I have been contemplating purchasing the upgraded 2017 X-carve 1000 x 1000 fully loaded. One item that I continue to see is the constant drive belt adjustments due to skips from stretching that users mention is necessary maintenance in their reviews. Is Inventables or anyone in the community working on a screw and gear drive system alternative that may be more reliable and affordable?
If you search the upgrade section of the forums, there is somebody that makes a screw driven upgrade. He has ran into some delays so if you hurry you may be able to get in if somebody cancels on his current order.
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Generally the stock belts do a great job, they will initially stretch after using and will need to be adjusted, but that is really not an ongoing process. After one or two times adjusting them after breaking them in, they will be very stable as long as the machine is maintained.
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Also, the new Xcarves come with these great things called belt sleeves. Older Xcarves didn’t have those. Without those, there was a lot of belt slippage without using a tie wrap or tape. The new belt sleeves are amazing and really keep the belts from loosening. It was worth the $5 for me to upgrade to them.
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Thanks Justin. Are there any review videos that explain more about the belt sleeve improvements? Also have you had any experiences with the 9mm wide belts? Are 5mm the standard width?
6mm is standard width and they do fine for regular carving. 9mm belts just allow for more aggressive cutting and faster speeds.
I go pretty aggressive and have yet to snap a belt and use 6mm belts.
I’m not sure if they are specific reviews on the sleeves. It’s one of the more underrated upgrades they did to the Xcarve in my opinion.
Nope. The sleeves are POM (Acetal) per the drawing that are tapered/flared on one side.
See the drawing here.
I was ordering other stuff from Inventables and put them in my order…it was worth the $5.
My Xcarve arrived last March, I carve items almost weekly and have never once adjusted my belts since I initially put it together.
I upgraded my Xcarve from 1000x1000 to 1800x1000. After the initial installation and a few carves, I tightened the belts only once compensating for the stretch. I have not had any issues in the last two years. Can’t even say that I have missed any steps in that time either. I used a piece of heat shrink just large enough to slide over the two belts and I did not shrink it. Works perfectly for me.
The belts are also a good safety for OOPS! You can’t really crash the spindle with an XCarve because if you do make a mistake and send the outside the work area or into an object, you will skip steps in the belt and not break something on the machine. I know from experience!