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Anyone Building with a X-Carve?


AurelTristen

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I just picked up the 1000x1000mm model of the X-Carve and was wondering if any of you here use one of these machines? I'm really excited to get to work with it, as I've been debating on picking up a 3D Printer, laser cutter or CNC router for a long time. I'm getting it to do some things for my small business, but making cockpit parts was a motivating factor too.

 

If you use one, could you share some of your experiences with it in relation to cockpit building? I know that it can cut and engrave various plastics, so I figure making panels would be right up this thing's alley.

 

A few months back I made a front panel cover for a monitor, based off of the A-10, but it didn't work out. I put quite a few hours into it and still ended up with something I wasn't at all proud of, so I'm hoping this machine will get me back on the horse.

 

Please share pictures of your work if you'd like.

 

Specific Questions:

  1. If you live in the US, where do you get your materials?
  2. Were you happy with the precision of your machine for making cockpit parts? Text turn out ok?
  3. What bits did you end up using?

 

I'll be sure to share my experiences as I go, especially if this isn't a common machine for this kind of job. No matter what, it'll make better cuts than I can with a jig saw.

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Do tell. I'm very curious what you think. I'm looking at X-Carve, Evo-One and ZMorph.

hsb

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Cool. I'm waiting on delivery, so I'll update when it arrives.

 

I'd rate myself as slightly above average when it comes to building things, electronics or otherwise, so most of the people on this forum are far beyond my skill level. This is probably good though, because I'll be sure to make and document the maximum number of mistakes!

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I'm looking forward to hear what you have to say about it! I've been contemplating those 6040 CNC machines, but hear far to much frustration from them to want to purchase one.

What software package did you get with this? Looks like all you really need is that VCarve pro. But not sure if you need Mach 3 or something like that along with it.

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So far I'm going to start out with the free Easel software. I have a little bit of experience with more advanced G code software, but I want to keep things simple while I'm figuring out the hardware.

 

The packages arrived on time yesterday and I got started right away. Started at 5pm and quit at 1am.

 

I'm long-winded and heavy with the photos, so I've wrapped all that stuff in a spoiler tag.

 

 

MRuBAnZ.jpg

The 1000mm kit is huge! It comes in three boxes, and everything was packed just fine. There are thousands of parts, so I was happy to see every component comes in its own color coded box, with every type of screw, nut and bolt separated into its own bag with a sticker on it telling you what it is.

 

zABpDAd.jpg

This thing is massive. I had read 30 inch working area, and didn't really think about the excess beyond that. For scale, I put a battery on there. Still, I didn't want to get the small one and end up stuck if I needed to go bigger.

 

OJ9mIhx.jpg

The first thing they have you do is inventory all of your parts. They make this quite easy on the build page. Each following step is explained in a video, as well as with pictures. This is where I hit my first snag. There are some differences between the big and small kit, so read carefully. The video may skim over something that the text mentions, specific to your build.

 

kHIuqY0.jpg

Many hours later, and I had the whole gantry assembly together. During the last few steps for this, I ran into my biggest problem yet. The original kits shipped with self-tapping screws, but the new ones come with the maker bars pre-tapped. The instructions still show and talk about the self-tapping system, making it hard to figure out which screws to now use. Additionally, it seems as though the holes in some maker bars are slightly off from the holes in the plates you are being asked to attach. This resulted in two places where the second screw wouldn't go in all the way. I'll know later if this effects the function of the machine.

 

There are also some places where they kinda forget to say 'now do all this again on the mirrored part.' No big deal once you know that.

 

X4A5F8P.jpg

Adding the screw-in points from the underside of the waste board. This was time consuming, hard on the back, but not difficult. If you have a much bigger table to work on, your life will be easier here. My table isn't even as deep as the machine, hence why some parts are living on the floor during construction.

 

TcUNbMt.jpg

A picture of where I left things last night, as well as my workspace/disaster area. You can buy a tool kit with your machine, but I opted not to. So far I've had everything I needed on hand, save for a REALLY small allen wrench used to tighten set-screws on the motors. If you're looking at my tools and laughing, you'll probably be fine. Funny thing was, my girlfriend ended up having the allen wrench I needed in her cutesy little purple 'toolkit.' She was very proud to have a tool I didn't.

 

 

 

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Fantastic update!

I'm long-winded and heavy with the photos
You will not be seeing any complaints about this from me, ever!

 

She was very proud to have a tool I didn't
HA! and everytime someone comes over and see's this project, she'll be telling this story.

 

What kind of panels / projects do you hope to do with this thing? What's the smallest mm size detail that this should be able to do? I hope it can do something along the lines of the small text for button labels and whatnot.

 

Looking forward to your future updates!

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The Museum Relic Campaign: --> http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=164322

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Holy crap. It actually works.:megalol:

There were quite a few moments when I thought 'this is probably going to mess things up, but I won't know until I'm done.'

 

 

 

VIrNDfn.jpg

The design uses terminals where possible in order to keep wiring difficulty to a minimum.

