I have been having alignment problems with a 3d model of a chess piece in VCarve pro v 11 on the Woodworker X50 - I have tried the jig method and thee dowel method which Vectric suggested s better then the jig with no result - finally checked my probe dimensions and found them to be off and whilst better still not right - then did another (just the two sides) by setting the XY and Z each time and again just off that little bit that when finished will leave a crease of wood down each side
Anyone have any ideas as to what could be done.
Have used the machine for a lot of flat, Vcarving and text on text etc with no problems even though the probe was out that little bit.
Thanks Kerry
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have you tried setting an offset allowance in the tool path? it makes your bit run more out or inside of the vectric chosen. -.100 will run tool one way of the selected vectric selected and a positive value will make it run that much further on the other side of the chosen vectric and will clean up that last bit of material left behind. set the vale just enough to get the desired result to get to the area you want cleaned up.
if unsure which to use neg or pos set the value larger than you need and view your toolpath after you recalculate. if its the wrong way go back change it to the other and recalculate and recheck toolpath. then start with a small value and work up until it shows in the 3d view that the material has cleaned up the material area in question. thats where id be looking to change it from the way I understand your question. im no expert but ive used it many times to fix areas as you describe in my designs
someone else can probably explain it better than i am but that sounds like the issue to me. never hurts to try and then run the simulation and see what it gives you before you run the file
Hi thanks for the suggestion and will give it a try at the weekend - not exactly sure if it will solve the problem as it starts with a roughing setup before a finishing pass - the last trials were done as a two sided project and as I said with a jig and then dowels without any result - is an interesting one as Vectric can’t help either
I have had the alignment problems with a 2-sided 3D carving, where I have to make separate 3D carvings after removing the workpiece. In other words, I do a 3D carving, remove the workpiece to do some sanding/finishing, then return to the machine for a final carving. I am also using 3 dowel pins for registration.
I believe the issue is simply the accuracy of performing detailed 3D carvings on top of each other, and the fact that I can never get the workpiece placed EXACTLY where it was during the first carving. For example, I have to carve a pocket on top of another pocket, and it was always off by at least .005" to .010" (0.1 - 0.25mm) and, since there is some sort of finish already applied, there would be lines, or creases of wood on the X and Y sides like you described, and even the Z height issues causing ridges or plateaus where the two separate carvings did not match.
So, what I ended up doing is creating a profile “tracing” toolpath of the pocket where I set the depth of cut something impossibly small (0.1) and then set the cut depth PER PASS of the bit to even smaller (0.001) so it thinks it has to do 100 passes which is plenty of time for me to see it move. I then insert a sharp tip bit (V-Bit) and purposely set the Z-height to be around 0.2" ABOVE the actual height determined by the probe. I also set the feed rate to something really slow like 5" per minute.
This lets me run the program (a.k.a. ghost carving), with the router turned off, and see where the bit goes in relation to the already carved path. I then adjust as necessary to get the bit re-aligned to the workpiece again. This unfortunately takes a considerable amount of time to get everything aligned, but is the only way I could think of doing it.
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Thanks very much for your reply and did think something like this was happening and not sure if it is worth doing due to all th trouble for each one and there is so many for a set haha was thinking maybe I could do each half as separate pieces and then glue them together as a work round - have to try it and see what happens