Considering Purchasing But Have a Few Initial Questions

X-Carve
1

Hi folks! I’m considering buying an X-Carve and I have some initial questions…

Can the smaller 500mm X-Carve be expanded like the larger one? For example, could I add an additional 12" or so to it’s Y-axis?

How long would it take to cut a piece of 1 x 6" pine to length, assuming the default router, Nema 23 steppers and a 1/8" cutter? Am I looking at 30 seconds? A few minutes?

As I’ll be working with long pieces of 1 x 6" lumber, is there any reason why I can’t simply feed such a piece of lumber into the X-Carve so that it butt-ends into a clamped-down “corner stop” (which positions the stock at a known location), get’s clamped down and I can then (more or less) press a button to begin “processing”? Is this a reasonable expectation on my part?

Thanks!

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You can expand the axis to almost any length just by getting new extrusions and belting. Depending on how big you go you will need longer wires as well. In your initial build you will realize how easy it would be to expand.

Time is subjective to several things and I can only speak for the larger motors but I think you could mow through that task pretty quick but I would say between 30 second and 2 minutes would be accurate.

If you have homing switches it is real easy to do your 3rd task. Simply know your offset and you can repeat the task over and over.

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Sure you can. Adding longer wires, changing the makerslides, etc.

Sure, you can even Simulate this and get time estimations in Easel:

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Even without homing switches I think this is doable, but better with homing switches as Trevor says.

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I have a 500x500 and no homing switches and cut 1x6 - 4ft boards all the time, I just clamp in as much as I need.

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Wow! Thanks guys for the incredibly quick (not to mention informative) responses. This really is a great community, and one more reason for my wanting to buy an X-Carve. Thanks for the heads up involving the homing switches and the timing estimate in Easel. I’ll definitely be looking into both of these. :slight_smile: I can’t see any reason to wait any longer. I feel like Christmas is right around the corner and I’m a kid again. Oh boy! :smile:

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This forum is exactly the reason I bought the X-carve over the Shapeoko. Well, that and the Acme Z axis.