Help with Spelling Bee Plaque

[tablerock]

Thanks for the help!
I will give it a try this weekend.
It looks great!

Tablerock - How's this?

8x8 finished board, don't forget 3.5" on each end when carving, font is Rockwell Condensed.

Carve on Optimum if using select pine (found at Home Depot).

It will carve well for you.

[cnsranch]

Glad I could help - wanted to keep the KISS theory in mind on this one - we get into the mode of creating super-fancy projects when the fact of the matter is that most folks haven't even seen a simple one - they're often as happy/impressed with a KISS project than an elaborate one.

MT, your advice on text is right-on (of course), but I really learned whatever "tenets" I go by re the basics of a project thru trial and error ( and all but memorizing your Tips and Tricks editions).

Chris Alb taught me right off to take time to really look at the project as it is in Designer - zoom in as close as you can, and LOOK at what you've got - although WYSIWYG, what Designer DOESN'T show you is what will, and what will not, chip-out. In the beginning, we tend to forget the actual size of the project we're designing - we can look at it in Designer, and it looks great - but when we carve it, it often doesn't.

My very first project was intended to create my son's brand-new business card in wood - an exact reproduction, right down to the size, shape, etc. I had the dimensions right, the logo was there, the fonts were correct - when you looked at in Designer, it was perfect. Well, you can probably guess what happened when I carved it...

I had a piece of wood with a bunch of tiny "scratches" on it that you couldn't decipher - even though it looked good in Designer, the carving bit simply couldn't carve text 1/16" tall. That was one valuable lesson learned - not only make sure you LOOK at your project in Designer, but take care to KNOW the height, width, etc. of the elements in your project and ask yourself it they make sense. Text may look great in Designer, but if the letters are only 1/4" in size, and the top of your "t" is razor thin, they're gonna chip.

We all like the way raster text LOOKS in Designer without any draft (sharp-looking edges, vertical sides), and in the beginning, I didn't like the way the text LOOKED like in Designer with a medium draft, but I've learned that they actually look waaay better with a draft after carving. As an example, take a look at the attached (you've seen it before) but it's here to show how the text I used in the Spelling Bee project will actually carve - clean text, looks like a pro did it, etc.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a set of tutorials/beginner projects that came with Designer for new owners to carve - tutorials designed to show what will carve badly, and why, and tutorials designed to show what will carve well, and why. You can really learn a ton about the machine and how it works with an 8', 1x6 piece of select pine from Home Depot.

[mtylerfl]

...Wouldn't it be nice if there were a set of tutorials/beginner projects that came with Designer for new owners to carve - tutorials designed to show what will carve badly, and why, and tutorials designed to show what will carve well, and why. You can really learn a ton about the machine and how it works with an 8', 1x6 piece of select pine from Home Depot.

Jerry, that is one beautiful sign! Gorgeous work.

Your suggestion is a great one about the tutorials - if/when we can get ahead of our normal obligations and deadlines, the plan is to create everything from high-quality videos to a complete third-party written manual with actual project tutorials.

By 'we', I mean Jeff Birt, Joe Lovchik and me. Joe and I have even discussed the possibility of streaming video webinars in the future - called something like "Live! Tips & Tricks.". We all have also discussed the idea of cloning ourselves so we can actually have the time to do everything we really want for the CarveWright User community! Oh well, one step at a time...

[tablerock]

Hi, I cut the sign this last weekend, twice actually and it stopped short both times of finishing the project saying it was completed. It stopped both times about 3-4 inches from completion in the same exact spot.
Do you have any suggestions as to how or why it did it?
Thanks
KV

Glad I could help - wanted to keep the KISS theory in mind on this one - we get into the mode of creating super-fancy projects when the fact of the matter is that most folks haven't even seen a simple one - they're often as happy/impressed with a KISS project than an elaborate one.

MT, your advice on text is right-on (of course), but I really learned whatever "tenets" I go by re the basics of a project thru trial and error ( and all but memorizing your Tips and Tricks editions).

Chris Alb taught me right off to take time to really look at the project as it is in Designer - zoom in as close as you can, and LOOK at what you've got - although WYSIWYG, what Designer DOESN'T show you is what will, and what will not, chip-out. In the beginning, we tend to forget the actual size of the project we're designing - we can look at it in Designer, and it looks great - but when we carve it, it often doesn't.

My very first project was intended to create my son's brand-new business card in wood - an exact reproduction, right down to the size, shape, etc. I had the dimensions right, the logo was there, the fonts were correct - when you looked at in Designer, it was perfect. Well, you can probably guess what happened when I carved it...

I had a piece of wood with a bunch of tiny "scratches" on it that you couldn't decipher - even though it looked good in Designer, the carving bit simply couldn't carve text 1/16" tall. That was one valuable lesson learned - not only make sure you LOOK at your project in Designer, but take care to KNOW the height, width, etc. of the elements in your project and ask yourself it they make sense. Text may look great in Designer, but if the letters are only 1/4" in size, and the top of your "t" is razor thin, they're gonna chip.

