First time Carving Question

[Rtalexand]

Greetings all,

I am interested in some 3D carving with VCarve Pro. I have the project in VCarve (The Last Supper; 9in x 12in) and the run time for the final pass is about 16 hours. Total Project is about 20 hours.

Since that is a serious overnight project, other than staying up all night or just crossing my fingers that the Shopbot doesn't go nuts (LOL), any suggestions on how to break it up. I could do the rough carve a day before (about 4 hours), but I'm concerned about maintaining an accurate Z after shutting down the machine for the next days final carve.

Thanks for your help and Happy Holidays! Rick

[jerry_stanek]

When I have one of those I just stop the program with the space bar and let it sit overnight.

[srwtlc]

With the proper machine settings for 3D relief work, proper feedrates, and a 8% -10% step over with a 0.0625" or 1.5mm ballnose, one that size should take around 4-6 hours. Start it in the morning and let it go. If you pause it, you'll risk having a score line where it was paused/resumed that you'll have a hard time sanding out. This is due to expansion/contraction after partial removal of material. Another risk with pausing is that sometimes the software will not resume right after a long pause (YMMV). If it's working fine, and your nearby, let it go from start to finish.

While it's not recommended, when needed, I often let them run overnight or through most of the evening.

Roughing pass with a 0.25" downcut shouldn't take much more than 30 minutes.

[chiloquinruss]

I rarely rely on what the software timer display shows. My machine depending on bit and material will sometimes run quite a bit faster. You can alter the speed on the fly by using the "<" or ">" keys. Russ

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=33487&stc=1

[coryatjohn]

I have a fairly hard rule about running the machine untended. If the end mill is <= 1/8", then I can let it run by itself.

[Rtalexand]

I ended up putting a camera on the gantry and keeping an eye on it from my iPad. It ran in 8 hours once I figured out the 3D model process.
Thanks to all for the tips!

Happy Holidays!