finding surfice

[lviele]

assume we have a sled and the wall is one inch high as measured from the surfice of the sled. can I carve a surfice 1/2 down from the top of the rails? I can curve a pattern 1/4 down but no more. Am I doing something wrong.

[liquidguitars]

yes as long as the wood is not to far from the top rail.

The stock is better off flush or a wee bit lower than the rails of the sled.

to jog to the carving surface hit "stop" when the bit is looking for the deck then hit "03" to jog to the boards top surface.

LG

[cnsranch]

I may get shot for not getting this exactly right, but here goes -

A sled with sides is used for scanning - the sides need to be somewhat higher than the item being scanned.

When carving, you need to use a carrier board whose sides and ends are the same thickness as your project's board. I believe you're confusing the machine with too many heights to deal with.

Go to CW's main site, and look at the Tips and Tricks section - can't remember right now which month, but we got a great lesson on carrier boards and sleds.

[Amonaug]

Under options on the CW you can set it so you manually jog the truck to where you want it to touch the surface. The height of the sled won't matter, it will determine depth from where you tell it the surface of the project is.

The only problem will be is if the sled sides are too far above the project surface then the truck will bump into it and you'll get a Y-axis stall as it tries to push past it. Ideal condition are the sides are level with the project, but the sides can be slightly higher than the project.

You can also use this procedure to carve centerline into a carved region using 2 projects. First project carves the region. Second projects carves the text with jogging the truck to touch within the carved region.

[liquidguitars]

When carving, you need to use a carrier board whose sides and ends are the same thickness as your project's board. I believe you're confusing the machine with too many heights to deal with.

for carving if my board is lower that the rails:

I just hit "stop" when the bit is checking the top of the sleds surface hit "03" and jog to the top of the carving board. same thing for scaning i think..

LG

[lviele]

thanks for the help. the analog led us in the wrong direction. exact problem. I have just put in the machine a shape that looks like a cake pan with sides 1/2 " high, now I am trying to carve a figure in the bottom of the pan. If the sides are 1/4 I high it will work, more then 1/4" the probe will not tuch the surfice and the program goes into a loop

[Rocky]

I've been trying to follow this thread to learn more about using sleds/carriers and jogging for carving. I understand how to jog to two diagonally opposing positions when scanning, but I'm still confused (no surprise there) about jogging when carving. Before carving starts, if one jogs to a point on the project, does the CW understand that to be a corner of the project board?

Thanks,

[DocWheeler]

Hoping not to add confusion, I'd like to put in my two cents worth.

cnsranch,

On a carving sled, the sides can be higher than the board, just make sure that the sensor can see the end of the sled clearly (the ends need to match the rails [sides] in height). Just make sure that you find the surface of the board for carving depth by either hitting "stop" at the appropriate time or selecting the option that prompts you to jog to the touch point (my personal preference).

Rocky,

There are at least two "jogs" in the carving options - jog to the carving position (where the top-left corner of the image in Designer is to start), and jog to where you want the bit to touch to measure the board surface.