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Does anyone have any thoughts on the X-Carve? I'm just looking to rough acoustic braces, rough out fender style necks, pick guards etc.


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So long as you set your expectations properly you should be able to (just barely- 65mm of Z) do all those things on that machine. You will have to be -very- patient, though, as that sort of construction is going to need slow feeds and small cutters to do something like a neck so you'll be waiting hours for it to finish one. The Fender style neck was definitely a necessity as any other neck would be too tall for the machine, but Fender necks are designed to be cut from two faces in thin stock.

The price is definitely right, and I like the stuff the Inventables people put out and the community around them.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

In my honest opinion? its a toy. Ive thought about trying their quiet DC spindle, but, after building my own 4 axis for 1800$, and being able to rip right through black walnut, oak, and aluminium at insane speeds, yeah, its a toy. My biggest gripe is, its belt driven. Belts stretch and wear out. Not to mention i watched a guy cut a simple body on an XCarve, said it took something like 6 hours. A well engineered machine thats ball or leadscrew could crank out a dozen of these bodies in 6 hours!

wooow. zeppelin 4 axis for just $1800?
how u built it and can u help me?

I have an IntelliCarve and have to say I wish I hadn't traded a guitar for it. It's ok for decorative corner blocks and or shallow relief carving but not much more then that for me. Plenty of ideas on the internet for DIY's to build a good machine.

TW

I agree with Bob about not setting expectations too high. Its an entry level hobbyist cnc machine that works well as a learning tool and something to experiment with. I don't see it fitting into a production shop and getting used hard every day. The belts are a weak point as someone mentioned as they get stretched and get dust in the grooves. The small pulley with tiny set screws on the z-axis screw bolt has already let go during a job and the belts have skipped during a cut as well. For me it was an inexpensive way to get started with cnc and has a good community to turn to for assistance. I'm making molds for side bending and want to use it for hogging off much of the waste wood when carving archtop tops and backs. I do worry about a belt slipping and ruining an expensive piece of maple though... Cutting out head plate designs with some of the fine detail bits is also on my list.

So far its doing what I wanted - helping me learn about cnc hardware and software, and reducing some of the grunt work of making molds. I'm not doing this as a business so the length of time it takes to set up and do the cuts is not a problem.

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- Keith

I figured I'd add a bit to this old thread as Xcarve sales seem to be pretty good these days. I upgraded my mothballed Shapeoko2 to current X carve specs and it is quite a bit more usable. I think since this thread has started, Inventables had made a few improvements. While it is a light duty machine, for hobbiest work, it is quite capable.

I am using the universal Gcode sender in lieu of Easel. It seems that Easel would be fine for most 2d stuff but I have other programs to create the CAD and CAM which I like better. The Dewalt Router uses 1/4" dia shanks, so you aren't limited to Dremel like sized tools to do work. Some of these guys are carving signs that have programs running for hours.

Since my upgrade to current specs, I have decided to go further with some of the mods that are available outside of Inventables. One is a cnc4newbies Z axis, the others are 9mm belts and pulleys, and Y axis risers and braces, of which I haven't installed yet. I tried to xcarve out a batch of Fender style necks this summer and got close to the accuracy I was looking for, but it isn't there yet. I'm hoping that the 9mm belts will help in that regard. They seem to be selling a lot of kits and even have a small luthier section. I've even seen a lead screw conversion kit available for it.

edit added 10/8/19. I added the upgrades and that made a big difference in accuracy. I've been making some necks and bodies with the new and improved s2/xcarve and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's not a production machine but it gets the job done. I wish the GRBL ran Mach3 but I guess I can live with the UGS.