First pattern

[atldal]

Hello all,

This is my first effort and am wondering if there are any suggestion on if this should work or not.

Thanks
Shane

[DickB]

You selected the 1/8" ballnose carving bit - I would suggest the more standard 1/16" bit. I would add draft to everything. The pigs have some fine lines - I would probably lower their height some more to prevent chip out.

[myshop1044]

Shane it looks good. As for me I like the "draft" feature. I played around with your mpc.
I changed the spacing to 60 and added a meduim draft to "street fighters", also changed the spacing of 40 the the other text with
medium draft and had to resize the text a little. This way you want pick your lettering apart. I also add meduim draft to the stadium also.But of corse I like
draft. I'm not sure what to do with pigs, the lines are so think, I feel the bit will pick the lines apart. You may even lower ther height a bit too.
Of coures this all my ideas. I hope this helps.

Perry B.

[atldal]

Perry,

Would you mind posting the MPC with the changes you tried so i can look at them?

Shane

[mtylerfl]

Hi Shane,

I would suggest...

1) remove the Edge Route entirely - use your hand or table router for doing the decorative edging instead

2) reduce the Carve Region to 0.125" (instead of 0.25")

3) reduce the depth of all elements to 0.125"

4) add draft to all (small or medium) (unfortunately, the draft probably won't help the thin outlines of the pigs - you may get chipping anyway)

5) reduce Height of the Pigs and the Stadium to 50, reduce the Text Height to 100 (everything was set at 400...have no idea why...did you have any particular reason for that?)

[atldal]

Got to be honest with you, not sure why I chose any of the settings. I'm completely new to this and just kind of trial and error with it. i will make several of the changes suggested and give it a try. Thanks for all the help.

[mtylerfl]

Got to be honest with you, not sure why I chose any of the settings. I'm completely new to this and just kind of trial and error with it. i will make several of the changes suggested and give it a try. Thanks for all the help.

Ok, I understand. We were ALL where you are at some point and that's why were all so anxious to help. Page 70 of your Software Manual has a somewhat technical explanation of the Height function. You may want to read it a couple times or so for it to make sense, and it's not really a very complete explanation of actually how to use it. Just remember you sometimes need to type in values LOWER than the default of 100 for "fragile" stuff - don't be afraid to experiment (the Software Manual is a PDF and is accessed via the Help Menu in Designer in case you didn't know).

I would really like to see you get a proper pattern for those pigs. Outline/graphic conversions are sometimes a challenge to yield a great carving result. There are a couple folks on this forum who have a lot of time on their hands and often will jump in with a contribution of a ptn that will carve better than just outlines. Of course, there are also folks who do this for a living and well worth paying them for a decent pattern.

If there is anything you don't understand, we are here for you. Just holler!

[mtylerfl]

I forgot to ask you one more thing...I noticed you setup your board at 12" x 18". Is your board ACTUALLY 12" wide? The reason I ask is "stock" 1x12 boards are actually 11.2" - 11.3" wide. It's important to input the width at slightly less than the "real" width so you don't run into Scaling issues at the machine. I will assume you are already familiar with the so-called 7" Rule to keep your board under the pressure rollers at all times when running a project (that's why you don't want the Edge Route on a board sized the same as your layout - it will require the board to leave the rollers, can lead to possible mistracking and takes much longer than hand edge-routing anyway).

Again, if you are unclear on anything - let us know.

[atldal]

So I made some of the suggested changes. Still not sure about that stupid pig.

[myshop1044]

Shane your changes look a lot like mine, M T has covered most everything very well. Not to waste any wood, you
can test carve on what I call "pink Foam". the sheet of insulation you use in the walls of your house, works great.
Here is my verison. I like softness on a project, I like to lower the letter height and the patterns too. Like M T said
sometimes it's better to ask for a pattern or even buy one, I have done both many times. People like M T and others
have made patterns for me that are special requests. I don't mind paying for quality.

Perry B.