has anyone done a 2 sided project. (flipped over to finish the bottom after initial job). Is there a video out there showing how to set that up?
I have done it but I do not have a video. I cut my stock out of a larger piece first. I made sure I cut a square piece and I centered my object in it. I also used two holes in the project to make sure it would line back up when i flipped it over and inserted screws. I made sure the origin was dead center in the stock also. This allowed me to mark it with a pen ( I was doing aluminum) on both sides so I made sure I was lined up. I used a very thin engraving endmill to line up the point with the center mark, then I raised the spindle and changed to the larger bit for cutting. This made sure I was as lined up as I could be. Printing out a transparency of your object with a centering mark pon it helps also on oddly shaped objects. As long as you make sure the CAM software centers the object being milled and you flip it the right way when you change sides, it is not too hard. If you read up a bit about making double sided milled PCBs it might give you an idea of how to move forward on your project.
I wish I could be of even more help but off the top of my head
I’ve done it using the technique where you design two drill holes as the first operation, then set dowels into your wasteboard to align the piece when you flip it. Can’t think of a good explanatory video at the moment, we should make one!
I actually just did a project last week that involved two sides machining. I had to stare at the piece of wood for honestly 30 minutes until I could wrap my head around the seemingly straightforward idea of “mirror images”, but eventually I think I figured out a good way involving dowel pins like Michael said. I’ll try to write up some instructions on how to do it on Monday (I’m out of town for the weekend).
Hi @GlennCoates
Here is a video of @WinstonMoy doing something similar on the Shapeoko 2 which would apply to the X-Carve:
I plan on doing 2 sided milling for Jewelry design so, we’ll see how that goes once I get my hands on th X-Carve.
Hi @paulkaplan
Have you seen this video? It has a pretty good solution for alignment after the flip over.
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