Are there any other machines like the X-carve that I can buy put together?
I travel true many sites like buildyourcnc.com, diycnc something similar. I found X-Carve easier than any other by the price. It is modular setup. Yes, there is more equipment options sells piece by piece to put together, but money talks.
The other machines I saw that were put together were a good bit more expensive.
As lengthy as the assembly process can be, I can say itâs good to teach you how the machine works so helps with getting things dialed in as needed.
Iâm in Georgia, but the guys on the forum here are great. You can find the forum with the member map and can maybe find someone near you willing to help assemble.
Looks like I will order the large one later today and I guess just take my
time getting it together. I hope there are some videos for this along with the
manual.
Jack
You actually bring up an interesting point. Letâs skip past the point that if someone has too much trouble putting it together, theyâre probably going to have trouble using it tooâŚ
When I was in my 20âs, I looked into building Cobra kit cars. Once you built one and showed them proof that it was done properly, you could become a âdealerâ, which entitled you to a discount on future kits. If Inventables wanted to go down this path, they could require someone to build and make some sort of standardized product that gets shipped to them, where they can throw a caliper on it. Once your part passes inspection, you then become an âauthorized representativeâ of Inventables to help others build, calibrate, program, etc. for a fixed amount or hourly rate. Might be an interesting way to help pay off your X-CarveâŚ
On another thread, I discovered that thereâs about half a dozen X-Carve owners within easy driving distance of me here in Seattle. That also means there are probably several folks in the area that might be interested in having a working X-Carve, but have the feeling that the build is too difficult of a barrier to entry.
Iâve also had this same thought about building wooden boats.
HmmmâŚ
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Here are the full instructions, many steps are covered in text and video.
Hahaha, i enjoyed reading this. Well said.
Id like to add, that i am a total novice. I struggled initially. The assembly was hard, and required many beers. But now i have received a ba in engineering from inventables of Chicago. And im making sweet stuff. So, hang in there. Its totally possible.
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Mate, Iâll build one for you. Youâll need to pay for it first of course.
Oh, youâll also need to come to Western Australia to collect it. Not sure if itâll qualify as âcarry onâ thoughâŚ
You just got take your time and double check each step making sure you read the entire step before starting. I managed to put it all together and up and running with only two modifications the first was the stepper motor power wasnât high enough so the axis werenât moving enough and re-carving over the incorrect areas. This was solved by simply turning each up quarter turn and second was the belts slipping which was fixed using shrink tube on the belts to stop this. Works great now, both problems solved by the help of this community. I have no engineering background, this thing is virtually idiot proof as long as long as u follow the instructions and ask for help on the forum (but search first because its probably already been answered). PS Iâm thick and i did it so if youâve got at least two brain cells to create friction youâll be ok lol
Also, keep in mind that if Inventables develops the Wiki for the build, then things like which method to tap the rails with could be discussed/developed there. Also, how to include stiffening the X rail during the initial build should also be there. And things that have confused builders like how to determine if the rails are âright side upâ for the limit switches, etc.
As mentioned above, you can do this. You need to read the instructions (several times) and you must have them at hand during the build.
I enjoyed the build immensely. Almost as much as when I first began pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard and the machine responded.
Then the learning began.
Whilst not everyone will build their own, I can see a time in the very near future where thereâll be a âmake itâ centre in most towns & cities. Folks will bring their files, and their job will be milled, 3D printed, lasered and coloured for them.
Remember when having a dot matrix printer at home was astonishing?