to .75 ONLY for the purpose of viewing the cutthrough clearly in the example photo - you do not want to set the depth more than the .375" for your "real" project though. When set at the correct depth of .375" you will not be able to see the cut-through in the Designer display.

(Mel might have the best idea - carving/cutting (with the cut path function) two halves then gluing together. Safe and simple. But, since you asked how to do a two-sided piece, I focused my ideas to that alone.)

[Digitalwoodshop]

I did the 2 sided bear the other day and it cut the back .20 deep and the front .20 deep as I wanted to leave some thickness to the board plus I put some V Carved Centerline Font numbers in it too.

What I found is when I loaded the 1/8 inch cutting bit on the back side for it's initial bit load I got a "Board too thick" fault code with the option to continue. I knew this was wrong as I was using a 3/4 inch board. The Computer just knew I was doing something silly with the cut path and didn't have a real fault code to tell me.

When I cut the first side .20 deep, that is the material that would normally hold the project together if I had not carved the back. It let me do the cut path but while starting the 3rd pass at the head it had cut through the pattern. I stopped it for safety as a pinched bit will break something. Someone suggested tracing parts of the cut path and selecting a depth to allow you to leave tabs yet cut 80% of the pattern through. This would make it easier to cut out manually.

Normally it would take 6 passes to cut the bear out.

Good Luck,

AL

[TIMCOSBY]

i'm tiered of bein teaSED LET ME BETA TEST......NOW.....IS IT IN THE E-MAIL YET....

[upcedar]

this is called the dog-bone 'Therory', it can be done via upcedar's way. i'm getting a web-site going and will post update's of the way we's do it!
LHR has just created a forgotten history i my life with my c/w, i'll post later on this too. do a google search on Dr. Glen Theradore ??? my first photo engraving's were found in a family immigration trunk, my father's in-law's... WOW Rick