Why can't I just jog to position to start cutting without all the length measurement?

Why is it so frickin' hard to just put a piece of wood into the machine, allow for 3.5" to stay under the rollers, jog to start position, center on width, and hit CARVE ?
I really don't give a flying you-know-what about how long my board is- I don't care to center on length, I just want to throw a 12" carving on the first end of it. WHY is that so frickin' impossible? For instance, I sometimes like to carve on rough-sawn lumber for effect, but the tracking sensor REALLY busting my cojones with the rough surface trying to measure the length I don't care about !! And YES, I know all about crisping up the tracking edge and masking the surface for the board sensor. (I know it works for width measurements) I'd LOVE to just continue feeding the same board (any board) into the machine, adding, then removing, carvings to/from it as I work from one end to the other, WITHOUT having to go through all the rigamarole before carving (width measurement and finding surface are fine). In other words: how can I just measure width, find bit-to-wood touch location, center on width, jog to the cutting start end, and CUT ?
I DON"T CARE how long my board is, where center length is, or how 'precise' my tracking is. (it never has measured accurately, anyway)
I just want to load a board, load a piece, carve it, remove it from the board, and go on to the next.
BTW: I'm on an EARLY Sears Compucarve, running 1.184, and I keep it well maintained.

I WOULD say that I'm frustrated beyond words- but I guess I'm NOT, based on the above.

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Originally Posted by eastcutty

Why is it so frickin' hard to just put a piece of wood into the machine, allow for 3.5" to stay under the rollers, jog to start position, center on width, and hit CARVE ?
I really don't give a flying you-know-what about how long my board is- I don't care to center on length, I just want to throw a 12" carving on the first end of it. WHY is that so frickin' impossible? For instance, I sometimes like to carve on rough-sawn lumber for effect, but the tracking sensor REALLY busting my cojones with the rough surface trying to measure the length I don't care about !! And YES, I know all about crisping up the tracking edge and masking the surface for the board sensor. (I know it works for width measurements) I'd LOVE to just continue feeding the same board (any board) into the machine, adding, then removing, carvings to/from it as I work from one end to the other, WITHOUT having to go through all the rigamarole before carving (width measurement and finding surface are fine). In other words: how can I just measure width, find bit-to-wood touch location, center on width, jog to the cutting start end, and CUT ?
I DON"T CARE how long my board is, where center length is, or how 'precise' my tracking is. (it never has measured accurately, anyway)
I just want to load a board, load a piece, carve it, remove it from the board, and go on to the next.
BTW: I'm on an EARLY Sears Compucarve, running 1.184, and I keep it well maintained.

I WOULD say that I'm frustrated beyond words- but I guess I'm NOT, based on the above.

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I'm sorry, but the brass tracking roller is an integral part of the CarveWright machine for the present.

Your option for carving on rough sawn wood may be to use a set of rails, a jig or sled, to assist with your needed tracking. These items will be what the brass roller and other sensors will use. It will depend upon how true your actual board is, as to which method will be best for that particular project.
AskBud

Sorry, Bud, but you're missing the point here. I'm not grippin' about how the sensors work, or about why they're needed SOMETIMES, and they are, like when you WANT to center on length or actually measure it. What I'm grippin' about is that when you are running a piece of wood that you anticipate will be problematic (like a bevel or notches, even bark on the tracking edge) you don't HAVE THE OPTION to park the truck where you want it and go to town. I know there are goof-proof failsafes built into the system so newbies (or the not-so-mechanically-inclined) can't "hurt themselves or the machine" and that they ARE necessary for just that reason, there really ought to be an "opt out" or "manual jog to position" function in the Manual Options.

I forgot to mention: Thanks Bud, you have already helped me out more times than I can remember via the forum responses you've sent as replies to other people. You really do a great service to all of us! Thanks.

...Maybe a downloadable software upgrade providing the option that requires an "administrative approval" from CarveWright to run, say, after proving experience and/or capability somehow?

Very interesting idea- it certainly has merit.

Welcome to the forum.

On a side note, it sounds like you have some experience with the machine. I'm sure many of us are interested in hearing more about you as I'm sure you can be a benefit to our community and I'm sure we can benefit from hearing about your experiences and how your successes can help the engineers better serve us all in the future. This would probably go over a bit better than what may be construed by some as a bit of a tirade.

Welcome again,

Lawrence

ps- if you are having accuracy problems it may be a sign of other issues-- I get accuracy to within 1/64 repeatedly and on different boards...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eastcutty

...Maybe a downloadable software upgrade providing the option that requires an "administrative approval" from CarveWright to run, say, after proving experience and/or capability somehow?

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You probably couldn't afford it.

Odd- I just checked my profile to see when I first signed up and it says June of this year! I know I've been on here in years past, I think I probably had to re-submit if I forgot my password or formerly signed in as Airplay5162 (my email). I actually don't remember.

