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View Full Version : Has anyone carved 10 or more projects problem free?



tim1216
02-01-2007, 05:04 PM
I am on my second unit after complete failure with the first one. My problem is with the programmer this time. My first unit went copletley haywire with numerous problems. I have finished 5 projects with it and on the 6th one the programmer failed to load. I am just wondering if this machine can do more than a days worth of carving without breaking down. When it works its amazing but when it breaks down.... :x :x :x
please let me know if it is worth it or not. I like the machine but I hate the down time.

HandTurnedMaple
02-01-2007, 05:25 PM
I've done my first 8 without incident (machine-wise anyway). Tomorrow I have an 8 1/2 hour project to run that will really test the machine.

The Bard
02-01-2007, 05:50 PM
well, we have close to 4000 machines out now. I think the ratio is pretty good in reality.

GIZMO1D1
02-01-2007, 06:13 PM
i completed 1/3 of one..

IM2HAPPI
02-01-2007, 06:31 PM
He took the cover off and we got error close cover.He loosened the connector block or whatever that thingy is called. (White wire)Couple other errors but was caused from dust and cleaned and went right back to work. Have a total of 10 projects done. Havent looked at hrs used but 2 were 3 hrs long and others were couple hrs a piece. I luvvvvvvve my machine.

PS Oh got it setup on 1/23/2007 and has ran everday

DustMe
02-01-2007, 06:36 PM
I have started and sucessfully finished all 20 projects I have attempted with a little over 22.5 hours of carving time.

Most of them have been "tests" using yellow pine and have been complicated designs...so far I am very pleased with the results.

I have had some software issues and some errors loading a couple of projects to the flash card but that is about it so far.

BobC33
02-01-2007, 06:49 PM
I have done 8 projects testing my designs on the designerand have had no problems so far with the machine. And I have had my machine for only two weeks today. Got 19 hours and 15 mins on the odometer. The only issues I have now is with the software keeps crashing at different times. Trying to figure why???????

The Bard
02-01-2007, 07:14 PM
well, it's really nice to hear some positive news about the machine.

thanx guys.

dcozort
02-01-2007, 07:42 PM
Hey tim .. I know it is very frustrating but hang in there..... I guess I am getting my first education in cnc... so working on the machine and taking it apart has been kinda fun for me... believe it or not... I'm probably weird.. But one of my goals is to learn what makes this thing tick.. There fore if I have an error I know right where to go... Knowing the locations and functions of all sensors has helped me alot.. My machine is currently waiting a new Z-Truck.. That's O.K. because I know why it quit... and that help's my wait.... As long as my new parts are timely I will enjoy replaceing it ( learning experence for me ) I would rather learn on a $1599 machine instead of a 10,000 dollar one.... I think cnc is awsome and intend to go much larger in the furture....with a better understanding.. I know its not a planer or table saw,, which if they don't work its pretty simple to know why... no elect or the motor died... but neither of these tools can sculpt wood like this machine.. So in my opintion I know I don't want to kick it to the curb.. even though sometimes you fell like it........ Keep trying to understand Dennis

tim1216
02-01-2007, 08:15 PM
I just want to thank all of you that replied. Haveing heard all of your opinions good and bad makes me still belive that I made a wise choice. The hardest part is the lack of understanding this new product. I hope the peaple at cw get back to me soon so I can continue with my other projects. Like I said, I love this machine and I love what I can do with it when its running right. Again I thank you for your inpute.

The Bard
02-01-2007, 08:25 PM
Remember,

the first step to any troubleshooting issue is creative cursing.

once that step is done, you may then move onto fixing the problem.

Ron Smith
02-01-2007, 09:11 PM
I've been at this for a year now ... and yep ... I've had the ups and downs. The good news is that for the past four months I've had nothing but praises to sing for this machine. All of the projects I have done have come out as I expected. I have been able to pay for the machine and now make enough to buy other toys. I was lucky enough to find a campground that has 500 sites and the campers "association" have agreed to get signs for all of the lots with the peoples names on them. Sort of a "whos who" type of thing so everyone can call each other by name. They have asked me to supply these signs and we set a price. They will all be the same design, just changing the names. It couldn't get much sweeter for the machine than that. I like hearing the success stories to help encourage the bad ones. Keep carving!

