Pierced not fully piercing - in Designer 3.102

[Mike58]

If it is not the floor feather, maybe you could post the mpc and we can have a look. (Go Advanced and Manage Attachments)

The file contains a pattern that I purchased from the Pattern Depot. I suppose that I will have to remove it in order to do this? Nobody else would be able to open the file with the purchased pattern in it will they?

[fwharris]

Patterns from the Depot are protected so if someone did down load the mpc they could view it but that as far as the can go.

[fwharris]

Could it be possible that there are some areas that are not floored so they would not go to the bottom of the board. Your other option is to put a crave region around your pattern and set that as pierced.

[Mike58]

Here is the one that I have been inquiring about. I have a larger size of the same thing done first, but I did use the cutting bit on it. Rotated the pattern and scaled down to work on 1"x12" oak so the long side was the z axis to speed up the craving time.

[Mike58]

Could it be possible that there are some areas that are not floored so they would not go to the bottom of the board. Your other option is to put a crave region around your pattern and set that as pierced.

If I understand you right I think that is what I did. The edge is raised and slightly tapered going down to the "bottom" side. That's why I thought this would be the fastest and easiest way to do this. Let the carving bit cut it all out except for 4 tabs to hold the plaque in place.

[fwharris]

Yes after looking at your project I see that is what you have done. If it were me I would go ahead and carve it but would also put a 1/4" feather (I had to flip the feather to get it to work). You might end up with a thin skin in some areas but that should be able to be cut out with a sharp knife. It might also help to hold the part in place.

[Mike58]

Also forgot to add this is double sided. I carved 2 small rectangles in the back for hanging this and a poor text in the center rastered out. I will probably eliminate the dated on the back and laser it instead. This was to be a Valentines gift to my wife. The first one I did in oak was 10" with the board and took over 4 hours to carve. I uploaded the file on best and bit optimization on best on all. On the highest upload setting the engraving time was over 8 hours. Didn't have that much time to do it. Machine sitting on the tailgate of my truck in front of the shop the laser is in. Using a small Craftsman shop vacuum to blow the carvings out of the machine as it ran. Didn't realize the depth was as deep as it was, so the rectangles cut out in the back were cut through from the front due to the front side being cut out so deep. Boy the pattern looked good carved that deep, right up till the holes showed up from the back side. I just bought over $1000 work of software, the centerline text would be nice to have, but I can laser engrave that much faster than I can carve it and have razor sharp edges too.

[SteveEJ]

Why do I need to do that? Already carving the plaque out, and didn't see any reason to change the bit and do that as a extra step when the carving bit is already there to start with. Extra step and time that don't have to be done to get the same end result.

Well, one good reason is that it would leave tabs so the carved area would not detach from the stock. That's what the cutout function is for. Carve the area or part you want carved then apply the cutout and the software adds tabs. You could do it manually later if you wish to do it your way. It really does not take much time to change a bit. Much more standardized way of cutting parts out. If you don't use the cutout or add the tabs to your project then when the part detaches from the stock there is nothing from keeping it from flopping around in the cutout area and damaging your machine. JMHO

[Mike58]

Yes after looking at your project I see that is what you have done. If it were me I would go ahead and carve it but would also put a 1/4" feather (I had to flip the feather to get it to work). You might end up with a thin skin in some areas but that should be able to be cut out with a sharp knife. It might also help to hold the part in place.

So is there anything obvious that I did wrong? It looks like to me if the design software doesn't show it to be doing what I am trying to do, that the carving isn't going to either. But I am at a loss why part shows cutting out fully and other places don't. I understand the carving could be different if the board thickness varied but I don't see how that would be the problem in the software.

[fwharris]

So is there anything obvious that I did wrong? It looks like to me if the design software doesn't show it to be doing what I am trying to do, that the carving isn't going to either. But I am at a loss why part shows cutting out fully and other places don't. I understand the carving could be different if the board thickness varied but I don't see how that would be the problem in the software.

The only other thing maybe would be make your tabs higher to insure the board is held in place. Some times if they are to low/thin they will bread out.