Project placement on board

[Amonaug]

All the following discussions of placement will be from the point of view of looking at the CW from the keypad side.

I used to use nothing but "Center on Board" which works for most of my carvings. Then I started having problems with lining up 2-sided carves even though I was pretty sure the project board was square and the rails I use were both the same width (most of the problem carves were offset on the width, length placement was usually fine).

So I started looking into the other options.

Center is pretty much self explainatory although there seems to be a rounding error in there. I took a perfectly square board and set a drill hole in designer to the exact center. Measure and drew crosshairs on where it should drill the hole to test accuracy since I had 1 project drill the holes off center from where I wanted them. Ran the project and it drill the hole center on width but about 1/16" to the right if looking at the keypad. Flipped the board lengthwise since I measured from that this side with the tape measure thinking perhap the tape measure was off a bit. And again it drilled it 1/16" to the right of center. So tried "Place on End" and it hit dead center.

Which brings me to "Place on end". Sometimes I get either "Place on End" or "Place on Corner". With a test or 2 I found that either option is essentially the same or am I missing something. One project I got the "Place on Corner" and it did what I thought it would by setting the project on the left-most corner closest to the keypad. Another project I got "Place on End" thinking it would place it on the left-most end and center on the width but it put it just like "Place on Corner".

Then of course is "Jog to Position" which give you 2 options 1) edge 2) center. I've only used edge, which you are telling it where the right-most corner closest to the keypad will be. Center I'm guessing is you are telling it where to place the center of the project on the current board.

[liquidguitars]

Center is pretty much self explainatory although there seems to be a rounding error in there.

Seem like it to me 2.. So its cool for one pass projects but any complex project it seems beter to "use place on end". or if you plan to run the same pattern more than once on the same board like i do "place on end" is spot on.


"Place on End" thinking it would place it on the left-most end and center on the width but it put it just like "Place on Corner".

If I have this right, "Place on end" Key "03". is not your wood but the end of the Designer project starting at the front then working it way to the end. If you had a longer board than Designer, it will mesure untill it reads out the max size of the project and stops and on to the next Q.

LG

[Amonaug]

Seem like it to me 2.. So its cool for one pass projects but any complex project it seems beter to "use place on end".



If I have this right, "Place on end" Key "03". is not your wood but the end of the Designer project starting at the front and working to the end. If you had a longer board, it will mesure untill it reads out the max size of the project and stops at the end of the sizing and on to the next Q.

LG

If you tell it not to stay under the rollers is starts it on the left edge of your board. If you tell is to stay under the rollers it starts it 3.5" from the left edge of your board.

[liquidguitars]

after 2 years of this stuff i must say i only used "stay under
rollers "yes" once! I always choose no to stay under roller "02" due to the sled having 4" tails.


One more thing to think about is slipping of the wood in the unit durring the carve, this will give a sight distortion to the carving making one side a tad long.

LG

[mtylerfl]

...One more thing to think about is slipping of the wood in the unit durring the carve, this will give a sight distortion to the carving making one side a tad long.

LG

LG,

I don't understand what you are referring to - are you having your boards slip or something?

[liquidguitars]

I used to use nothing but "Center on Board" which works for most of my carvings. Then I started having problems with lining up 2-sided carves even though I was pretty sure the project board was square and the rails I use were both the same width (most of the problem carves were offset on the width, length placement was usually fine).


I don't understand what you are referring to - are you having your boards slip or something?

Not at this time, but Kevin needs to factor this also.

If the board binds or slips during a long 2 sided carve, you can get errors from end to end.

You will think it's your pattern but improper pressure is the issue.

LG

[mtylerfl]

Hello,

I guess I'll try "Place On End" sometime, but I've not had any problems whatsoever with two-sided carves using "Center On Length". Admittedly, I have not run a test like Amonaug did, however some of my two-sided carves are "accuracy critical" and I have not experienced any issues.

As an example, see the pen holder project photo below (that was a special project I designed for LHR to submit to the Air Force). The jet is a two-sided carve and accuracy was essential because of the thinness of the wings and the small size of the jet. The jet support has complex compound curves and is a two-side carve as well, so accuracy had to be dead-on for that to come out right also. I used "Center On Length" as usual.

(By the way, the thin upright tail fins were cut out separately from thin aircraft plywood and glued into slots that were carved via the CW machine.)

[Eagle Hollow]

Michael,

That's incredible!! A first cabin project from a Master. Thank you for sharing. You are an inspiration to all of us.

[Amonaug]

When I was just doing 1 ornament for a test carve I had no problems with aligning the patterns. But when I tried carving 9 or more at one time that is when I encountered problems.

[liquidguitars]

tried carving 9 or more at one time that is when I encountered problems.


however some of my two-sided carves are "accuracy critical" and I have not experienced any issues.

For smaller projects like the jet, let say around 20" you will not see a prob as the total slippage is nominal, but for a guitar neck over 30" it can be a issue if your pressure or belts are worn.


most of the problem carves were offset on the width, length placement was usually fine).

Edit:

sorry I was thinking your lenght was off, for centering it can be a lot of things...

try a calabrate offset first, then drill two holes as center marks on the end of sled to index your wood.



LG

[Amonaug]

That's just it, it makes no sense.

I've run calibration and I've done test carves for accuracy. For example I took a board and drew crosshairs on 2 corners on both sides and designeda 2 sided carve to carve the crosshairs. They came out almost spot on which I give the slight error on 1 of the crosshairs due to my drawing it being off since the other 3 were on.

Did a drill hole test for dead center as explained in another post then made the same hole 5/16" due to getting oblong drill holes before. This came out almost a perfect circle. Thinking it was good I ran a set of 6 yo-yo's (the single test carve was perfect) and every hole drilled was off center and oblong.

As far as I can tell there is no slippage but I will be testing the pressure.

[liquidguitars]

Thats a odd one... center indexing can be tricky.
you can have the board centered in the sled but the sled can be off in the CW. :mad:

I let the CW make the center line for me buy drilling holes on the end of the sleds tails. With the holes on the sled, I can center the wood board top and bottom A side B side ect..

if your holes are out of round, i would check the belts
for bunching at the ends it hard to see. Also I cut 1/2" off the side of the belts even if new now.

LG