Load Board ??

[TomW]

Just tried to carve some plastic. The plastic is about 6.5 x 6.5 and .5 in thick. When I tried to start the project I get a note to "Load the Board". It's in there. Tried to take it out and load again but keep getting the same instruction. The only button that works is STOP. What could be the problems?

Thanks, Tom:confused:

[newcarver]

What color is the plastic? may need to use masking tape to have the sensor read it

[Rickrljones]

I ran across this problem as well, I tried taping the edges on the corian but still did not work. To correct the issue of load board was used two sided tape and attached the material to a 3/4" board cut to the same size as the corian. Worked great after that.

[forqnc]

Just tried to carve some plastic. The plastic is about 6.5 x 6.5 and .5 in thick. When I tried to start the project I get a note to "Load the Board". It's in there. Tried to take it out and load again but keep getting the same instruction. The only button that works is STOP. What could be the problems?

Thanks, Tom:confused:
Do you have the Board on a Sled? If not you piece is below the minimum specs for the Machine, it needs to be 7" long at least.

Check this Thread.
http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6100&highlight=thickness

[ChrisAlb]

Are you using a sled? 6.5 inches is pretty short and is probably not compressing both rollers. You'll need a sled to cut a piece that short.

Just FYI, To check the rollers state...

Put the piece in and turn it on.
Press 0 (options) on the key pad
Press up arrow once (sensor check)
press Enter
Press left arrow once (rollers front and rear)

Rollers will be either released or compressed. They must both be compressed or the machine won't know there's a piece in there.

Hope this helps

[pkunk]

I realize it's not 'manly' to read the instructions before using a tool,, but the answers that aren't in the manual are here in the FAQ's and troubleshooting PDF's. There are also lots of other answers and discussions here in the forum if you use the 'search' function at the top of each page.

[mtylerfl]

Just tried to carve some plastic. The plastic is about 6.5 x 6.5 and .5 in thick. When I tried to start the project I get a note to "Load the Board". It's in there. Tried to take it out and load again but keep getting the same instruction. The only button that works is STOP. What could be the problems?

Thanks, Tom:confused:

Hello Tom,

The CarveWright Tips & Tricks Newsletter ISSUE 3 December 2007 "Handy Tips for Everyone!" (http://www.carvebuddy.com/PDFs/CW_TipsandTricks_Newsletters/CarveWrightTips&Tricks_Dec07.pdf) may help you out.

Although it does not specifically address the use of sleds (or minimum board sizes already specified in your owner's manual) that newsletter does outline the basic project setup techniques that will help you avoid problems which you are definitely headed toward, especially using that small of a piece without a carrier board (sled).

Also, another possible useful newsletter is the ISSUE 4 January 2008
"An Easy Project Tutorial & The Care and Feeding of Your CarveWright/ CompuCarve Machine" (http://www.carvebuddy.com/PDFs/CW_TipsandTricks_Newsletters/CarveWrightTips&Tricks_Jan08.pdf) which gives some great tips on maintaining your machine.

I hope that helps you out a little, and please let us know if you have any more questions and can't find the answers via the forum search.

We want you to be successful.

[TomW]

Thanks for the tip. I have a lot of that plastic and was going to cut most of it off when done. I will just cut a some that is 7in or longer and give it a try.

[www.go3d.us]

insert the board all the through the second roller and crank down until u hear a click.
HT

[mtylerfl]

Thanks for the tip. I have a lot of that plastic and was going to cut most of it off when done. I will just cut a some that is 7in or longer and give it a try.

Hello Tom,

The 7" length is not long enough to stay under the rollers at all times (VERY important).

If you want a finished piece that is 7" long, then your piece you put in the machine needs to be 14" inches long in order for it to be kept captive by the rollers.

Simple to remember - your "real" board needs to be 7" longer than your your "fake" board in the project layout in the software (see the Dec ' 07 issue of Tips & Tricks).

Your alternative to the plastic itself being 14" long (i.e., for a finished 7" or less piece) is to devise a sled that your 7" piece of plastic sits in the middle of. (The piece will be centered in between outside filler material so that the surface is uniformly even and fools the machine into thinking the board is one long piece.)

You have got to provide an even surface and a long enough surface for the rollers to compress upon throughout the entire carve process, without either end leaving either of the rollers. If you don't do that, well...you'll very likely have problems (poor carve, broken bits, z-axis errors, and so on).

Hope I caught you before you tried carving the 7" piece!

[Digitalwoodshop]

The reason there are 2 rollers is to hold the piece down to the table preventing one end from popping up. That is why they suggest using wood that in 3.5 inches longer on both ends of your work piece size. A sled or carrier board will let you use the smaller pieces.

The problem using a 6.5 inch board is that it is secured to the table with only one roller. Kinda like operating a chain saw with one hand, it will work but when you least expected it you will have and accident.

The small pieces are likely to have the unsecured end pop up as you cut and likely cause the bit to grab and break something at the least.

Here is a picture of a 3/8 inch piece of plywood and 2 pieces of scrap taped to the board with the working piece in the middle. All you do in Designer is draw a square the size of the first scrap block and place it on the right side of designer. From there left do your artwork and when you load the board use the "Place on end" and it will move through the blank scrap area and cut your small blank safely.

If you try to do a cut path with a combined thickness of 1.0 it will fault out as you can't cut path deeper than .99 thick. You can do cuts by tracing and using cutting depth and manually use tabs.

Good Luck,

Check out that manual,

AL

[TomW]

Thanks. All the tips were good. I first increased the size of the plastic. This did not work, so I took one of the other suggestions and created a sled. At first this did not work. Then, remembering a tip from Matt, I used the same materiel for its thickness to hold the plastic in place. By coutersinking the flathead screws a bit, the carving started up and did a great job. Lessons learned. This forem has helped before and I sure appreciate the fact that folks like yourself are eager to help.

Thanks to all.

TomW

[mtylerfl]

Thanks. All the tips were good. I first increased the size of the plastic. This did not work, so I took one of the other suggestions and created a sled. At first this did not work. Then, remembering a tip from Matt, I used the same materiel for its thickness to hold the plastic in place. By coutersinking the flathead screws a bit, the carving started up and did a great job. Lessons learned. This forem has helped before and I sure appreciate the fact that folks like yourself are eager to help.

Thanks to all.

TomW

Hello Tom,

Glad the tips helped you figure it out.

Please post some pics of your results when you get a chance!

[Ron]

cast acrlyc(sp) this is 9 by 6.1/4" thick just hot glued to a 1/2 board cut the same size
didnt stay under rollers

[Ron]

sorry forgot the attachment