Question on lithophane sled.

[NLAlston]

Today, I ordered 5 sheets of 8"x10" Corian material from Ebay, and am now about to be in the process of making a sled. I have 3/4" MDF in my shop, and will cut a piece in the size of 18"x12". I am going to pick up some 1/4" hardboard, or the same sized plywood, to cut two 12"x4" pieces (header and footer), as well as two 10"x1" pieces for the rails. That should, effectively, give me the 8"x10" recessed area which would be need for my Corian sheet. My sled will, then, be 1" thick. With that being the case, do I tell my machine that the board thickness is THAT thick? Or do I set the thickness at .25 inch? Also, am I setting it to stay under the rollers, or no? I know that I have read over material which covered that, but cannot seem to recall, at this point, what I read. I will search for it, but hope that someone can chime in - not that I am so close to being able to getting something done. I may be able to receive an answer, here, before finding success in locating the information, myself.

I'm just anxious .

[DianMayfield]

You tell Designer that your material is .25 in, it will pop up and tell you that you need a jig Just proceed/continue

[fwharris]

Today, I ordered 5 sheets of 8"x10" Corian material from Ebay, and am now about to be in the process of making a sled. I have 3/4" MDF in my shop, and will cut a piece in the size of 18"x12". I am going to pick up some 1/4" hardboard, or the same sized plywood, to cut two 12"x4" pieces (header and footer), as well as two 10"x1" pieces for the rails. That should, effectively, give me the 8"x10" recessed area which would be need for my Corian sheet. My sled will, then, be 1" thick. With that being the case, do I tell my machine that the board thickness is THAT thick? Or do I set the thickness at .25 inch? Also, am I setting it to stay under the rollers, or no? I know that I have read over material which covered that, but cannot seem to recall, at this point, what I read. I will search for it, but hope that someone can chime in - not that I am so close to being able to getting something done. I may be able to receive an answer, here, before finding success in locating the information, myself.

I'm just anxious .

If you are going to cut your 3/4" MDF to 18"x12" this will all you need for your sled to carve a 8"x10" area to hold your 8"x10" corian. The 18" gives you the needed length to stay under the rollers and the 12" is plenty to have side rails for the compression rollers to ride on.

When you are setting up your litho carving board set the thickness at 0.250"

[NLAlston]

If you are going to cut your 3/4" MDF to 18"x12" this will all you need for your sled to carve a 8"x10" area to hold your 8"x10" corian. The 18" gives you the needed length to stay under the rollers and the 12" is plenty to have side rails for the compression rollers to ride on.

When you are setting up your litho carving board set the thickness at 0.250"

Yes, you are right.

But I opted to do things a bit differently, owing to the fact of my wishing to reduce taxation on my machine (and the bit) by not having it carve the recess in the sled. Being that I have a woodshop, I chose to lean towards cutting the header, footer and rails, which would allow me to create the recess - instead of carving one out. In this manner, I can dedicate my bit(s) to just carving out the desired elements .

[fwharris]

Good idea and it should work just fine!!

[NLAlston]

Well, it took a few more days than expected, to construct the sled (super busy, lately), but I just got done with it. Due to a mistake it is a bit shorter, as well as narrower than I had intended. It is now 17"x10". I know that the length meets the minimum requirement, and hope that the 1" rails will also work. Due to present financial constraints I used what materials I already had in my shop (3/4" MDF, and some 1/4" plywood subflooring).

There is, however, one other concern. When I lay the Corian in the recess I noticed that the rail-sides of the jig shows the Corian sitting just a bit proud of the rails. It is about a 1/16" rise, and I wonder if I would still be able to use it? Or should I just trash it, and set myself into building another? My intended litho carvings will all have uncarved borders, which makes me think that I should be all right. But you pros would know, for sure.

[fwharris]

I would suggest to try to shim up your rails and end pieces so that the Corian sits either flush of just a bit shy of the rail surface. This will prevent a possible shift in carving depth if the compression roller drops down or raises when the corian end clears the roller.

I've used stiff card board, shim for dry wall and poster board before as a quick fix for thicker boards.

[NLAlston]

I would suggest to try to shim up your rails and end pieces so that the Corian sits either flush of just a bit shy of the rail surface. This will prevent a possible shift in carving depth if the compression roller drops down or raises when the corian end clears the roller.

I've used stiff card board, shim for dry wall and poster board before as a quick fix for thicker boards.

Thanks for responding.

Well, it looks like I will be making another one. I can't shim the rails, as they were glued down .

[fwharris]

Put the shims on top of the rails.

[NLAlston]

No problem, though, to build another one. There was enough material left over to do so.