Something's not right with my project.

[SAA3840]

What am I doing wrong or what am I not doing? The carve I've attached to this post is supposed to take 15hrs if carved on the "Best" setting. That seems awfully long. I already did it once but my machine died just before the word 'funfest' so the entire carve didn't happen.

If I were to charge for this sign, at $1.00 per minute, that comes to $899.00. Nobody in their right mind would pay that.

There's GOT to be something I could do differently to cut the carve time down without sacrificing quality.
The board measures 3/4 x 9 x 72. It's #2 or 3 pine.

Any help would be appreciated.

[badger]

Ive done one at 12hrs and I know Chris has done one longer than that.

If it stops like it has on me before you have a couple options. You can leave the board in and start it again or take it back to designer and take out the items it may have already carved and only leave what still needs to be carved and try it.

Ive done it both ways to finish a carve that did not complete the first time without a problem instead of just trashing the board.

Of course you still need to figure out why you are getting the error to begin with and try to fix that first.

[SAA3840]

Ive done one at 12hrs and I know Chris has done one longer than that.

If it stops like it has on me before you have a couple options. You can leave the board in and start it again or take it back to designer and take out the items it may have already carved and only leave what still needs to be carved and try it.

Ive done it both ways to finish a carve that did not complete the first time without a problem instead of just trashing the board.

Of course you still need to figure out why you are getting the error to begin with and try to fix that first.

I'm not questioning the stoppage, my machine is currently at LHR in Texas getting tuned up. What I was questioning is/was how come it takes 15hrs? Is there something I could have done or can do in the future to shorten the time? When I get my machine back I plan to run this carve again.

[badger]

Ok, I didnt see the mpc first time I posted. But appears at 72inches you have almost the whole region set as a carve region. Thats alot of wood to carve out and 15hours would seem about right.

Other approaches might be to use centerline if you have it for the lettering. And if you dont want it to spend that much time carving around the trees would be to carve the trees seperately and apply them to the board or to take out the carve region and just have the trees carved into the board without carving all the excess out around them.

But at 72inches that is alot of wood to carve out and 15hours seems about right set at best.

[badger]

Tried it out, just removing the carve region at best showed about 6 1/2 hours.

It also showed that you might need a jig for this project and curious if you had one set up, might have been one reason for the carve to stop. The wide pattern across the board could interfere with the rollers.

[Amonaug]

Removing the carve region and using centerline text reduces the carve time down to about 4 hours.

Unfortunately with that large of an area a carve region takes a LONG time to carve.

And not trying to tell you how to charge but $60.00 per hour seems a little steep to me.

[HighTechOkie]

Another option depending on detail needed and how far back the sign will be viewed from, is to use the 1/8" straight bit for the carving bit. Time goes to ~6hrs in best.

Amonaug, you should call around to some architectural/dimensional sign companies. Prices typically start @ $50/sqft for unfinished and $100+/sqft for finished work plus install fees. With his sign at 4.5sqft, puts it at $225-$450 and by doing some of the suggestions posted the time could be <6hrs = $37.5 - $75/hr.

At the end of the day, it only matters what the customer feels is reasonable. If you are producing top quality products that will last a long time, your price should reflect that. Otherwise the Walmart crowd will put ya out of business on price alone.

Rob

[cnsranch]

The guys making a go of it with the CW charging around $14/hour will be happy to hear they can increase their fees by 400%.

[Amonaug]

Another option depending on detail needed and how far back the sign will be viewed from, is to use the 1/8" straight bit for the carving bit. Time goes to ~6hrs in best.

Amonaug, you should call around to some architectural/dimensional sign companies. Prices typically start @ $50/sqft for unfinished and $100+/sqft for finished work plus install fees. With his sign at 4.5sqft, puts it at $225-$450 and by doing some of the suggestions posted the time could be <6hrs = $37.5 - $75/hr.

At the end of the day, it only matters what the customer feels is reasonable. If you are producing top quality products that will last a long time, your price should reflect that. Otherwise the Walmart crowd will put ya out of business on price alone.

Rob


Well I've been finidng that only a select few are going to pay that kind of price for carvings. Most that look at my wares even balk at the price of my jewelry boxes (~$75.00).

I figured for the business sign I made for my business it would have ran around $250 - $300 in cedar, that's about $40-$50/sq ft and my per hour calculations are much lower than $60.00 /hr. My prices include design, carve time and materials.

I've looked at other companies doing wood onlays and my prices are pretty competitive with their prices. Maybe I'm undercharging myself but I'd think I'd have a lot less customers than I have now if I went higher, I don't have all that many customers as it is at this time.

But then again that was only my personal opinion and can take it or leave it. This has gotten a bit off-topic.

