How long to get up and running?

[WhatDoIKnow]

1st post. I am strongly considering buying a Carvewright.

I know this is an open-ended question, but how long does it take to get up and started with some basic carving? I am very computer savy, fairly graphics design savy, but not very woodworking savy.

The project I have in mind is a repeating pattern border around the edge of a flat piece of wood. However, this piece of wood is curvy, not a simple square, rectangle or even a circle. Not sure if the description of the type of project I am wanting to do helps. Could this be accomplished with the included software, or do I need to look at some of the add-on software?

Any help is appreciated. I have already learned quite a bit from this forum.

Thanks.

[liquidguitars]

well i would start in a simple direction first... making eages on curves require the curve to be cut first with the unit... lots of help here so make your design and post it.

[mtylerfl]

1st post. I am strongly considering buying a Carvewright.

I know this is an open-ended question, but how long does it take to get up and started with some basic carving? I am very computer savy, fairly graphics design savy, but not very woodworking savy.

The project I have in mind is a repeating pattern border around the edge of a flat piece of wood. However, this piece of wood is curvy, not a simple square, rectangle or even a circle. Not sure if the description of the type of project I am wanting to do helps. Could this be accomplished with the included software, or do I need to look at some of the add-on software?

Any help is appreciated. I have already learned quite a bit from this forum.

Thanks.

The CarveWright is still far and away the best value in small format CNC machines. You will really enjoy it.

I made my first carve the very first afternoon after I brought the machine home. I had already been playing with the Designer software for three days prior to picking up the machine from Sears. See the photo of the "Gammon" sign below...that was my first project. A very simple sign, but I was "afraid" of my machine at that point and did not want to try anything complicated!

Once I was "over the hump of fear" I designed my second project. We have a game room with Coca Cola decor, so I created the plaque you see below. I used some of the included "fancy scrolls, etc." for the border (carved separately) and made the lady and text layout in CorelDRAW, filled with black, saved as a .gif graphic format and imported that into the Designer layout. Of course, in my ignorance, I did not realize the the .png format would have probably been better. Nevertheless, I was extremely pleased with how it turned out! (I created the Coke bottle by scanning a Christmas ornament with the CarveWright Scanning Probe! It survived the scanning just fine, but I broke it when I pulled it off the scanning sled...I used hot glue and it stuck real good...too good!)

So, you can see it does not take long at all to get up and running. Besides, you have many advantages that did not exist several years ago, so you will be waaay ahead of those of us who started "way back when". Documentation was scant back in those days, but now it is excellent and thorough. Also, during the first few months enjoying my machine, I became much more active on the Forum...this is probably one of the best resources we all have to this day. Any questions that you come up with will have already been answered here, as well as in the Tips & Tricks newsletters. (I started writing the Tips & Tricks on my own when I started noticing folks making unnecessary mistakes running their machines...soon after that, I was contacted by CarveWright for permission to "brand" those Tips & Tricks under the CarveWright name instead of my own company, CarveBuddy.)

Your fellow CarveWright users will "clamor" to help you when/if you need it! Many, many experienced and knowledgeable people here, at your service. Go for it!

[CNC Carver]

I did lots of reading while I was waiting for my machine to arrive about 7 days for shipping. Learned alot and created a quick carving first day. I have had some trouble with various parts breaking but with help from others on this forum back up and running with DIY repairs. I'm looking to buy another one as I'd like to start building projects on a more commerical level. I looked at larger machines but love this machine and this forum.

[Deolman]

Do you mean you want to carve on some curvy wood or you want the wood to be curvy after carving it. The board you use has to be flat and square. Also the depth of cut is determined by gray-scales. Find tips and tricks from CarveWright's main page. They will give you a lot of insight. Download the CarveWright software - it can be used for a month. And last but not least, search the forum. Normally the biggest complaint with the CarveWright is "it wasn't purchased earlier so the fun could start earlier."

[WhatDoIKnow]

Do you mean you want to carve on some curvy wood or you want the wood to be curvy after carving it. The board you use has to be flat and square. Also the depth of cut is determined by gray-scales. Find tips and tricks from CarveWright's main page. They will give you a lot of insight. Download the CarveWright software - it can be used for a month. And last but not least, search the forum. Normally the biggest complaint with the CarveWright is "it wasn't purchased earlier so the fun could start earlier."

Is this correct, or can the piece being carved be attached to a "sled" or jig? The piece would be flat.

[CNC Carver]

It can be curved but you need some way of holding it in a sled. I have carved on canoe paddles and wood slabs in a sled.

[lawrence]

If you are asking if a piece can be cut out in a curved shape- the answer is Yes-- the machine will cut out curves etc. without being on a sled. The way it does this is the wood moves through the machine on two sandpaper rollers, but the rollers have a gap between them. This gap allows the bit to actually penetrate the wood without damaging anything. Here is a video of some "curvy" lettering being cut out in case my explanation wasn't clear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DapHPycGs64

Not sure if this is what you mean, but that's my .02 :) and I hope it helped

Lawrence

[WhatDoIKnow]

If you are asking if a piece can be cut out in a curved shape- the answer is Yes-- the machine will cut out curves etc. without being on a sled. The way it does this is the wood moves through the machine on two sandpaper rollers, but the rollers have a gap between them. This gap allows the bit to actually penetrate the wood without damaging anything. Here is a video of some "curvy" lettering being cut out in case my explanation wasn't clear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DapHPycGs64

Not sure if this is what you mean, but that's my .02 :) and I hope it helped

Lawrence

That does help to know how it works, thank you. I was more concerned with carving on a piece that starts out with a curved edge, and I see that using a sled should work.