Bill
02-01-2007, 09:24 PM
tim1216

I am just wondering if this machine can do more than a days worth of carving without breaking down

Take a look at the link below at my post the six pieces you see there take just about 2 hours apiece in this one job alone this is just about 12 hours, I have also completed 12 other jobs, and not just small signs.

I received my machine 12/2006 I had one glitch that the CW folks repaired I may add (quite promptly) and in January I had 20 hours and I had a alert to lubricate the flexshaft it now has just short of 30 hours on it and don't have a problem. I am enjoying this machine.

http://www.carvewright.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1258&start=0

lex227
02-02-2007, 09:08 AM
i have had my machine for about 2 weeks and have run more than 40 projects on 9 species of wood and 2 species of plastic without a hitch other than those caused by my inexperience.

My approach has been to push the machine as hard as I can during the first 90 days so when it fails I can take it back to sears and get a new one. Frankly, to my surprise, it has not failed yet.

With my legally enforceable (I am a lawyer) 5 year master protection Agreement I expect to be using this machine (or its warranty replaced machines) for a long time.

I think it has a great deal of untapped potential and if they solve the manufacturing problems before CW goes bankrupt we will look back on the introduction of this device as a watershed event in the evolution of consumer level technology.

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 10:39 AM
EDITED

JBarr
02-02-2007, 10:44 AM
Phone number is on the 'Contact Us' page.

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 10:57 AM
Just checked the page...no number, only address.

JBarr
02-02-2007, 11:05 AM
?????

http://www.carvewright.com/contact.html

LHR Technologies, Inc.
4930 Allen Genoa Road
Pasadena, TX 77504

Phone: 713-473-6572
Hours: 9:00 - 6:00 PM, Monday - Friday




Due to the significant interest in the CarveWright System we
are fielding a significant number of calls and e-mails. We are answering
these questions in the order received and as quickly as possible. We have
updated our list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that address many of
the questions we are receiving so please browse these before posting a
question. We appreciate your patience.

For customers with service issues please place a call to the number above
as the response time to emails is currently 2 weeks due to the volume of traffic.Contact Form

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 11:48 AM
That's strange, try clearing cookies (i clear mine every shutdown).

GIZMO1D1
02-02-2007, 01:11 PM
i noticed alot of folks saying odometer / hours used..

is there one in the menue somewhere? on screen.?

Jeff_Birt
02-02-2007, 01:17 PM
I had no problem finding the phone number just now, or a few days ago when I wanted to order a probe. Maybe it's just you bud...I noticed that you you claim to be a beta tester again. It's the last time I'll bring it up, but you seem to take every oppertunity to be negitive that you can, your own statements are contridictary and I think this phone number thing was problably just hot air. You reap what you sew my friend. Again,I hope you find an amicable solution.



Shawn Gillies
PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:39 am Post subject:
Well i purchased mine last March and am one of the 200 Beta testers and i have had my share of problems which were promptly looked after back then...i have never been able to do any of my final projects as problems always arose but the practice peices usually came out fine, go figure.




Shawn, I took a look through old posts as I was just curious as to what all problems you have had (maybe a heads up for whats to come on my machine). But I'm confused...first you say this

Quote:
Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 33

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:01 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is there an update kit we betas can get because i spent three days last week trying to clear bit sensor...my optic glass came off and my mirror (which i've never seen before) is gone, so i used a piece of tin foil and it works now.
This seems to be an ongoing problem and i sure would be interested in getting the upgrade for mine.

SG


and later you say this...