[cnsranch]

Couple of suggestions, but they will only add time to the project, not lessen it.

1. Remember to use a board that's at least 7" longer than the one you're designing on - will prevent tip-up.
2. Your Carve Region has to be at least 1/4" from all edges of the design board - it looks like you're cut off on the ends, and you'll get a nasty message when you go to carve it.
3. You may want to consider adding a 1/4" feather to the region - it makes the carve look much cleaner, and lessens the chance for chipping.
4. With the time you're projecting, you may want to assign bit selection "best" in Designer for all of your carvings, regardless of what you choose when you upload.
5. If you look close, you'll see that one of your trees toward the end of the carve is too close to the edge of the carve region, it will carve beyond it, and will leave a nasty mark beyond the region.
6. You may want to consider adding a draft to your text - it will lessen the chance of chip-out, by way of sloping the edges of the letters, and looks really cool when carved.

Your time doesn't look wrong, these big projects take a lot of work in the machine. I've attached a pic of a project (two-sided) that took just under 10 hours to carve, and doesn't have nearly the detail of yours. I also attached an mpc with the suggestions above for you to look at.

Regards

[Jvicaretti]

Nice crescent wrench, I like it!

[SAA3840]

Removing the carve region and using centerline text reduces the carve time down to about 4 hours.

Unfortunately with that large of an area a carve region takes a LONG time to carve.

And not trying to tell you how to charge but $60.00 per hour seems a little steep to me.

Thanks to everyone who posted responses. I wasn't going to charge $60.00 per hour, all I had to go on was another post that someone stated that they charge (or try to charge) $1.00 per minute of machine time. If I were to sell this sign, finished, I would probably ask about $100.00.

When I get my machine back I'm going to run this carve again and implement a few of the suggestions you all have made.

Thanks again.

Oh, by the way, the board I used was 84" to start. When the machine measured it, it wanted to cut it to 72", I had it center the carve on the wood so I had like 6" of excess on each end.

[badger]

Dont forget the 7" rule, 3 1/2 inches on each end.

[Jvicaretti]

Just curious, when the machine asked if you wanted the sign cut to size did you press yes? If so that was your problem.

[www.go3d.us]

Jvicaretti, If you press yes the machine will cut out the size as specified in your designer.
Ex. if you set your board 6"x6" in designer but your actual board is 8"x8" the machine will cut your piece to 6"x6". However, you have to change the bit though. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As for SAA3840's sign.
Base on my experienced. When carving a big sign like that it is not necessary to use best mode since most of the details can be seen mile away. So probably normal quality is good enough. Also good enough with .15" depth instead of .25".

I see most of the objects you have fall below the surface of your piece of wood, the machine have to cut the top layer out to reach to the actual objects. Set all your objects height to .999 when carving at such small depth.
My 2cent. hope this help.

Happy carving!

[Major_A]

Raise the height of the Carve Region to .125 or 1/8" and that should knock off some time.

Keep This In Mind...
With a piece this long snipe is almost unavoidable UNLESS you are running out feed rollers. For a project any longer than 3' it's a good idea to have a level out feed system so you put less strain on the machine. In the process of putting less strain on the machine you are creating less of a snipe situation.

[jerry]

Doing this in centerline will make this 4.4 hours.

Here is a hint.

[brady.schwyhart]

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of playing with your design a bit. Since I'm in the process of moving I don't have my card reader or card to upload it to tell me how long it will take. Please let me know how long this project is.


What am I doing wrong or what am I not doing? The carve I've attached to this post is supposed to take 15hrs if carved on the "Best" setting. That seems awfully long. I already did it once but my machine died just before the word 'funfest' so the entire carve didn't happen.

If I were to charge for this sign, at $1.00 per minute, that comes to $899.00. Nobody in their right mind would pay that.

There's GOT to be something I could do differently to cut the carve time down without sacrificing quality.
The board measures 3/4 x 9 x 72. It's #2 or 3 pine.

Any help would be appreciated.

[SAA3840]

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of playing with your design a bit. Since I'm in the process of moving I don't have my card reader or card to upload it to tell me how long it will take. Please let me know how long this project is.

I checked it out and your version will take 8:10, 10:32 and 15:24; Draft, Normal, Best.

My lastest version, after making the changes suggested by various individuals on the forum here will take 4:47, 6:22 and 9:32 whereas my original took 7:40, 10:40 and 15:24.

Jerry, your version using Centerline should take 2:57, 3:27 and 4:27, which I plan to use, IF you don't mind. AND if what I understand to be correct is in fact correct, that I can carve Centerline even though I don't have it. :rolleyes:

[brady.schwyhart]

You can use projects made with centerline in your machine even though you don't have it. You can even modify the project, just don't click on "edit text" or you will lose it.