I am interested in purchasing the compucarve (sears name for the Carvewright). Is there anyone out there that has something good to say about the machine? Most of the reviews I have seen are negatives. They like the machine when it works, but a lot have been sending them in for repairs.Naturally, the ones that aren’t happy will write negative reports, and the happy ones are silent. Just trying to make the correct decision..$1800 is a lot of money for a machine that will not work.
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Replies
Got a simple question for ya.
Why?
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Am I dreaming this, or did I see the machine, and some sample pieces, in the most recent FWW? Saw it somewheres anyhoo. To me, the results looked like carp. I think I could do better with a dull spoon! (And I ain't no carver!)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Mike,
Were you reading your latest Field & Stream where you saw that carp? Sorry man, I couldn't resist. :-) The pic I saw looked like it was done with a sandblaster!
I hope our good friend helmutt isn't offended by this but I think the work carving means just that, carved like in hand carved. When done by a machine it looks, well, like a machine did it. The true essence on carving is the fact that it looks, hand carved.
I'm just a fledgling carver just reiterating somethind virtually every carver has told me.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
As already mentioned the results I have seen (photos) don't look very good. I have been doing CNC programming for decades cutting metal. There are a lot of subtle tricks to machining a nice looking part. I can't imagine dealing with wood grain and various species and get ####good looking piece. The key to getting a nice surface finish off a CNC machine with this type of cut is very light cuts spaced very close together (lots of data, lots of time) It might be best to cut only uphill (or downhill??) How big or small a cutter - smaller the cutter, the more passes needed (more time) How much to leave after the rough cut? .............
The variables go on and on. I'm not surprised the results don't look that good. But, with experience and the right wood the results may be OK.
Jim
I should chime in here. I have one for almost a year (Compucarve bought from Sears) and I have had mixed results with it. I had issues of it diving into the board while carving, I did get a new Z axis which I think kind of resolved that problem but then it started getting real erratic carvings in the Z direction. I took a sample with me to the Woodworking show here back in October because I knew that a couple people from Carvewright was going to be there. They looked at what was happening and suggested I sent it in for repair because their belief is that the encoder had issues. I was able to send it back on their dime and about a week and a half in came back fixed. I have only carved a couple things since then which a couple screw came loose on the drive shaft and drive shaft came loose while carving. I stopped the machine and fixed it and continued on. I also had a bit come loose from the holder but that was partially my fault since I should have checked the set screws before carving. From my limited experience it carves larger figures better than small detailed projects. Kind of like what notatexan mentioned that you are dealing with all sorts of different grain configurations. Some woods carve better than others. While I agree that maybe "carving" isn't exactly the right description of the machine it's more like "routing" and as stated smallish detail doesn't always come out too well.B.Kidd
If you want to carve, I'd suggest buying a nice set of Pfeil gouges from Woodcraft, pick up a couple books, and learn to carve by hand. I'm not a pro, but I really enjoy carving. I've gone to carving shows, joined a local carvers club, and made some great friends. Learned a lot, ruined a bunch of basswood, but had a hell of a time along the way. Give it a shot, what do you have to lose?
Jeff
Jeff,
I'm with you on that one. I got the Pfeil Professional Carving set and couldn't be happier. They cut like a dream. I also agree with notatexan about the grain issue(s). I can't imagine programming a machine to first read the grain in order to determine how to cut the wood.
There is one aspect about carving, and I'm sure there are many more, and that's the fact that it should look hand made. And, it's addictive!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 12/28/2007 7:55 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Hello Hellmutt,
My place of employment has a Carvewright machine and , frankly, I would'nt waste the tipping fees to get it to the land fill. They use it mostly for sign making, simple letter carving, simple designs and an occasional more complex design. It takes a long time to carve a simple lettered sign, its very noisy, the results are poor at best.
Bob, Tupper Lake, NY
Thanks to all who answered my question. I was looking for a dream machine (which doesn't seem to exist). I build a lot of furniture and was looking for an easy way to add a little pizazz. I'll save the 1800 dollars and get some good carving tools and hope for the best...not much of an artist!
hellmutt,
A good set of carving chisels I swear they will bring out artistic talents you never knew you had! I'm probably the most un-artistic person on Knots. When you do carve something and your significant other says it's beautiful, the confidence takes a giant leap.
So, get some GOOD chisels and have yourself some fun. But again, be forewarned that it can get addictive!
Weary from carving last night past midnight,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks...what name brand do you suggest? I work a lot with oak and maple ... not the easiest wood to start with.
Mel recommended Pfeil to me so I got the Prof. set, $330 from Woodcraft. I'm just getting started in carving so I have only used pine so far. I chose that as several folks said to stay away from it as it fuzzes if the tools aren't razor sharp. Me always up for a challenge went for it.