Anyway, I sincerely apologize to you, Bud, Carol on Facebook, and any/everyone who reads that post for the aptly-described-as tirade. I just couldn't get over how a function like manually controlling the cutting head position would be missing from the options menu. It seemed like common sense to me, although I do understand the need to automate by default for safety (and other) reasons.

In response to your side note, I do have a pretty fair amount of experience with my machine, both good and bad. I mean that as: made newbie mistakes that required replacing broken bits, gears with broken teeth, re-locating the traction belts, etc., and service such as removing, cleaning, modifying and re-installing the board sensor, etc over the years- but learning all the while how NOT to need to do that again! LOL I also have developed some techniques over time that allow me to produce some very realistic portaits, for example, as well as the usual array of cool thru to impressive carvings using the available libraries of patterns (though I'm going bonkers trying to create depth-mapped images to use as patterns from a combination of Attachment 55236Attachment 55237GIMP 2.8 and CW Designer at the moment). Attachment 55234Attachment 55235 Here are a few examples to offer.Attachment 55238Attachment 55239Attachment 55240Attachment 55241

wow, your picture technique is impressive, those look spectacular. Would you care to share how you do it?

dave

Nice looking stuff. Well done!

WELCOME..... (EDIT:.... Just looked at the posts above that showed up while I was hard at work posting this answer, though you were New.... So it turns out you were just in a bad mood and needed to vent... Never Mind....) False Alarm... The Sky is not really falling... It's Raining.....

THIS post is for the New Guys reading this later....



The first thing I would recommend is that you start designing your projects with using "Place on END" Mode of cutting rather than "Center on Board" in mind. Look at my pictures.... Place a 4 inch blank area on the right side of Designer since the Brass Roller is on the top of the computer screen. Then design your project from there leaving the 4 inch blank area. I stay away from 3.5 as then the board is just on the tip of the roller... I like it to be a half inch further under the roller... Both work....

Then I design the Project and make the LEFT side of the board SHORT... NOT worrying about the 4 inch rule. I will leave my board LONG every time.... What this does is move the board in length JUST until "enough" board has been seen to work for the project. You will notice when you use CENTER ON BOARD that the machine measures the board end for end TWICE... Lots of SERVO TIME in the life of the machine.... I use PLACE ON END almost all the time.... IF your board is WIDER than your Designer Board then you will see "PLACE ON CORNER".... And know it will place the project on the UPPER Right side of the Designer Screen....

Now to address your use of Rough Swan Lumber... Easy.... Get some 1/4 inch Hardboard and RIP it down to about 2 inches wider than the planned rough board. With that 2 inches you will need to cut down some smooth wood for Rails to be glued on each side of the Hardboard. This will let the rubber rollers roll along the smooth rails. The trick is to make the Rails AS or Slightly Higher than the Rough Wood. Any Speed Bumps in the Rough Wood can cause a Jam of the X Drive and likely snap the X Plastic Gear... And before you mention that the Gear must be cheap to snap.... Well, it is a $8.00 +- Gear that is designed to be the weak link in the event of a Jam and Snap. Put a Brass Gear in it's spot then the $100.00 + X Motor Burns Out in a Jam.... OR the X Servo Driver inside the Computer Burns Out... $300.00+ Computer... So far no one is offering to do Driver Transistor Replacements on Computers.... I did it all the Time at Sony.... Pick and Place Servo Robots...

So the trick is to Jog to the surface of the Rough Board for the bit to touch it and know where the surface is. DANGER.... IF you make the Rails TOOOOOO High... The Machine can TRIP over the Rails and Snap a Z Truck or Bearing....

Now about the Rails in Designer.... DRAW a Box the width of the Rails and place it on the TOP of the Designer Screen and on the Bottom Edge of the Board to mark out the DEAD area for the rails. Place the Project up against the Blocks so the Rails won't get cut.

I know it is not perfect.. But all the tips will help....

With your Hardboard Carrier Board you can place a 4 inch block of wood on the end between the rails as the machine needs a surface at the end of the rails to let the front of the carrier to be properly detected. IT needs to be FLUSH with the end of the Rails on the Front End. The machine uses a combination of the end of the Rails and the rollers compressing and un compressing and the Board Detector finding the head end of the board or the Starting point. All X measurements are based from this edge or the right side of Designer...

For projects NOT using the Carrier Board with Rails or also know as a Sled I TAPE a Scrap 4 inch board on the end of a GOOD BOARD. This lets me have FRUGAL Use of the Wood. See Pictures....

And I always use "NOT stay under rollers" as I build the staying under the rails into the project design.

And ALL this info can ALSO be found in TIPS and TRICKS.... Written by US as WE all had to learn everything you are learning... Just writing it down to save new users TIME IF we can get them to read them...

Good Luck,

AL