We all like the way raster text LOOKS in Designer without any draft (sharp-looking edges, vertical sides), and in the beginning, I didn't like the way the text LOOKED like in Designer with a medium draft, but I've learned that they actually look waaay better with a draft after carving. As an example, take a look at the attached (you've seen it before) but it's here to show how the text I used in the Spelling Bee project will actually carve - clean text, looks like a pro did it, etc.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a set of tutorials/beginner projects that came with Designer for new owners to carve - tutorials designed to show what will carve badly, and why, and tutorials designed to show what will carve well, and why. You can really learn a ton about the machine and how it works with an 8', 1x6 piece of select pine from Home Depot.

[mtylerfl]

Hi, I cut the sign this last weekend, twice actually and it stopped short both times of finishing the project saying it was completed. It stopped both times about 3-4 inches from completion in the same exact spot.
Do you have any suggestions as to how or why it did it?
Thanks
KV

KV,

Sorry to hear you had problems. Can you post a photo of the spoiled project? Sometimes we can tell what the problem might be just by looking at it.

One quick theory comes to mind...It is possible that the board might have intermittently slipped or lost contact with the brass tracking roller - perhaps the roller was turning, but the board wasn't reliably moving along - that could have fooled the machine in thinking you were all done, when in reality, the board wasn't moving like it should. A good, clear photo might help us see some evidence of that possibility.


Questions...

Did you have any unusual messages appear on your LCD screen during the project run?

Did you use 'good wood'? (flat, no twists, cups, warp, parallel width dimension and defect-free edges, etc.)

Was the underside of the board 'slick'/smooth to the point it might have interfered with the brass roller contact? (Masking tape pressed tightly down along the underside edge near the keypad can help give more 'bite' to the roller.)

Were your outfeed trays adjusted correctly to assure no 'bump' occurred as the board traveled through and over them?

Could it be that the sliding squaring plate may have been pushed too tightly against the board?

Was your board that you placed into the machine at least 7" longer than the project as it is displayed in the Designer software? (Example: if the software display has a project length of 20", then the board you put into the machine needs to be at least 27" long.)

[tablerock]

Sometimes we can tell what the problem might be just by looking at it.
I will try and get a pic taken of it. I don't think it was a slippage problem, because I did it twice and it did it exactly the same way both times.

KV,

Sorry to hear you had problems. Can you post a photo of the spoiled project?

Sometimes we can tell what the problem might be just by looking at it.
I will try and get a pic taken of it. I don't think it was a slippage problem, because I did it twice and it did it exactly the same way both times.

One quick theory comes to mind...It is possible that the board might have intermittently slipped or lost contact with the brass tracking roller - perhaps the roller was turning, but the board wasn't reliably moving along - that could have fooled the machine in thinking you were all done, when in reality, the board wasn't moving like it should. A good, clear photo might help us see some evidence of that possibility.


Questions...

Did you have any unusual messages appear on your LCD screen during the project run?
It kept giving me close lid errors, but when I opened and shut it, it would start again.

Did you use 'good wood'? (flat, no twists, cups, warp, parallel width dimension and defect-free edges, etc.)
yes

Was the underside of the board 'slick'/smooth to the point it might have interfered with the brass roller contact? (Masking tape pressed tightly down along the underside edge near the keypad can help give more 'bite' to the roller.)

Were your outfeed trays adjusted correctly to assure no 'bump' occurred as the board traveled through and over them?

Could it be that the sliding squaring plate may have been pushed too tightly against the board?

Was your board that you placed into the machine at least 7" longer than the project as it is displayed in the Designer software? (Example: if the software display has a project length of 20", then the board you put into the machine needs to be at least 27" long.)

[mtylerfl]

Sometimes we can tell what the problem might be just by looking at it.
I will try and get a pic taken of it. I don't think it was a slippage problem, because I did it twice and it did it exactly the same way both times.

Ok, we'll see what we can see from your photos. Don't forget to answer all the questions posted previously - it will help us, to help you.

[cnsranch]

Hi, I cut the sign this last weekend, twice actually and it stopped short both times of finishing the project saying it was completed. It stopped both times about 3-4 inches from completion in the same exact spot.
Do you have any suggestions as to how or why it did it?
Thanks
KV

OK, I've got a dumb question - if you don't have the extra 3.5" on the end of the board (you use a board that's 8"x8", as designed), and you tell the machine to stay under the rollers, and you tell the machine NOT to scale the project, will it stop 3.5" short of actually completing the project, and tell you the project's done? (I don't even know if the machine will let you do this, but if it would, that may be the problem).

[mtylerfl]

OK, I've got a dumb question - if you don't have the extra 3.5" on the end of the board (you use a board that's 8"x8", as designed), and you tell the machine to stay under the rollers, and you tell the machine NOT to scale the project, will it stop 3.5" short of actually completing the project, and tell you the project's done? (I don't even know if the machine will let you do this, but if it would, that may be the problem).

I don't see how it would be possible that the machine would tell you the project is done, but certainly if the board is too short (lacking the extra 7") is is very possible that board 'tip' or board 'slip' could cause the project to stop in the same place. That's why I wish we had the full story (answered questions and photos) - if something caused the project to halt prematurely, one would think there should have been some indication on the LCD, though.

Without important details, we may never know!