Power failure - don't want to start all over

[SallyAWesen]

My CW was doing a big project today and I had a power failure. My project wasn't complete, almost. The board had an oval of .60 depth and then inside the oval I had carving the stagecoach at .25 depth with a +. I talked with Michael with Carvebuddy and he said to bring my project up on the computer and draw a rectangle over the part that is already carved and put the depth at .000. I tried that, but the CW act's like it doesn't know what to do?
Am I doing something wrong? I made it a new project, so I was hoping that the CW would only recognize the new carving order's. Also when I change the depth to .000 I can still see the stagecoach on the computer:(, just it's higher then what the original carving was. I hope this makes sense. Can anyone help me??:(
Thanks, Sally

[ChrisAlb]

Hi Sally,

I'm not sure what you mean by the stagecoach is .25 deep with a (+)??

Drawing a rectangle over the previously carved area and setting the depth to zero as Michael suggested "should" cover that area so you don't see anything. If you can still see the stagecoach make sure you don't have the coach (or the rectangle you drew) set with a "Merge" of any kind.

Also, if you have the "height" of the stage coach set above 100, try setting the rectangle's height to match it and see if that covers the coach.

Does the rectangle cover the oval OK?

If the stagecoach isn't a licensed pattern, post the file and maybe I can help you set it up.

One note: Even though you place a zero height rectangle over the carved area, the elements below it "are still there" and the CW will still go through all the motions i.e. ask for all the bits in the same order as the original but it won't actually carve anything in that area as long as you can't see anything on screen.

Hope that helps

[castingman]

Hi everybody,

I had the same problem last nite, Power went off at 5:45 till 5:45 this morning. I was abour half hour into a two and half hour carve on a lamanate walnt/maple sign. Can i trick it into starting over and ley it carve air where it already cut ?

Thanks Michael

[Kenm810]

castingman,

I've let a couple of mine carve air to finish a stopped project and it carved fine,
the two that I didn't remove the board before starting over a one that I had,
I was surprised but that one worked too.

Chris I never tried the 0.00 rectangle tip, so I just set one up and as you see
it left the oval and centerline text but not the raster or pattern.

[ChrisAlb]

Hi everybody,

I had the same problem last nite, Power went off at 5:45 till 5:45 this morning. I was abour half hour into a two and half hour carve on a lamanate walnt/maple sign. Can i trick it into starting over and ley it carve air where it already cut ?

Thanks Michael

Michael,

I've done that a couple times. All but one worked out just fine. I had one fish I was doing and at about 50% through the power went out. I started it again and for whatever reason, When it got to the point it had stopped at, it carved the rest just a smige (maybe 1/32") higher and left a line at that point.

I "think" it may have been from a slightly cupped board. Not sure.

Ken,

That would make sense as the oval & centerline text are carved on the surface of the board. Thus, a region at zero would be the same as the top of the board. If the board is square and still in the machine, it "should follow the same lines so no harm, no foul.

I've never done the "cover it up" routine myself but perhaps "clipping" the oval and text would hide those sections??

Anyway folks, The wife and I have a benifit ride I hope my back will let me go on. So I'm gonna try it.

Have a GREAT DAY ALL!!

[castingman]

Chris,

I just started again, When it went to find surface it just hit the edge of where it stoped, It may be a little deeper , but we'll se.

Thanks Michael

[castingman]

Looks like i did it !!

[TerryT]

Due to a weak breaker and other things on the same circuit, I have had to start over three or four times. Some projects the board was left in the machine and others the board was removed. I have simply redone the entire carve and also used the 0.00 carve region. I have had very good luck with all of them. All of the projects were completed without a noticeable problem.

When using the 0.00 carve region, at least with my machine, The bit starts to spin but the cutting head just sits in one spot for quite a while before moving to the area where it begins to carve. The first time I thought something was wrong and it wasn't going to work but it did. So if your machine acts the same just be patient, it will finish.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I had the power go out with 3.12 min left in a 2 hour 45 min carve.... Tree on the wires according to the scanner. Lucky it was just 5 numbers left in a clock and a clock hole to do.

Made a file of just that and since I always use place on end of board it worked just fine.

I have done air carves too.

