I just found my latest "gotta have" toy.

John Pollman

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Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Howdy folks. I hope you had a great New Years Eve and wish you the best of luck and happiness in the new year to come. I'm kind of just taking it easy today waiting for 5:00 when my Wolverines will take the field in Pasadena. I was just sitting here watching The Discovery Channel because they are running a "Dirty Jobs" marathon. I just love that show. ;) All of a sudden a commercial comes on and I wasn't really paying attention and just caught the tail end of it and it looked VERY interesting. Luckily I have a DVR and just backed up a minute or so and saw what has got to be one of the COOLEST woodworking tools I've ever seen and at this point it's on my gotta have list. Now mind you I haven't been doing much woodwork for a while but I could really find some good uses for this thing. It's by Craftsman and is called the "Compu-Carve". It's basically a home shop size CNC machine for wood, acrylic, plastic, foam, etc. It's a little pricey at $1899 but boy could that thing be fun! I'm going to look into this thing and try to find anyone that has one to see how they like it. If it's as nice as it looks, I'd surely like to try one someday. Here's a link to some more info....

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?vertical=TOOL&pid=00921754000&adCell=P2&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Now I'm off for some heavy duty brainstorming. I'm sure that I can come up with a good rationalization for why I just have to have one. We'll see what SWMBO has to say about it. :D

Take care,

John
 
I think I saw somewhere that that was marketed under a different name. I guess Craftsman bought it out. If you get it, please show us what it can do!
 
I just did some googling and found that it's made by Carvewright. Here's a link to their site which has much more info than the Sears site. You can even download a sample of the included software for it. I might just to that and see what it's like.

Here's a link to their site....

http://www.carvewright.com/

John
 
There was quite a bit of discussion over on SMC about the original incarnation of this widget...look for "CarveRight" or "CarveWright".

Also, I think either Per Swenson or his dad bought one...you might want to PM him.
 
John, I was pretty pumped about this machine when Carvewright first came out with it. I lost interest after corresponding with a few owners. I was told that the machine is very loud – louder than a standard router like the PC690. Detailed carvings can take 4+ hours to run the finish cut, depending on complexity. I live in suburbia so combining those two issues was a showstopper for me.
 
John, since Carvewright is only about 15 miles from the house I wandered over to their place and had a look. I posted the visit on SMC. Like Bruce, I was pretty hot over the machine, but there were a few things that caused me to hold off. As Bruce said, it can take a long time to get a carving done. Another thing that concerned me was that the carving head is powered by a flexible shaft that seems to have something like a 200 hour life before it needs R&R. I really don't need another tool that requires a lot of maintenance. I don't know why they didn't use a detail router with a direct drive, other than a possible increase in cost. I think I'll wait until Shop Bot comes down before I consider something like this.
 
Thanks for the input guys!

It really looks like something that would be fun to play around with. But unfortunately I don't have an extra $2K laying around to play with. Maybe one of these days if I strike it rich and have lots of disposable income I'll give it a try. ;)

Take care,

John
 
I was another of the guys who was really interested in the CarveWright when it first came out, but couldn't find a way to justify the cost unless I went into business with it...something I don't think I have time or space for. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't take he plunge. If I were to get into that kind of business, I'd likely go with a ShopBot or something similar.

Still, it'd be a fun thing to have at your disposal, and yet another creative outlet.
 
i too was impressed with a under 2k cnc machine......but after thinking about how i abuse tools,i was really afraid that if i jumped it would be a 2k boat anchor.......i still don`t have cnc capibilities or the knowledge to program one:eek:
 
Thanks for the input guys!

It really looks like something that would be fun to play around with. But unfortunately I don't have an extra $2K laying around to play with. Maybe one of these days if I strike it rich and have lots of disposable income I'll give it a try. ;)

Take care,

John

Speaking of "laying around". I have a $3000.00 large Terrco duplicator, still in the boxes, laying on my shop floor where it has been for four years. Assembly is not an amatuer project, nor are the instructions simple. And, I don't have an engineer mentality. Several qualified friends have offered to come over and help me assemble but time-wise when they zig, I am zagging. But it will get done soon, it is going to be the foundation for a small duplicating business, mostly gunstocks, that I need to supplement my near non-existant retirement income. BTW, it will do carvings, flat or 3D, up to 5' in length.
 
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