 

HuuxmDS.jpg

I was paranoid about shorting things, so I put shrink-wrap on everything. I didn't heat it though, just left it in place to keep things from touching. This is the part where I was wiring the motors into the 'shield' that attaches to the Arduino. Make sure you do the data/switch soldering first! I got this out of order and had to battle these wires the whole time.

 

5zre3at.jpg

Making the first cut! This was after spending all day on wiring. Soldering was rough for me because my iron is too long, too big and too cheap. Also, I suck at it, but it seems to have worked.

 

I only have two bits and almost no material to cut, but the test project did work. It goes all three directions and didn't catch on fire! The free software is super simple, but I'm a bit of a noob with bits and routers making it a little hard to get what I want out of a cut.

 

L1HR74j.jpg

Soon I'll pick up some more bits, as well as some acrylic to start running tests with.

 

 

 

 

Overall, I'm just thrilled that this thing works, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot of cutting. I'll be trying to pay the thing off by making custom wooden signs and closing gifts for the real estate agents I work for, as well as cockpit related things should people want them. I've got a lot of things to learn though, but this is my new 'off the computer' hobby.

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Congrats on your machine, CNC is awesom. but dude, your weapons, maybe keep them in a safe? ;)

 

I do! But not when they're being worked on. Was fixing a broken stock. Those cases are empty, don't worry. Wouldn't keep a whole arsenal in the garage.

 

I was actually curious if anyone was going to notice/identify that. :)

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I visited the woodworking store today and picked up more bits. I also bought the cheapest wood I could find (Poplar) to run more tests on.

 

Here is nearly everything I've cut so far.

 

 

 

CjOD3pn.jpg

Bottom right: Tried cutting a logo, but when it jogged for a non-cutting move, the belt slipped. I was also using a rounded pit.

The word TEXT: Tried cutting quite a bit deeper. You can see that the letters ended up off-set. This was also due to the belt, which I keep tightening.

Above 'TEXT': My first test run of the SMS logo failed. As you can see, when it jogged in to start the inner parts, it slipped.

Upper Right: Those sloppy circles? They should be round. Something is wrong, likely in the Y axis. I've tightened the belt, adjusted the V wheels and played with the voltages with little change.

Top SMS logo: What I consider my first real success, even though it got sloppy in a few places. I've been tightening and re-tightening the belts, and generally going over all the calibration steps I can find. It doesn't help that I can't find recommended cutting speeds for poplar anywhere.

 

 

 

I'm already getting sick of the free software. It makes the basic steps super easy, but lacks any tools to help me calibrate the machine. If everything was working perfectly, I could imagine cutting panels with this software, as you can load files created from whatever software package you want. But I'm going to have to find something more advanced in order to get this thing cutting accurately.

 

One thing that would help is if the machine would slow down when coming up on a turn, and not move insanely fast between cuts. A lot of that might be a software problem to be solved.

 

Final Product after some sanding:

xTQVUoG.jpg


Edited by AurelTristen
Added a photo

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update. I've solved the accuracy issues which prevented me from cutting a nice round circle. In order to test this, I did this tiny little cut with a 0.65mm bit. Took 11 minutes, but it looks great!

 

A note about accuracy: In my case, I needed to tighten and re-tighten the belts. They say the belts should be 'guitar string' tight, but that was kinda hard for me to figure considering the belts are nothing like a guitar string.

 

I also needed to put some WD40 on the ACME screw. Once I tightened down the V wheels enough, I was getting some terrible sounds on the Z axis, but like magic, some WD40 fixed it.

 

Now that I've done this cut, I'm confident the machine will be able to do panel text. The hard part is going to be selecting the correct bit. The text on most military machines seems to be a smooth U groove, cut in one go/pass. I've picked up a load of tiny bits from Harbor Freight for practically nothing, so I'll have to hunt down just the right one for this job.

 

pztzGpI.jpg

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Guitar string tight? Your pucker factor must have gone up as you were cranking on it! :)

 

And have you tried it on acrylic or polycarbonate yet?

 

thanks for posting the updates.


Edited by hansangb

hsb

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Yeah, I was a bit worried about snapping a belt, but at least that would be the cheapest possible part to break.

 

I've just found out that Home Depot sells acrylic in 12x12 chunks, so I'm going to pick some up today.

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WOW! that's precise. looking awesome.

Have you worked with acrylic before? I haven't done any work with CNC machines, but I've read that you don't want to high of an RPM, or else the bit will just melt the acrylic. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the results.

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I was supposed to pick up some acrylic to do some test cuts yesterday, but haven't yet.

 

Instead, I did a test cutting text with the same bit. Something has changed, because it started adding a bit of a hook to the tops of letters. Obviously, this little glitch would be unacceptable when cutting a panel that would be covered in text, and stared at for years to come. I'd just keep seeing that little glitch and slowly going mad. Will have to sort that out soon.

 

I've read the same about acrylic. It'll just take some trial and error (and good note taking) to find the right settings.

