Larger jobs on smaller CNCs and/or running the job at 90 degrees.

[DrPheelgood]

Howdy all,

First, never let a posting sit too long as this site times out at some point and you loose your epic story.

I am wanting to cut a sign that measures 29" x 42" on my 21" x 31" CNC router so my first thought was to use tiling and split the job into two 21" jobs on the same board, if that is how it is to be used. What is the best way to register the job so everything aligns?

If that is not the way tiling is to be used then I am ready to down size my project to a 21"x31" sized sign by turning it 90 degrees. I assume that you design the project as normal and then rotate the whole thing. Is there any automation to help with that process or a better way to accomplish this task? I've discovered that it is hard to edit text spacing when it is at 90 degrees.

Any other suggestions? If you are suggesting that I purchase a larger CNC, please provide your credit card number as part of the post.

Thanks for your time,

phil

[ElevationCreations]

Do you have V-Carve Desktop or V-Carve Pro?

What are your X & Y dimensions and which direction are you planning on tiling - Y or X?

Do you have room to install a fence for reference on your bed for alignment of the tiling?

[AboveCreations]

The tiling feature can be a bit tricky to get your head wrapped around. I am no expert and only attempted to do a job once many moons ago. Never had the need since... but without getting into any details, I would suggest to use the Vectric training videos to get you started. Just go to this link: https://www.vectric.com/support/tutoria ... e-desktop? and in the search box, type in 'tiling' and a few should come up to get you started. I haven't see these myself, but I found a few on youtube that really helped me understand a bit better.

[DrPheelgood]

Thanks for the replies.

Do you have V-Carve Desktop or V-Carve Pro? Pro, so I am not limited by Desktops 25"x25" maximum size.

What are your X & Y dimensions and which direction are you planning on tiling - Y or X? If I can figure out how to register the project then I will run the 29" (X) by 42" (Y) job on my 31" (X) by 21" (Y) CNC bed. Otherwise, I will downscale and rotate the project to fit the 31"x21" CNC bed.

Do you have room to install a fence for reference on your bed for alignment of the tiling? I can see where a fence would keep the tiles on one of the axis but what about the other where the tile meet?

As for watching videos, all the ones that I've watched so far are just about using the software and not about setting up the job. I'll keep looking.

Thanks again,

phil

[mtylerfl]

Hi Phil,

Dowels and suitable hole placement will keep everything aligned and perfectly spaced when Tiling.

Here is a Tiling tutorial video made by TJ during his tenure with ShopBot, showing the method:

[ElevationCreations]

You could create two sheets in your file, one for layout, and one rotated 90 degrees. When your layout is complete, group everything together, copy to your second sheet, then rotate 90 degrees and center on the sheet, then un-group to original layers.

The dowels work for alignment as well as Michael points out.

I've always used a fence and just placed a 'tic' mark on the fence where the left front point is and one on the side of the stock the length of my tile, run one tile, then move the blank in -Y direction and line up the tic mark on the fence with the tile mark, clamp down the stock and run the other tiles.

You can specify what size of tile and overlap if I recall. Since you are not limited to 21" length (mid point) on your Y-axis, I would choose a breaking point which does not overlap any text if possible to determine what size of tiles you should create. If that's not possible choose a point which will not be as noticeable if you are slightly off.

Once you run a tiling job, the videos will make more sense. We have upgraded to larger machines twice since running our first tiling job. Now we can run larger tiling jobs if we need to, just not as often.