Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

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milo30
Posts: 553
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:21 pm

Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by milo30 »

I know it can be done, I've just shied away from learning how. I need to make a pretty simple workbench top with dog holes drilled in alignment. I probably want to go about 3-4'. I know that I can set it up in vectric to perform this function. What is the best way to know where to move the board through the machine to have them continue evenly spaced from the beginning? I guess I could just do 4- 2x2 panels and assemble on the bench but I need to learn how to do this properly anyway.

Eagle55
Posts: 788
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:44 pm

Re: Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by Eagle55 »

Milo30,
Surely there are better more experienced guys out there than I am to answer this, but since they are silent I will bump it up and see what happens. To do tiling its not all that hard, at least to go end to end on a longer than bed piece of wood. I never have attempted anything wider than 2' wide but have longer than 2' long. I did make a 2x4 sign one time by cutting the blank in two, carving it then putting it back together and then painting it. If I was looking at doing a 3' x 4' project, I would look at the design. Chances are in the 3' direction you are more than likely able to have about 6" of clear space not carved, so I would view it as a 2' x 4' carved piece with two 6" strips added to each side. When you break it down like that, all you have to deal with is two tiles of 2' each which can be done as one piece by cutting the first 2' section then sliding the piece down and cutting the second 2' section. Although I haven't done it, if you had to have the whole 3' width with carving, then I would break it down to two 1 1/2' x 4' pieces. With this scenario you would have to cut 2 pieces of wood with two tiles on each. You have some flexibility in that you can place the tile line on the least critical spot where everything has to match up. On the 3' long sign that I did, I was able to place the line in-between words so what little error there might have been didn't matter. I'm sure 3d carves that large can be difficult but then with some design flexibility you can have 3d carves withing the boundaries of the tile to make it easier. Its hard to get your mind into the project but once you do, its not as hard or bad as it seems. A 4'x8' sign could be cut on two pieces of wood by sliding each of the 2' pieces through and cutting it in 2' sections. I'm pretty brave in saying its easy, for someone who has only done one 3' long small sign. LOL but that one sign taught me that I could do a larger one without a great deal of problem.

Roger
Attachments
Carved top half then the bottom half, then put back together with biscuit joints, sanded and painted.  Each half was slightly wider than 2' but the carved area was less than 2' and the piece still fit on the table. Overall size of this was about 2'6" wide x 4' high.  This was some awful wood, an exterior pressure treated plywood with warps, but it didn't turn out too bad.  Personally I would have used a better wood but the customer had the frame and the wood and all I did was the carving.
Carved top half then the bottom half, then put back together with biscuit joints, sanded and painted. Each half was slightly wider than 2' but the carved area was less than 2' and the piece still fit on the table. Overall size of this was about 2'6" wide x 4' high. This was some awful wood, an exterior pressure treated plywood with warps, but it didn't turn out too bad. Personally I would have used a better wood but the customer had the frame and the wood and all I did was the carving.
cut this with two tiles with the break placed between the words, "better" and "at"
cut this with two tiles with the break placed between the words, "better" and "at"
CNC Shark HD ~ Control Panel 2.0 ~ Windows 7 & XP
Located in West Tennessee near the Tennessee River
http://www.eaglecarver4.com

4DThinker
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:00 am

Re: Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by 4DThinker »

Despite being clever enough to create complex profiles and carvings, the Sharks can also be used as a simple (yet versatile) drill press. I'll assume you can draw the hole locations on your top. In VCarve, don't draw the whole top. Just draw one hole centered (around 0,0,0) in a small project area created with the same thickness as your top. Toolpath it to pocket out this one hole like you want done for ALL the holes.

To cut your holes, position the top on the bed, then jog the bit to the center of any hole position. 0,0,0 it there, then load and run your hole .TAP file. When done you can SET an offset to get the bit to move to the center of the next hole using "Move to 0,0,0". Run the file again. Repeat. When you've cut all the holes you can in the current cutting limits, then unclamp and move the board. Jog to the first new hole location then start the run/reSET-Move/run sequence again until finished.

KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by KarenW »

Long before I knew about the Tiling option I figured out a way to do a long sign.
I just split my design into manageable sections, centered each section and re-zeroed each time. Made sure I had one good edge (it was a live edge plank) that I could square to the table and made 3 separate tool paths.
It was after that successful cut that I discovered Tiling. :lol:
Karen

milo30
Posts: 553
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:21 pm

Re: Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by milo30 »

Maybe I am making it harder than it is, in my head. I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around the new starting point matching up with the ending point of the previous section exactly.

I've strayed away from this many times. I did try a 2 sided carving which didn't work that well for me so have been purposely keeping it simple since then

Eagle55
Posts: 788
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:44 pm

Re: Machining stock larger than the shark bed.

Post by Eagle55 »

The thing to do is to have the parallel rail alone one side that you can position your work piece against and slit it from the first position (tile) to the second. Place the mark agains the rail in the lower left corner which become you zero point. If you have a tile that is 1' 10" long, slide along the rail and place a mark 1' 10" from the first mark. After you carve the first tile, slide your work piece down to the second mark and this becomes you new zero point.... carve the second tile and do this for however many tiles you have. I think I saw where one carver had made a sign that was 12' long that was carved in 2' tiles 6 times. (Or diminsions similar to this. ). Just get some wood and strike out and try it on a non critical project. Try it.... you'll like it :)

Roger
CNC Shark HD ~ Control Panel 2.0 ~ Windows 7 & XP
Located in West Tennessee near the Tennessee River
http://www.eaglecarver4.com

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