What would be really nice...

[80grit]

Is to have some sort of projector display a scaled image of the piece to be cut on your table. This would really help when you are trying to strategically place sheet goods. If you have a piece with a blemish, knots, or a previous "learning experience" you want to work around.

Shirley this has been thought of already.

[Davo]

Maybe easier to snap a pic of the wood from a long distance and scale it in the software instead and then build on top of it?

[Brady Watson]

They been had it...NEMI

Hope your pockets are prenty deep...

-B

[Kyle Stapleton]

We use one kid on a tape measure and one at the pc drawing in knots and things.

[donek]

It might be possible to do something like this with a PC projector and the preview screen. There would obviously be some calibration involved initially, but you might get usable results.

[80grit]

It might be possible to do something like this with a PC projector and the preview screen. There would obviously be some calibration involved initially, but you might get usable results.

That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Setup might take some time, but it seems like it would be worth it if you make a variety of things in various sizes. I'm really just getting started, and I'm discovering that if I don't make sure I optimize my materials, then I'm going to leave a lot of money on the table. The other day, I made my first cut into a piece of aluminum composite, and I made a quarter-size goof towards the middle of the piece. If I could project my next project onto the material before cutting, I could make adjustments and work around the goof with a high level of confidence.

[myxpykalix]

I had thought about this alot because i was running into issues of clamp placement and sometimes spend alot of time measuring dimensions and transferring that to the material.
I could see how you might be able to project something from above but your carriage is going to get in the way.

[bobmoore]

I would just cut out the perimeter cut with 1/2 home depot insulation, lay it on your material on the bot where you want it and rezero there. Bob

[jerry_stanek]

I though some news print over it and plot it with a widgetworks plotter pen. Have been doing this for years when I have to cut out perprinted material.

[shilala]

I measure. And measure and measure.
Sometimes a piece of material just isn't going to work, so I grab another piece, or make a useful piece out of the knotty piece by adding another width of stock to it.