Checking out CarveWrights

[Rick P]

I have been trying to check out CarveWright machines by reading posts in the Forum. There is a Woodworking Show in my area of Minnesota in October and I will check out the CW demonstrations there. But, I'm a little concerned about all the problems with CW machines. It seems many people have to send their machines in for repair. Is there anyone in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota who has a CW and open to a visit ??

[fwharris]

Rick,

I know of users in the following areas of Minn.

, Owatonna
, Maple Grove
, Prior Lake
, Minneapolis

If you want more info send me a PM.

[cnsranch]

Rick

I bought my machine from LHR at the WW show here last Feb.

I spent A LOT of time talking with the LHR guys re the problems I perceived in the Forum. The guys really asked me a lot of questions re my WW experience and computer savvy, and walked through the various "problems" I saw in the forum. Based on our conversation, they told me I wouldn't have any problems, and they were right. I bought from them at the show.

In my opinion, this is the most sophisticated piece of equipment you will likely ever put in your shop, and as such, you need to treat it with the respect it demands. It's not a $60 router from Harbor Freight - it needs care and feeding, and you need to get to know it and its software - and I mean get to know it. If you don't want to spend the time doing so, or if you don't have the time necessary to climb the learning curve, buy the $60 router. No offense, but the majority of problems I've seen over the last 9 months or so are operator error-based. Some aren't. That said, turning out a one of a kind project that could literally belong in the finest "boutiques" in town is a real kick in the pants.

Last word - if you have basic computer skills, I believe you'll be fine. By basic, I mean understanding how basic commands work, how to cut and paste, how the mouse works, knowing your way around a word processing program and a program like Publisher, some kind of photo shop program, the difference between jpegs and mpegs, etc. I hope I get contradicted here, but if you can't figure out how to open Designer, you got a lot of work to do before you ever load your first board. I had the trial version downloaded long before I bought my machine, I'd do the same if I were you.

But its a BLAST!

[oldjoe]

I will be busy for the next couple weekends but I live in New Prague. Did not know that there was somebody in Prior Lake that had one. Thats about 20 miles or so farther out than me. But if you are interested just let me know PM and maybe we can set something up.

[Amonaug]

Another tip.....don't expect to take any old image (from the web or otherwise) and expect to get a good carving from it with little work. It takes time to understand how a greyscale image translates to a carving unless you already have experience in 3D modeling using heightmaps/displacement maps and have some imaging editing experience.

Now if you just use the basic patterns that came with the CW or the free ones presented here and buy ones from the stores you can still have nice carvings with little trouble IF you follow the advice on this forum and follow the maintenance suggested. Learn the common mistakes made by novices, etc.

[bizbiki]

With the CC there exists a learning curve on both the operation of the CC and lts software.

That being said by a novice of both.

The software is somewhat intuative, but perhaps not to the degree that LHR would have you believe.

As far a the machine itself I will have to admit most if not all of the problems that I have had is due to user error or just not keeping the machine clean and well lubricated. And yes, my CC has made one trip back to Houston early on.

My best reccmendation to anyone purchasing a cw is to build a downdraft table for it and use it each and every time you carve, this will cut down the clean up time a bunch and add to your enjoyment even more. As you dont have a dead or dirty machine not acting as it should.

The machine itself is a great value and a whole lot of fun to use, and this forum is invaluble when it comes to a problem or a question.

I hope this helps.