Quote:

Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 33

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:23 pm Post subject: CW Machine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well i contacted CW and there was a bit of confusion as they thought i was shipping my machine back and i was waiting for a return message. I was going to request a refund but would have settled for a new machine. I purchased my machine last March (or around that time) and between waiting for parts or repairing/trying to fix various error messages i have only been able to run the CarveWright for about 25 hours. During that time i have ruined some very valuable wood that i had put aside for special projects. I felt guilty at first openly complaining but it got to the point that i had spent my day off repairing the machine only to load a project and have ANOTHER problem. Thinking that explaining this to CW i would have been offered a new machine but i am going to get a "refurbished" one. Now i'm not sure how many hours this refurbished model will have run but i'm fairly certain that it will have more hours than mine if the postings on the message board are any indication, so i'm not overjoyed by any means. I think i'll ask them if i can hold on to mine for awhile so i atleast have a spare parts source. Maybe this machine will function to the level i expected my original to run at. I am not the type of person to demean or bash anyone but i really have had a very bad experience with this whole deal. I have been a MillWright for over 30 years installing and repairing machinery from conveyors to robotics and i have been part of alot of initial setups of equipment and expect a few bugs but this is one for the books. When i ordered i asked if i was a BETA tester and was assured that this was in production and beta tests were done. I never would have purchased knowing i was a tester. I get PAID to test. Now i'm laid up with a bad back and would love to be able to try a few of the many projects that i had planned. Sorry for being so long winded here but i just need to vent.
IF the refurbished machine turns out to work well then i will look forward to posting some of my completed projects and will put this experience behind me. I will update how things turn out in a few weeks after the machine arrives.



Shawn Gillies


so what's the deal? I'm all for a forum to share experiances (good and bad) so everyone can make an informed decisons, but that requires the mfg to allow frank conversations (which I think CW does) and the participants to be honest. Perhaps, you were only 'confused' when you said you were a beta tester and then said you were not. I don't know. I hope that you can work out an amicable solution though.
_________________
Happy carving,

Jeff Birt[/i]

The Bard
02-02-2007, 01:30 PM
Gizmo...

when you turn the machine on it goes to 1) project menu...

Press "0" then "3" and you'll get the cut motor hours.

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 01:47 PM
Jeff. What are you? The house detective? You don't know nothing about my situation so just clam up! You Mods are getting just a wee bit to cocky. Look when i signed up. I have MANY e-mails regarding being a BETA so mind your own business.

Or as PKUNK says "another disgruntled loser" what a pair of Mods you guys turned out to be. Just alienate customers with problems!

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 01:53 PM
edited

Jeff_Birt
02-02-2007, 02:33 PM
Dude, I'm using Fierfox. Your inventing problems.

Shawn Gillies
02-02-2007, 03:06 PM
Using Firefox the space where the phone number should be is a purple line. I dragged the mouse pointer over the line and the phone number shows...move pointer away and number vanishes. Who knows,

tim1216
02-02-2007, 05:02 PM
Hey guys. I just posted this discution to try to solve some worries I have abought this machine. I didnt want it to get hostile. The phone no. is on the home page under contact us. I just used it today at 11:00 am to order a new controller. They told me that it was there last one untill the end of feburary. I hope this one will make it at least that long. But on the otherside of things when my first machine went down I had to wait almost three weeks to get the new part because no one would order it correctly. I am hopeing that it was just because they were moving at the time. Other than that there tech support has been great thus far.

The Bard
02-02-2007, 05:42 PM
Tim, we got controllers in today.

call me on Monday and I'll see about getting one out to you.

Lemme know who you are on the forums though!

newcarver
02-02-2007, 05:50 PM
Mine has run ok so far, I have done about 10 projects succesfuly, 3 were aborted by me due to crappy pics that would'nt carve decent.
A few clear sensor errors, but once cleared ran fine. Any errors i've had were minor and fixed easily, machine has asked me to grease flexshaft. I did and back to it. Ifc you do have problems don't callsears, call cw. Aside from back orders on bits(still waiting) all is good.

tim1216
02-02-2007, 08:04 PM
Thanks Bard but They sent me one today. It should be here by monday.
And also thanks for your concern. Its nice to see someone from tech support involved in an open forum. It shows class. Thanks again.

BoardSilly
02-03-2007, 12:51 AM
Using Firefox the space where the phone number should be is a purple line. I dragged the mouse pointer over the line and the phone number shows...move pointer away and number vanishes. Who knows,

Its your Firefox configuration. I use Firefox also ( I'm a Data/Network Security Engineer for a Fortune 3 company ) and its fine. The HTML for the phone number display is standard HTML and has no issue under IE6, IE7 and Firefox 1.x or 2.0

The Bard
02-04-2007, 12:20 AM
Tim,

Or masochistic tendencies. :?