About to pull the trigger on VCarve Pro - anyone's thoughts?

1

All I need to do is be able to select conventional cutting or climb cutting. I’m about to drop the 600 or so dollars on Vcarve pro,
Does anyone suggest something different?
Would like to know if there is a easier cheaper better way.
Thanks!
Peter

2

Unless you REALLY need to cut larger than two feet on a regular basis, I’d be strongly tempted to go with Desktop instead of Pro! So far, I’ve not needed to exceed the size that Desktop permits, and it’s worked extremely well. I’d say it was definitely worth the $350 to get it!

Alternately, you can get Fusion360 for free… That’s what I have primarily been using, it is quite excellent. A bit of a learning curve, moreso than V-Carve, but very powerful and capable. They are also adding V-carving capability to Fusion later this month, according to the release notes, so theoretically it will have the same awesome sign-making capacity that V-Carve does.

3

VCarve pro is crazy expensive, but having bought it, it’s my go-to app. I use it for everything.

Needing to be able to differentiate between normal and climb milling though, seems to be the wrong reason to spend this much money.

4

thanks!

5

my cutting size is 30 x 70. that’s why i have to go pro.
Fusion360? ill check it out.
Thanks!
Peter

1 Like
6

Ah, definitely makes sense, then. Sticking to only 24" square would be a bit of a handicap! Mine’s just the standard 1000mm version, so it’s not much of a downside for me!

Fusion 360 is really quite good, it’s a solid modeling program, instead of a 2.5D milling one. I love it particularly for how easy it is to revise your models and update toolpaths as you go. V-Carve is a signmaker’s dream, but is not good at all for making milled components. The drafting tools are just not well-suited for it. No sketching constraints, etc. That being said, V-Carve kicks its trash for making signs, just because of how absurdly fast and easy V-Carve is to use!

7

Thanks a ton Dan.
I am carving gun cases out of a foam, So it’s more towards the sign making. I think i’m going to do it, who know what ill get into in the future, but it seems to be the right way.
Thanks for your help!
Peter

1 Like
8

you can get vcarve desktop and if you decide you want to upgrade later its just the difference in price to up grade

you CAN carve larger projects with the desktop version of vcarve by using the tiling feature. basically just breaks a project into separate pieces

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Estlcam I believe allows you to select between them and is $50 and free to try