 

wANY0ij.jpg

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Entropy Squadron



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Nice looking, though. If you ignore the little uptick. Is it easy to zero out the bit to the cutting surface? So you can set the depth precisely?

hsb

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i7-10700K Direct-To-Die/OC'ed to 5.1GHz, MSI Z490 MB, 32GB DDR4 3200MHz, EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3, NVMe+SSD, Win 10 x64 Pro, MFG, Warthog, TM MFDs, Komodo Huey set, Rverbe G1

 

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Nice looking, though. If you ignore the little uptick. Is it easy to zero out the bit to the cutting surface? So you can set the depth precisely?

 

When you prepare to begin your cut, you move the bit to 'zero' or home manually. I move it down in Z at 0.01 inch increments until it physically touches the part. If you need sub-mm accuracy, you'll have to 'level' your waste board, and do a lot more calibrating, but mine is flat enough to do tiny details without much issue (until recently anyway).

 

Your Z tolerance will be off by whatever imperfections exist in your material, maker-bars and the waste board. In my case, it is unnoticeable.

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I've made my first cut on acrylic! As expected, it didn't go well. I'm anticipating a whole lot of failure before I end up with a result I'm happy with, so this was no surprise.

 

Firstly, the acrylic I bought from Amazon casts a warm hue to any light that passes through it. Secondly, it has the appearance of dull white, almost translucent, so lettering doesn't stand out the way it does on real panels when unlit. I'll stick with this scrap for practice, but I'm going to have to find my materials elsewhere. I've seen quite a few options thrown around on this forum, but I wanted to see if I could stick with the ol' trusty Amazon. Guess not!

 

I ordered a semi-translucent white, at 12x12 and gave it two coats of black spray paint. Turns out I was out of flat black, so I used a gloss black I had around. Two coats isn't nearly enough. I can see light coming through all over.

 

I'm also getting a buildup of acrylic around the edge of the cut. Not yet sure if that is from using too low or too high of a speed, too deep of a cut, or just the quality of my bit. Mind you, I'm using a super cheap set from Harbor Freight meant for a dremel.

 

At this point I can say with some confidence that the X-Carve will do the job with the right software. Easel is almost useless, so prepare to invest in something else. I'd imagine someone who knew what they were doing would be cutting panels by now without much issue though.

 

 

 

 

1rP6SFt.jpg

 

 

 

Luckily, I'm quite comfortable cutting wood right now, so I don't feel like a complete failure. I've been cutting logos and things nearly every day, and am currently trying to learn MeshCAM. I've yet to cut anything that couldn't be cut on the smaller version though, so if anyone is considering buying one for this kind of thing, you're probably safe to go with the small one.

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  • 4 months later...

Going to re-open this post as I thought it better than making a new one.

 

I just have to assemble my controller box and my 750mm X Carve will be assembled. I have the V Carve Desktop software and I've been spending time learning it and things are going well. I've drawn my missing panels and have started with tool paths for them. What a great toy to enjoy in my retirement.

 

I'll posts some pics in the future as things get rolling.

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Thank you. I'm very interested in hearing how it all pans out

hsb

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i7-10700K Direct-To-Die/OC'ed to 5.1GHz, MSI Z490 MB, 32GB DDR4 3200MHz, EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3, NVMe+SSD, Win 10 x64 Pro, MFG, Warthog, TM MFDs, Komodo Huey set, Rverbe G1

 

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Hello, thanks for replying.

 

I fired up the X Carve and made a test cut and it looks very good. A great start. Not too loud as I was afraid of.

 

I have learned so far:

 

Build was pretty easy. Online instructions have errors and incorrect illustrations, but still easy to get it done. Part quality was very good. I had one threaded hole that was tapped a bit crooked.

 

Setup instructions were a bit ambiguous, but I still did manage to get it running. Be sure to set "Advanced settings" for the Z Probe (if you use this).

 

I bought V Carve Desktop software. You can design parts on it but it won't run the X Carve as it is not a G Code controller. You export your V Carve project to Easel (or some other controller) to run the machine. Much to learn yet here. If this was made clear to begin with, I missed it. Be prepared to learn more than one software if you are not using Easel for everything.

 

I had to flash my card to get the Z axis to complete setup. This is done in Easel. Most X Carves bought in 2016 require this.

 

All my axis ran backwards following the instructions. I had to reverse wires (easy to do). I found this much better than reversing the software control.

 

Support knowledge is all located in the Forum. A lot of info there! However, the forum is a cross-linked cluster %$#. You start in one thread and end up who-knows-where, but the info is there.

 

You have to run setup all the way through, if you try to go back, will start over.

 

I've read of people reporting DRO (digital read out), but I have not found this yet.

 

X Carve is alike a whole community, and there are all kinds of mods and ideas that are shared at the website and forum.

 

I'm really glad I bought this. I used to have to work standing up in my free time at work, but can now do this at my leisure, sitting at my computer. Great hobby.


Edited by JG14_Smil
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