Not sure what think.......

[twin.spin]

Hi all,
Let me first say that this is my first post here, Let me give some info about myself, then ask a few questions:

Wood working\construction has been in my family for almost 120 yrs...to when great great grand father built barns in now what is Arlington Heights IL to myself whose projects has been used one the city of Elkhorn WI historic restoration site.

The reason I mention this, isn't to ooooh and aaaah ya all, but that at this time of life, I need to reduce the physical pounding that construction hands out, and replace it with something..... which is why I'm here.

I have research, read comments\reviews about carve wright and its cousin sears.

Personally, I expect a tool (when purchased) to be an asset. Meaning, if I can't save labor hours, produce quality\unique items and workmanship, and have a tool that has life span greater than the initial investment (profitability) then I can warrent the purchase.

It comes down to this debate I'm reading on the internet...is the carvewright\sears a production tool or a once in a while tool? (Am I looking at something that is designed to make a project once a day, week or month.)

Question 2: since technology is so cheap, why the $1800 price tag?
Example: Even at most Wal-Marts are only flat screen hi-def are sold...(no more tubes) starting at $349. Compare this to 2007 if the same tv was available would have cost $800. Today there are better tv's than in 2007 for less cost.
Can someone please tell me why this isn't the case with the carvewright\sears tool?

Thanks in advance
Twin Spin

P.S.
If you would like to send a private e-mail, you can do so @
twin.spin@yahoo.com

[liquidguitars]

well for starters you do not need to keep a hand on the tool like a hammer. speaking of TVs my just shutdown after 5 years. :(


LG

[maxcarvewright]

To Me it's all about affordable software,and a really cool tool that gives us the ability to quickly and effortlesly produce repeatable designs at an entry level price.(P.S.) software upgrades are free, and the machine just keeps getting better.

[HighTechOkie]

There are a whole list of reasons the price has not fallen on the CW/CC in comparison to other technology products.

1. Simple volume. With millions of TVs, printers, digital cameras etc sold each year, there are economies of scale to making these products cheaper as well as advances in technology and production.
2. Competition. CarveWright is currenlty the lowest priced CNC router on the market. It is the cheap no-name knockoffs that have driven the prices of name brand TVs down to compete.
3. Servicability. If a TV, printer, digital camera breaks, you throw it in the trash and buy a new one. Most people are not willing to pay $100+ for parts and labor to have last years model repaired. They would rather put that money toward a newer less expensive model.

On the other hand, LHR and the forum offer great support to help diagnose most problems quickly and parts are easy to replace.
4. Niche market. Almost every household feels they need a new HDTV or the latest, greatest gadget. How on earth did we get by with that 27" TV for 15yrs (see #3)? Not everyone needs a CarveWright (I'm sure LHR would disagree with me though :D ).

On the counter arguement, new car prices have gone up, why hasn't the Carvewright? There is plenty of technology in cars. We are still using the same basic engine design for 80+yrs? Real estate typically increases in price too, its the same house it was last year? They build new houses every day and charge more today than they did 2 yrs ago? Even Microsoft's software keeps increasing in price with each new version.

The last figures I have seen tossed around is >20,000 units sold since before 2006. When you factor in the millions of dollars to set up production, that is not that large of volume to spread that across. I don't see where there is much of a valid comparison between a CNC router and a TV. You really can only compare it to other CNC routers. Could the CarveWright /CompuCarve be made and sold cheaper? Probably so, but then tech support gets moved to India, failure rates increas due to cheaper parts being used and you pay for each software upgrade or bug fix.

Rob
Happy with what I paid for my CompuCarve.

[Rick P]

Twin Spin,
If you buy a CW, make sure you buy a ROCK chuck. The ROCK makes the CW more "production like". But the CW is not a robust production machine. I use mine in my buisness to make money, so it not a hobby machine for me.

[hess]

I dont know as I would say the TVs are all that better. I have a 52 in projection that crapped out at less the 2.5 years and a LCD that has less that a year and half that is getting a black line down it. They are making stuff like cars disposable

I have a 27 in 1980 tv that went though a f3 and still works as well as a 15 year old 34 inch this new stuff looks good for a short time than take a crap kinda like some wood working machines I know

[Dan-Woodman]

Twin Spin
Keep in mind that the CW/CC machines are sold as "hobby" machine and are not intended for commercial use.
later Daniel

[twin.spin]

Twin Spin
Keep in mind that the CW/CC machines are sold as "hobby" machine and are not intended for commercial use.
later Daniel

Dan,
"commercial" like as something that is used daily, or "heavy use" like doing a design that requires a lot of material\memory? Does that mean that there are "industrial" type's out there?

Thanks
Jon

[twin.spin]

well for starters you do not need to keep a hand on the tool like a hammer. speaking of TVs my just shutdown after 5 years. :(


LG

I looked at your web site. How many of the guitars do you have that you used the carve wright?

[liquidguitars]

All of them! with the exception of the redwood one on the g-blog page.

LG