I have a 1/2" thick rectangular sign that is 20". My customer would like shiplap lines. I should have said I can’t do that…but I thought I could make it work…
My first plan was to score it in two parts, left side, right side. I had the sign raised up enough to focus, and pressed against some materials to keep it straight. I scored the right side and then carefully scooted it over. I used the lightest scoring possible and it seemed to line up and meet in the middle. But when I tried the official darker score to match the other side, it didn’t actually line up. (See pic. Sorry, it’s not great lighting in my office right now.) It is subtle, but I can see it…I just know my customer will see it.
How do I save this? The only thing I can think of is to now engrave over it and SOMEHOW nail the line-up…but I think it would be even harder to line up an engrave? Any genius ideas? I can’t trash this board…I had to outsource it because it’s contoured to the design.
The only practical way (using the GF) to recover is to thicken the line, engrave it wider, but If you’ve already removed the material from the machine and did not use a jig, then re-alignment will be a challenge.
Shiplap is more of a job for a CNC router (or routing by hand).
You could do a depth engrave that would just overwrite what you have with an angled mark that would look more like shiplap
You can copy that and make it as long or thin as you like and use it one at a time across the whole surface and it will engrave deeper at the top than the bottom using variable engrave.
The step-to-step resolution of the GF is measured in 1000ths of an inch. There’s no way you can move anything by hand and guarantee maintaining alignment. You are nowhere near as precise as the GF. I think the basic idea of what you’re trying to do is infeasible.
If you want to try the GF again, I’d sand the engraved face down to remove the existing marks first, or you may only make things worse. If you can’t sand it, I’d mask it and paint the lines on.
That’s what I figured. I ended up just covering it up by tracing it with a sharpie. I’m not sure my customer will like it but it’s better than crooked lines. Thanks for the input.
That is why I recommended obscuring the lines with a shaded engrave. As long as the messed up line is light enough the slanted engrave will make it invisible.
Except she will still have the same problem. She’ll have to shade 1/2 of the board and then slide it over to get the other half. The two separate passes won’t align at the top where the gradient is darkest, and the problem will still remain.
I did think of another idea, though. If the line wasn’t completely smooth, if it had some “roughness” to it, the discontinuity at the center would probably just blend right in.
I’d try changing the line so it was a little jagged (high frequency low amplitude). Might look a little more “natural” that way, too, since there are no straight lines in nature.
And definitely grab any old scrap of wood to try it out, don’t go back to the final workpiece until you’ve got it figured out.
I should have said I can’t do that…but I thought I could make it work…
