Carvewright -- Experienced Users

[bce086]

Hey all, I have been browsing the cnczone forums for quite some time now, and am finally making my first post. I have read tons of threads on the Carvewright cnc machine, and am looking for some user's who have experience with the Carvewright.

One of my major questions is, what are a couple of the major selling points of this machine? From the research I have collected it seems as though some major benefits are the price and ease of use. What else does this machine offer that might persaude a consumer to buy it?

Some of the negatives I have read are mostly regarding the software. Is not importing/loading g-code or CAD programs a big frustration?

I have also heard mixed opinions on their support. Has anybody had good/bad experiences with the company? Please share.

Lastly, it seems to be a concern with alot of the users on this forum that the machine is made out of a cheaper plastic material. Are there certain parts that seem to be breaking for multiple consumers? What is the estimated life of this machine if you had to guess compared to say a Shopbot Buddy?

Lastly, I have noticed that the stock width is limited to 15", but the length is unlimited as the wood moves through the x axis on a feed roller... What projects are you guys using on these smaller machines like the Carvewright?

Sorry for the long post, but I look forward to reading some intelligent responses from you guys.

[cabnet636]

i have one i purchased new at 2000.00 it served a purpose to convince me i needed a larger cnc, it is not contrary to popular belief a long term investment, we are a cabinetshop so the initial investment was to produce signs for my farm and it did that, it will do a board 12'long and 14" wide and is probably one of the best softwares for doing that sort of thing

however if i had known i would soon be wanting to reach into the cnc world i would not have purchased it as it is a limited thing in so far as maintenance and reliability, if it breaks and you are depending on it you have to send it back to texas and that ain't no fun.... i recommend to any one to study cnc in small tables long before you spend, shopbot, camaster and several others have small tables at about 2.5 t0 3 times the price of the carvewright but it is a value that holds as it is a industrial piece of equipment.

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/discus.cgi

http://www.shopbottools.com/

http://www.camheads.org/

http://www.camaster.com/index.php

there are several others and i would look to the forums above as well

jim

[cabnet636]

the life span of a shopbot or camaster is 1000 to one when compared to a carvewright

jim

[bce086]

Hey, thanks for the quick replies! I am a little familiar with ShopBot and have browsed through their forums some.

A couple other concerns I had about the Carvewright are all the maintanence issues and parts breaking. I have read a bunch of reviews on here, and Sears.com and noticed that it is very common for the machine to lose power, or the board sensors to break, and the flex shaft breaking/overheating. My concern is have they fixed these problems as a lot of these problems are from consumer reviews in 2006/2007.

This almost sounds more like a design machine than a woodworking machine?

I'd be interested to know what types of projects people are completing with this. It seems that signs, engravings, and photographs of pets/people etc are pretty popular. What else are people using it for?

[machineoverman]

I have owned a carvewright for around 8 months. There is a ton of negative press so when I got mine I went into outlook and set reminders for the maintenance (chain molly on the flex cable, checking the head pressure, lithium grease on the rails.. and like one other thing).
So far the one issue I've had is the belts rolled up on me, which cost me $75 since I bought the upgraded black rubber belts. I have no idea why they wouldn't just ship the upgraded belts with the machine, it would certainly cut down on gripes quite a bit I'd imagine. Anyway I've clocked around 68 hours on my machine and I think it does awesome work. I'm looking to maybe build a huge CNC machine this next spring so I'm getting familiar with this forum.
Lastly, you asked about CAD. I got a mailer from them a week ago that said both CAD and STL 3D models are now options for the software, I haven't had a chance to try this out but it certainly makes this machine more useful if I do decide to build a big machine where I'll be getting familiar with CAD applications!

[dbtuna1]

I've owned a CompuCarve (CarveWright) machine for over a year now and have been using a lot lately. It seems that I've spend more time working on it then working with it. It does a great job BUT something seems to wrong after a few projects. I can't wait to build my own CNC.