AL

[ChrisAlb]

Seems to me that if we can have a battery to keep the bios information in our computers from being lost in the event of a power failure or unplugging, Why can't we have the same thing for the CW so it doesn't loose where it was??

Seems simple enough to me??

[jcorder]

can you put it on a UPS just like you purchase for a computer?

[ChrisAlb]

Not sure but it's worth looking into. I'd be happy if it just didn't loose it's place. I'm perfectly willing to wait for the "real" power to come back on to continue carving.

[SallyAWesen]

Hell-o,



Maybe you can tell me what I’m doing WRONG:



My Cw was about ¾ thru a project and I had a power failure…



I called and talked with Michael at Carvebuddy, thought I had it figured out, but it’s not correct:



Here’s my project : BOARD = 40 x 14.25 BY .922 THICKNESS



OVAL = 36 x 13.191 AT .60 DEPTH (centered in board)



Stagecoach pattern from CW = 24.422 X 9.159 by .25 thickness with addition (merge) + to pattern (centered in oval)



I started with a 47 inch board like it say’s – 7 inches longer…



Michael said to place a rectangle over the carved area and make it .000 depth. I have done that, I have placed it at the beginning of the board (that didn’t work) and I have place the rectangle at the beginning of the oval carving and ended it both times where I want the CW to start and finish my project, but every time it start’s at the wrong place, to carve about in the middle of the board.



What am I doing WRONG…



You can call me if you would like at ###. I’m about ready to ….



Thanks,

Sally

[mtylerfl]

Hi Sally,

When you draw the rectangle over the area that is already carved, you first make it a Carve Region, then set the depth to "0". (Maybe that's what you're doing, but I emphasize this to make sure you got the procedure down.)

That way the "carve region" covers the previous portion of the pre-carved stagecoach and the coach will be hidden from view in Designer, and also hidden from the carving bit (the machine won't carve that area because the machine knows the "carve region" is to be carved at "zero" depth.

When you actually re-start your project, the carving bit WILL hover and spin over the top of the "zero carve region" for awhile, but it won't actually touch the board at that area. Then, when the machine "feels" like it, it will go ahead and resume carving for the non-covered portion of your board.

Should work just fine for you. Let us know how you make out.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I talked to her tonight and she has 2 options. Do the Zero block out area or just start over and do a recarve of the whole thing, letting it think it is cutting wood until it finds wood. I take the easy way out just recarving in the middle of a pattern. For a stop after some elements are carved, I make a Fix file removing the stuff that was done.

Being an oval and pattern that is a lot of stuff for the machine to think about, I am not sure how the block zero would work. Worth looking at again, could be useful.

I think she will be OK.... Sounds like She and her hubby have a handle on the machine. Look forward to seeing the finished project.

AL

O'.... 1 AM..... Overtime.... time to quit.

[liquidguitars]

I am not sure how the block zero would work

Should work like a charm..
It could take her sometime cutting air but is overall lots quicker if carve is more that 1/4 finished.

1:00 on the west coast over and out.

LG

[mtylerfl]

Yep, the Carve-Region-Zero technique should work regardless of the oval and carving elements underneath the covered-up portion.

When I originally spoke to Sally on the phone I thought she was following the instructions A-OK, so I'm not sure why she's still having trouble.

Of course, without being able to personally analyze the mpc, I am going on the assumption that there are no "unkown" variables that may have been applied in the original layout that could interfere with the technique.

The only reason it wouldn't work is if Sally had applied a Merge Additive to the stagecoach "by mistake" when the original design was laid out.

I also mentioned the option of just letting it air-carve the pre-done portion, but was trying to save a few hours of time.

Note to Sally: Please let us know how things are progressing for you, and holler if you need further assistance.

[ChrisAlb]

I stated in my first post #2 above to her to make sure she DIDN'T have a "Merge" on the coach. In her next post she verified that indeed she DID have the coach merged "additive".

Her Quote:

"Stagecoach pattern from CW = 24.422 X 9.159 by .25 thickness with addition (merge) + to pattern (centered in oval)"


That's why the block won't cover up the coach.

