Tiling question

[Barry Anderson]

When I want to accurately place a piece on the bed I first screw scraps of ply down roughly in position and run a toolpath to trim the scrap to perfectly position the workpiece. You can do the same for the y axis straight edge for tiling.

Tom, that is essentially what I did to correct the alignment. When I replace or surface the spoil board, I place an "edge" for the y and x axis out of 3/4" plywood. I use a solid 1/4" rod in the spindle collett to get them square using the jog function to move it along the axis to check. Apparently something shifted or I did a poor job of alignment. I have done some other signs that were longer than my work area and did not have the problem described in my earlier post. To correct the y axis guide, I used a 1/4" bit, brought it to 0 0, and moved it into the guide a little and then jogged it to the end of the guide. This got it perfectly aligned with the spindle. I ran the toolpath on a piece of plywood before cutting the wood that the church wanted to use. I was pleased and the customer was as well.

Thanks to all for your kind words. The wording is the mission statement for a local church. They are going to mount it over the doors leading into their worship center. It was my first attempt using the tiling function. The tutorial was very helpful.

Barry

[martin54]

Barry, your method of setting the X & Y guide rails using a piece of rod in the spindle probably isn't 100% accurate, " Close but no Cigar" you might say It may well be that jobs you have previously done were not big enough for any errors to be really obvious so because you are not looking for them they go un-noticed. Use a much bigger piece of stock & suddenly they stick out like a sore thumb.

I always do what you ended up doing which is to actually use the machine to cut the edge, that way it has to be correct if your machine is set up accurately. The other thing you need to take care with is making sure the stock material is pushed neatly against the rail at both ends of the table, very easy to have a small gap at one end which is difficult to see especially with a very long board hanging off the end of the machine Something like a toggle clamp pushing the material against the rail at either end of the table can help with this. Not done a huge amount of tiling but that has worked for me with the jobs I have done.

[Barry Anderson]

Barry, your method of setting the X & Y guide rails using a piece of rod in the spindle probably isn't 100% accurate, " Close but no Cigar" you might say It may well be that jobs you have previously done were not big enough for any errors to be really obvious so because you are not looking for them they go un-noticed. Use a much bigger piece of stock & suddenly they stick out like a sore thumb.

I always do what you ended up doing which is to actually use the machine to cut the edge, that way it has to be correct if your machine is set up accurately. The other thing you need to take care with is making sure the stock material is pushed neatly against the rail at both ends of the table, very easy to have a small gap at one end which is difficult to see especially with a very long board hanging off the end of the machine Something like a toggle clamp pushing the material against the rail at either end of the table can help with this. Not done a huge amount of tiling but that has worked for me with the jobs I have done.

Yes sir. I understand. I am going to have to work on my method of setting the guide rails. I did use 2 toggle clamps to ensure the work material was against the rail and to help hold it in place.

Barry