Scanning the last supper
I have another big project coming up, so I have a couple little projects that I need to get out of the way first. I need to do a few carvings for the church, on the Carvewright, so I have been trying to find existing 3D files to save me the trouble of creating them. Not having a lot of luck there, so I borrowed a carved relief of the last supper from my in-laws and I thought I would try using the scanning probe. Upon reading the directions, I discovered that I needed to create a scanning sled so the project could be clamped down while the scanning proceeded. I could make a sled with all sorts of clamping and fastening options, but I don’t need any of that at the moment, so that will be a project for another day…
The sled I built was made of a 1/2″ piece of plywood, cut into a 14″ wide x 29″ long rectangle. All the corners were cut square and the sides are parallel. I added two 3/4″ x 1-1/4″ oak rails to the long sides. I flipped the assembly upside down and pre-drilled and countersunk from the back, then assembled it with 1-1/4″ drywall screws. A very basic, but functional design. The rails needed to be taller than the relief that I was scanning, so I gave it 1/8″ of clearance.
Building the scanning bed
Attaching the last supper relief
When the sled was assembled, I fixed the relief in place with painter’s tape. I could have screwed blocks to the sled to clamp the sides in place, but I am not cutting anything, just poking at it with a probe.
With the relief in place, I loaded it onto the traction belts and turned the machine on. I located the corners and set the scan quality. The machine offered me three choices, (draft) 1.5 hours, (normal) 3.25 hours, or (best) 10.5 hours. Well, I want as high a quality carving as possible, so I picked best, hit enter, turned the lights off, and went upstairs for the night… Somewhere around 4:00 AM it should be done. I wonder how long it will take to carve the same relief?
Scanning
Midnight Woodworking 
Nice work ! How could I obtain the file ? My priest would be happy 🙂 and I would like to have such a nice work too.
I can email it. Do you have a Carvewright?
I have a CarveWright and would be really interested in the pattern file. Is there a way I can send you a private message with my email address?