How would you guys carve text into a piece longer than your cutting area?

So I have a decent footprint of about 34" cutting area however I was asked if I could do a 48" long piece that has some text on it. I could split it up and glue it back together somehow. But before I did all that I was wondering if you guys had any tips on how to do this? I could split it into 2 jobs but im wondering how would I re zero everything after shifting down the wood? I could eyeball it but on something this big if im off its going to be noticeable.

You can let it stick out the end, right?

Is it already oversized, and can you cut it down to size at the end?

First, lay down a straight edge and use the machine to make one side as straight as possible. Then make a hole for a dowel at 0" and 24" in front of that straight edge. Make a similar hole in the workpiece along one straight side in the middle. You have to make sure it’s the right distance from the edge so that when you put a dowel in, it will be flush with your straight edge. Then just put the dowel in the 24" hole and do the first half, move the dowel and the workpiece to the 0" hole and mill the second half. Does that make sense?

You could also do the same thing without a straight edge if you used a pair of holes to keep it aligned. But there is enough slop in dowels that it could get funky 24" away.

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Man that is great idea with the dowels. I’ve been wondering for a while now, how can I make sure my part is straight compared to the x axis on the machine. But my spoil board is particle board so I dont see it lasting very long.

I was also going to use a dial indicator on the head and indicate a piece of wood for a boarder and screw it down as a permanent straight edge.

You can let it stick out the end, right?

Is it already oversized, and can you cut it down to size at the end?


Yeah I can let it stick out, I was mainly trying to figure out how would I stop the operation shift down the wood into the cutting area and resume carving…