[monte55]

I need to V-Carve some text into an old piece of barn siding which is cupped. What is the best method to relax this piece of wood so it will sit flat for carving? There is no second chance at this.

[victorofga]

i know you... youre the helicopter man...

cut close to the size, and try to shim to level... if you vcarving, you need the carving area only flat... so you can mill off the top on that area..

wood that curled years long.. use to be wont be flat a day..


edit
i know you working with steel too.. pull to a steel plate, vcarve it, after releasing it will cupping back, but carving is already in..
if it works...

[monte55]

I should have stated the wood is cupped throughout its length as seen from the end. I can not cut or mill the piece. I just need it to relax enough to be flat for carving. I know it will cup after it dries but that's ok. The piece is about 40" x 8.5 ". I know I can use water but it seems I have heard there is something I can mix with the water to make it work better. I'll bet a steam box would work but I don't have one. The piece is special to the person. It came off a barn side and is over 60 years old. If I try to bend it dry I'm sure it would split its length in two. Can't have that.

[Trotline]

I wonder if Warpdriver could help you? I haven't used this software, but it sounds as though it might do what you need to do. It's also free, although donations are accepted.

WarpDriver - Paul Rowntree

Luke

[alan_3301]

I wonder if Warpdriver could help you? I haven't used this software, but it sounds as though it might do what you need to do. It's also free, although donations are accepted.

WarpDriver - Paul Rowntree

Luke

I had though about this before. I haven't used any of his programs yet, but they look great. And just now that you post his link, I discover Standing waves program. This is amazing!.
Anyways, It would be great if the warpdriver could take a XZY file of probed points to offset the Gcode to match a warped piece of wood.
I had this problem cutting the aztec calendar with very shallow cuts across a wide area, in some spots they were deeper than in others. Something like this would help to level everything out.
Anyone want to collaborate in donation thank you requests for this added feature? Just waiting on that paypal link to show up on the website.

[alan_3301]

I found this, sounds like it will do the job if you have a probe.
I will try it out soon hopefully.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/g-code..._surfaces.html

[victorofga]

you cant straigth wood itself... unless you put in boiling water several day..
the question if it worth...

to digitizing the surface could take a day.. will your customer pay a day long digitizing?
on ebay a digitizing head about 65.. and works with mach3

one way to pull down to a steelplate.. and mill.. steelplate keeps straigth and yes, you can mill

(if you want to mill really :-))

another way plane it down to 1/4thick... that will work giving sufficient thicknes, yet you can bend..
and laminate at least 2-3 layer on its back..

a 6x48 sized board i think dont worth to minfding on days..
you cant ""release"" a crookied board

[Mike 1948]

I need to V-Carve some text into an old piece of barn siding which is cupped. What is the best method to relax this piece of wood so it will sit flat for carving? There is no second chance at this.

If you have Aspire maybe mimic the warp in a model, then project the V carve vectors on to the model. The letters will stay closer to the proper depth that way
Just a thought.

Mike