CarveWright vs. General's new I-Carve
While awaiting a check to clear so that I can order my CW, I thought I'd share some info on a "competing" CNC, the General International I-Carve. It was suggested to me by one of their authorized dealers, who also handles CarveWrights, that General introduced this unit specifically to compete. In short...I don't see where it does.
The General unit does have a similar carving area, sort of (15 x 20 x 4 1/2"). Since it's a traditional fixed bed, moving gantry style design, its X axis travel is limited. While this can probably be readily over come by registering and feeding through a work piece over 20" in length, it also adds another dimension of aggravation and potential for foul ups.
There's mention in their tout that the I-Carve stepper motors rival the performance of servos, which is what CW uses. Nuff said?
Bit changes are pretty traditional, which is to say that it requires a wrench, and collets that aren't kept clean will stick. This is much fun when everything gets good and warm and you don't have time to waste.
All of their software is provided from a third party. The ICarve software is well distributed and supported, but it does open the door to the potential issue of getting bounced back and forth between vendors pointing fingers at each other when things run amuck.
Without delving into all of the particulars, their zeroing process looks a lot easier to screw up. This equals head crash...no joy.
There are innumerable pinch points on a moving gantry CNC, no matter the size. The CW is hands down a safer looking machine to operate, especially if you are standing or sitting in close proximity. With user adjustable feed rates and speeds, along with the need to clamp your work piece to the bed, there is much greater possibility for the open gantry to launch loosely held parts in practically any direction.
Having not used either software beyond the free tutorials and demo's this is not an absolute, but for a CNC novice like myself, the CW is head and shoulders above in terms of learning curve. I'll warrant that a newbie could probably complete their first CW carve before they figured out how to flatten the cut table on the I-Carve.
The CarveWright has a material measuring feature, whereas the I-Carve requires each parameter to be input by the user (garbage in - garbage out). Who's more likely to make a mistake here?
The CarveWright can support a very affordable scanning probe. While I'm sure that something could be acquired and adapted to the I-Carve, I'm equally certain that the price would exceed anything close to sensible.
Last but certainly not least is the issue of cost and value. The I-Carve is selling for $3,859.99 at WoodCraft. For that you get:
- The gantry table with the stepper motors and a spindle (they actually listed these things as though you were getting something extra. It's a door stop without anyone of them.
- Limited but functional software.
- A warning not to even think about running it w/o dust collection (good advise for both).
- No tooling.
- You can call or email for support. Nobody at my local WoodCraft knows jack about either machine beyond what anyone can read off of the websites.
Now let's contrast that with the WC Ultimate system that I'll be buying:
For a couple of hundred bucks less I get an Ultimate package with a full set of bits and cutters, all of the software available, a scanning probe and more software, a better interface, a safer machine, single point of contact support and of course, the relevance of this forum. For $500 more I can have a year of POM, specialty sign making software, spare bits and more.
My only question is, why would this be a difficult choice for anyone?
The major saving grace of the General's offering I suppose would be that if someone were interested in eventually moving on to a full sized CNC, this is a fairly reasonable way to get your feet wet working with G code.