[castingman]

Good morning,

The air carve worked well for me, The only trouble i had with this was the depth of carve , I had to resize it twice . My first lamanent for a freind at camp, It's a free one as i am praticeing [ ? ] .

Thanks for the help Michael

[mtylerfl]

I stated in my first post #2 above to her to make sure she DIDN'T have a "Merge" on the coach. In her next post she verified that indeed she DID have the coach merged "additive".

Her Quote:

"Stagecoach pattern from CW = 24.422 X 9.159 by .25 thickness with addition (merge) + to pattern (centered in oval)"


That's why the block won't cover up the coach.

Thanks, Chris. There's my "Evelyn Wood Speed Reading" messing me up again! I missed that, but I see that now - no wonder the technique didn't work for her!

Her only choice really, is to do run the entire project all over again and let the machine air-carve the project up to the point that it will begin "real" carving (while crossing her fingers that everything will line up properly).

She should not remove the additive merge as there is a chance that it could alter the hieght of the carve and have a greater chance of creating a noticable "step" between the new and the "old" carving.

Another issue is that she had told me that she removed the board from the machine after the power failure - of course, it would have been best to leave the board in place, and keep the head as-is, as well (to improve chances of a perfect "line-up").

[ChrisAlb]

LOL....Yea, I think a lot of folks are "speed reading"...lol

I was tempted to call her and tell her to email me the MPC with my solemn word that I wouldn't keep the stagecoach pattern (unless I liked it enough to buy it of course).

Given her description of the carve, I don't see a need for any merging but without seeing it, I can't be sure of course. And yes, changing it now would mess things up for sure.

[liquidguitars]

it would have been best to leave the board in place, and keep the head as-is, as well (to improve chances of a perfect "line-up").

The new program, "air carve" will zero the truck and go through the measurements anyway right?


LG

[castingman]

Is it possable to jog the carveing bit to find the surface that has not been cut ? I left mine in the cw and was lucky enought that it just hit on the edge of the cut .
When i got on line sunday i was going to ask that very question .

Thanks Michael

[mtylerfl]

The new program, "air carve" will zero the truck and go through the measurements anyway right?


LG

Yes, because it is considered a new project as far as the machine is concerned. If the board was left in place and the head left cranked down as-is, she could have simply aborted the project and re-ran it in place(for an air-carve technique).

If it had been possible to use the "zero-carve" technique, you would still want to leave the board in and the head cranked down as-is, but turn off the machine power, remove the card, modify the project, upload the modified version to the card, and run the new project version.

Of course, the machine will re-measure, etc., etc, but by leaving the board in, the measuring process is more likley to be the exactly the same as before, since the board had not been moved or shifted in any way by the user reloading it and perhaps placing the board "whatever 1000's" of an inch off!

[mtylerfl]

Is it possable to jog the carveing bit to find the surface that has not been cut ? I left mine in the cw and was lucky enought that it just hit on the edge of the cut .
When i got on line sunday i was going to ask that very question .

Thanks Michael

Yes, but it wouldn't make any difference in Sally's case (unless she has to do that to avoid the machine from zeroing the truck on a recessed pre-carved area). The entire project would be have to be run anyway. In other words, the machine wouldn't resume from where it left off nor would it improve her chances for a seamless match-up between the old and new section.

I am really anxious to hear how she made out doing the air-carve technique. I think there is a good chance of salvaging the project if she doesn't alter the original mpc and re-runs it as-is.

[castingman]

Power out sign.

The walnut/maple sign was the one i was cutting when the power went out.
It has some problems but it's a freebe for a guy at camp and he knew it was an exp. The outher one is for camp also.

Michael

[ChrisAlb]

In general I agree with Michael that leaving the board in will increase the chance the carve will match up better. Air or Blocked over. But I have removed several projects and then put the board back in and it's always been dead on.

The key to this is making sure the board is dead on square at both ends. I can't fit my Chop saw and Table saw in my basement as of yet so they have to be set up outside. Obviously during the winter, I wasn't about to do that so I was cutting my boards to length with a handsaw.....LOL

Now I can cut pretty well with a GOOD handsaw. But the one I was using is...well....a tad less than sharp...LOL MAN, what a pain when doing double sided carves or having to restart them.