Cutting out shapes

[cajunpen]

I am waiting for my CW to arrive and I have a million projects running through my head while awaiting the arrival of the new baby (bet at least one of you out there knows that feeling ).

I was wondering if I can cut a shape out of a board - for example if I were to take a 12" x 14" board, can I cut out a shape, say a heart shape, from the center of the board? If so, how would I do it?

Also, when carving text into wood, say for example a name bar for a desk, do you simply type in the name, select the text and go from there? I don't understand the difference between the Raster, Outline and Centerline. I would assume that Outline would do what it says, but what about Raster and Centerline? Does one work better than the other?

Thanks in advance for any replys.

Bill

[nicobie]

My self, I'd like to see the computer controlled multi bit holder.

A way bigger image library would be cool too. In fact, it might be vital in order to sell these neat machines in volume.

Any guesses on delivery times?

[Dan-Woodman]

Hey cajunpen,
To answer your question, raster is carving (usually with the 1/16" bit)
in a back and forth motion across the width of the board. ( like a printer)
Centerline, is cutting on the line usually at different depths and most of the time making it looked handcarved.enjoy
On the heart shape cutout I imported a heart shaped line drawing from Print Artist. Only thing is ,cw uses an 1/8" solid carbide endmill, 1" cutting lenth witch I would think they would be pretty fragile cutting very deep.
If you don't have any other way to cut them , it will work . My personal 0pion is the feedrate is too fast for most hardwoods . I have drilled holes with it and it does work . I preferr to have it only cut 1/8" deep or so , for a line to follow and then cut it out with a scrollsaw. Later Daniel