Interesting that no one from Inventables has commented. Also interesting that they sent this topic in the Summary email! 
The way to keep your investors happy, is to keep your customers happy.
Do it the other way around you will slowly, but surely loose.
I believe that Inventables has grown and is now on the path of saying "you bought our machine, weāve got you. We can and will do as we please to increase our bottom line and you, customers, be damned. I spent many years in the private sector and have seen this approach happen and fail many times. .from banks to restaurants to consulting firms. I am sorry to see this happening but it will, again and again. so, we as consumers, have to make some pretty hard decisions.
I wouldnāt mind paying more for a higher quality product but with the availability of other products out there at Zero$ or nearly Zero$, why should I pay for a constant availability of V Carve support when I get that from Vectric for a one time payment. And I can use UGS or OpenBuild or some other g-code sender that is more reliable than Easel. In a nut shell, why pay when there are other more robust options.
And Inventables wonāt comment because they know that would open the flood gates so it is better to be quiet and just accept the $$ than to justify the increase and take the heat.
Cancelled my subscription today.
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Keep in mind, inflation is hitting at almost 10% this year overall.
However, the price increase here is almost 25%, which I agree, is high.
Hereās a note posted at one of my favorite restaurants. I think it sums up the current situation in the world today.
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I agree with the inflationary impact but as an old software development manager, inflation usually doesnāt impact software development unless salaries are increasing to keep pace with inflation. Iām sure that is not the case with Easel.
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Personally, my complaint isnāt with Easel. Letās talk hardware upgrades. Even after upgrading everything on my X-Carve, it still doesnāt cut great. I was hoping to see a new rail design, something stiffer, maybe ballscrew driven or at LEAST linear rails. My machine has been a real disappointment to me. How about you guys?
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I have done the upgrades for the X Carve and have found that generally it has improved the performance of the machine. It is certainly stiffer in the Y Axis and the new Z Axis is much more smooth operating and stable. That said, it is more noisy than the original but that seems to be abating with continued use. My wish is that they would stiffen the Makers arm so that it would support the weight of a true spindle and therefore negate the use of a palm router. That would be a terrific improvement. But one has to remember that the business model of Inventables is not to create a high end hobbiest CNC but rather to make sufficient profit to please its investors. There are many better choices out there for the physical machine that will be a significant upgrade. CNC4NewBies comes to mind and Long Mill also.
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U left out WorkBee / QueenBee 
take a look at those if you havenāt alreadyā¦ Iām loving my 4ftx4ft Workbee.
To clarify, Iām not staff, I just answer too many questions so they gave me this yellow check markā¦ I think staff are kinda over trying to justify the price changeā¦ Personally I keep my options open, Easel is not the only paid software I currently use, but it does pay for itself multiples in the ease of use and simplicity for 2.5D carves.
Iāve seen him check in from time to time, Iām sure heās pretty busy outside of the forumsā¦ There are a few threads he started years ago that occasionally ppl post into and he actually leaves a reply within a bit. Heās been on their youtube channel for live streams.
SethH: you are totally correct and I did not mean to imply that the two brands I listed were the only ones available. There are a number of machines that I believe can serve our group will and that rival X Carve in many ways.
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My Shapeoko Pro XXL just arrived today. Iāll let you know in a couple of months!
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just a heads up, I see this over in their FB group fairly often, when you do start using V bitsā¦ there is a specific sequence for going from the endmill to set X,Y,Z with the bitzero and Bitsetter and then swapping it over to the V bit. It causes many people confusion as the bit will go over and touch bitsetter but it wonāt actually save the new Z height for the V bit, there is a specific sequence to follow and I forget what it isā¦ I just wanted to at least provide that tid bit of info 
Oh and Join the Shapeoko Projects FB group too, in case you have any issues tons of Shapeoko and Carbide Motion specific knowledge over there 
Iām out. Use Easel the most. But I also paid for Vectric. At that price increase Iām gonna learn Vectric. Still think easel is awesome just not looking to drop 250 a year.
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Thanks for the info, Seth. I appreciate it. Iāll have to check it out!
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Youāll love it.
Make sure to join in, if you havenāt already, at the Carbide 3D community.
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I am just a hobbyist. Is there a software like easel that I can use that is similar? I am not real savy when it comes to cnc software. I am just looking for something along the lines of easel. Thank you Brian
Addressing the 2nd line here first: There is no other product that compares to the ease of use of easel.
There are other products that can obtain the same end results as far as designing toolpaths goes, but they are more complex to learn and require a 2nd program to use in order to send the resulting file to the machine. (This 2nd program could be easel free version though.)
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The option to install VTransfer is during initial install, not sure if its offered standalone.
I am 100% new to this. I have been using easel for basic carving of svg designs. I just started with using v-carve desktop for 3d sculpting and then import the g-code to easel. Several people have mentioned a;alternative āsendersā Is there one for v-carve specifically that works with it or in conjunction with it?
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Not exactly, gcode senders are non specific. As long as the right post processor is used, the sender will work perfectly. Im a fan of openbuilds control but many others also use UGS, or GSender, Or PICSender.
ā¦
If you use openbuilds control, then use the openbuilds post processor when you save eye vcsrve gcode file
If you use UGS, then use the UGS post processor.