I did do some testing on cherry, birch and maple and they worked great, I think. I say that as I'm so green at carving I'm not really sure what sharp is with regard to carving chisels. I've been carving the pine for upwards of 16 hours and they're as sharp as the day I got them.
I'm awaiting some ceramic slip stones for honing the blades as I'm sure they will be needed eventually.
Jump in, the water is great!
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
If your carving gouges can cut the endgrain of pine as cleanly as your freshly sharpened block plane, they are sharp. I know that I need to hone my tools when I can't take a silkly smooth cut from the endgrain.Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
On pine endgrain the gouges cut a clean curly shaving so I guess they're still sharp. I don't want to wait too long though to hone them, plus I need the practice anyway.
One thing I have noticed is that when cutting across the grain the dark brown lines in the grain (winter growth?) cause the cut to have very small ridges at these lines. I'm assuming that these are harder than the white parts of the grain (summer growth?)
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
This carving thang is a whole new adventure for me. I've dabbled in it B4 (read paring not carving). Reading the grain when carving takes on a whole new dimension!
The other thing I've noticed is that you develop a tendency to carve everything in site. Overkill? That's ok with me though as I need all the practice I can get. Also, I'm not taking the traditional approach, whatever that is. I have read that one way to practce is to cut a series of straight lines then cut another series perpendicular and across the first set of lines.
As I'm getting away from the OPs topic, I'll post another discussion in the Turning & Carving forum. Don't want to be a hijacker! Thanks for all the help.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
That's right. It's the different densities or hardnesses between early and latewood that makes pine difficult to carve. Basswood, on the other hand, has a very even density throughout, making it probably the best wood to carve. I think that you're also right about the dark being winter growth (it's thin because the tree grows less) and the light being summer growth.
By the way, how are you enjoying carving pine? Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Hi Chris,
As I've said B4, I'm a neophyte at this carving thang. As for carving the pine I'm afraid I don't have much to compare it to yet. I chose pine more from an availability perspective than any other consideration. Because the wood is soft I can get used to how the tools work. I also see it as a challenge.
The ridges left by the hard grain lines in some cases adds an interesting effect under certain lighting angles. Long sweeping gouges along edges of the piece come out with these ridges being somewhat obvious. If I skew the gouge ever so slightly it seems to shear more cleanly.
This aspect of pine also makes me think about how a piece is cut in preparation of the stock. Instead of trying to avoid it I'm trying to use it to my advantage as another detail to the carving. Next up is birch and/or cherry, then hard maple. I also have some white oak I'd like to try.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Aside from getting a set of chisels, there are some other good options for assisting the carving process. Unless you live in a place where the weather is nice, and you food is constantly falling out of the trees around you for easy picking, you will need to do most of the bulk removal with some of them. That is If you are earning your living working with wood, save to hand chisels for the final finish cut. The first or most aggressive removal tool that I have is a right angle grinder with a arbortech wheel with the chain-saw blade.I follow that with another angle grinder with a coarse disk to knock down the roughness of the other tool. You can do a lot with just this tool without starting with the first one, like removing the background for shallow bas-relief.Next, Arbortech, makes some small 2" cutting wheels which can be used on the angle grinder also with a special arm to extend them on out. They do very nice at removing the wood easily with a bit more detail. The kit comes with a couple of sanding disk which can be mounted on the arm in place of the cutter, which I found to be marginal, or poorly executed, but turned out to lead me to a fine little detail system, which I may talk about later. Proxxon, also makes a little mini grinder for the same cutters. I thought it would be better for the same job as the big grinder with the arm, but was wrong. It is not powerful enough for the aggressive cutters, but as it turned out, is the best little sander after I made a few modifications to it.For getting on into doing more detail, Creative Technologies, makes some good rotary chisels, which are like router-bit, but with a triangle carbide tip mounted perpendicular to the shaft. they have a good grind, which makes them easy to control. The small ones can work in a flex tool, dremel, or air-grinder. The larger ones are great in the long-neck die-grinders. http://www.rotarychisel.com/info.htmlThe Automach power chisel, http://www.woodcarvers.com/Automach.htm , will do the same job as normal carving chisels faster and easier than just using muscle power and mallet to drive the edge through the wood. This is all I have time for now, gotta get to work.
Edited 12/29/2007 10:40 am by KeithNewton
Well lets see. Mine is sitting in the garage with less then an hour on it and I am having nothing but problems. Roller sticking and can't free it.
I am returning it and taking a stiff restocking fee hit...Getting an 8" jointer instead.
IMHO...Dont do it.
Brian
Purchase a set of carving chisels and take some lessons that beats any machine. You still must carve the piece after the machine is finished.
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