Sled

[FWMiller]

Where it touches sets the top surface of the carve so it does matter. Touch it on the workpiece, not the sled.

[unitedcases]

The actual board itself.

[jakab]

Thanks to both of you.

...Peter

[Chip]

Unitedcases, I for one would appreciate a couple of more pics of your sled, particularly the bottom .
As for the ends of the sled, is the sled being measured to the corners of the end pieces or to the corners of the rail?
If measuring to the corners of the rails, what is the purpose of the pieces of wood on each end?
Pics and reply is greatly appreciated.

[unitedcases]

Unitedcases, I for one would appreciate a couple of more pics of your sled, particularly the bottom .
As for the ends of the sled, is the sled being measured to the corners of the end pieces or to the corners of the rail?
If measuring to the corners of the rails, what is the purpose of the pieces of wood on each end?
Pics and reply is greatly appreciated.

Absolutely. The entire sled is measured. The sled is 39.5 long and 12 inches wide. So my design in designer is those exact measurements. The ends are about 3 inches long but in designer I have 4 inch squares at both ends. The rails are 3/8 inch and in designer I have those drawn out as well. So when I upload a project I just make me design 3/8 from the top and then center it. I have many sleds but this one is for all my 11.25 inch wide boards. I use it to make 11 inch tall pieces. That way I have some wiggle room top and bottom. Everyone does it different. I found that the best way to be quick and somewhat repetitive was to learn the sleds. I think I have 8 or 9. Some don't get used near as often. And I don't think that includes my scanning sled. The bottom is crude but for me, very effective. Rather than have a bunch of holes going thru and wearing the sled itself out I always add a inch on each side of the piece I am carving and fasten it from the backside. Using the grid. All I did was cover it with masking tape and then made a big grid. I drill when I need new holes. Let me know if this helps.



I used stain grade shelf panels and 3/8 square dowels from lowes. The pine is thick enough to handle the holes and screws but light enough to not add a lot of weight. I used very small nails to fasten the rails on with.

[DocWheeler]

As for the ends of the sled, is the sled being measured to the corners of the end pieces or to the corners of the rail?
If measuring to the corners of the rails, what is the purpose of the pieces of wood on each end?
Pics and reply is greatly appreciated.

The end pieces are necessary for the sensor to measure in the X direction.
They need to be at least 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" wide (X direction) to work correctly.

[ronboley]

Just a thought on sleds...I've found that the machine is a lot more cooperative in measuring and running projects if you use an accurately built sled to hold the work pieces rather than just loading a board. It seems that no matter how flat, square and true you try to mill your board, the machine has issues with measuring the board and/or carving the whole project. The sleds can be built very straight, square and ridged with 1/4" ply bottoms, 1-1/2" wide x 1-1/2" thick (or thicker) rails and 3-1/2" wide end pieces. The board is centered so the "center on board" option can be used.

I make the rails out of the best hard wood scraps I have around and mill them as flat, square and true as possible . I have built four general purpose sleds to fit a variety of "stock" widths and lengths and a couple of special use (long) sleds for specific projects. I've built these sleds over a period of time as I worked on projects so now I have a variety. The attached picture is my sled for a 4" x 24" board (or smaller). I'm currently running 3-1/2" x 24" boards for leg pieces (32 of 'em) on a table project. I shim the board to be centered on the sled. The sleds can be built up to match the boar thickness or filler pieces can be placed below the board to make the board top surface and the sled top surface the same. The current sled is carving boards 1-3/4" thick so I added 1/4" to the top of my 1-1/2" deep sled. I run my sled assembly thru my table saw to make sure the assembled sides are parallel and smooth.

Long boards are especially difficult. I tried to carve 6 foot boards directly with mixed success. It seems no matter how well you place auxillary rollers on the infeed and outfeed, the length causes the board to raise or move and the natural bow of the lumber (always is some) creates real problems with the ability of the machine to measure the board. My fix on my previous table project was to was to build a long sled that helped with the rigidity of the board and took some of the bow out of the problem.

OK more than one thought but that's it.

[fwharris]

Just a thought on sleds...I've found that the machine is a lot more cooperative in measuring and running projects if you use an accurately built sled to hold the work pieces rather than just loading a board. It seems that no matter how flat, square and true you try to mill your board, the machine has issues with measuring the board and/or carving the whole project. The sleds can be built very straight, square and ridged with 1/4" ply bottoms, 1-1/2" wide x 1-1/2" thick (or thicker) rails and 3-1/2" wide end pieces. The board is centered so the "center on board" option can be used.

I make the rails out of the best hard wood scraps I have around and mill them as flat, square and true as possible . I have built four general purpose sleds to fit a variety of "stock" widths and lengths and a couple of special use (long) sleds for specific projects. I've built these sleds over a period of time as I worked on projects so now I have a variety. The attached picture is my sled for a 4" x 24" board (or smaller). I'm currently running 3-1/2" x 24" boards for leg pieces (32 of 'em) on a table project. I shim the board to be centered on the sled. The sleds can be built up to match the boar thickness or filler pieces can be placed below the board to make the board top surface and the sled top surface the same. The current sled is carving boards 1-3/4" thick so I added 1/4" to the top of my 1-1/2" deep sled. I run my sled assembly thru my table saw to make sure the assembled sides are parallel and smooth.

Long boards are especially difficult. I tried to carve 6 foot boards directly with mixed success. It seems no matter how well you place auxillary rollers on the infeed and outfeed, the length causes the board to raise or move and the natural bow of the lumber (always is some) creates real problems with the ability of the machine to measure the board. My fix on my previous table project was to was to build a long sled that helped with the rigidity of the board and took some of the bow out of the problem.

OK more than one thought but that's it.

Great points on the benefits of using sleds. I've seen the same results.

[unitedcases]

On ebay I found some adjustable roller assemblies. I mounted them on some scrap 2 X 4s and adjust for every project. Even when they are in the sled sometimes they are still different when it come to bow.

[DocWheeler]

Just a thought on sleds...I've found that the machine is a lot more cooperative in measuring and running projects if you use an accurately built sled to hold the work pieces rather than just loading a board. It seems that no matter how flat, square and true you try to mill your board, the machine has issues with measuring the board and/or carving the whole project. The sleds can be built very straight, square and ridged with 1/4" ply bottoms, 1-1/2" wide x 1-1/2" thick (or thicker) rails and 3-1/2" wide end pieces. The board is centered so the "center on board" option can be used.

With rails wider than 7/8", you can not simply measure the Y direction with the rails only.
Anything greater or equal one inch requires a continuous area to measure the Y dimension.

Not a criticism of your sled, it obviously works for you.
With narrower rails, you can measure the Y just about anywhere.