Hey guys so I am still saving up to buy an X-Carve and cant wait to get one! I’ve seen a ton of projects and can’t wait to make my own. I was just wondering how many people here actually used the x-carve to make money using it. Or is it just a hobby for most? I am hoping I can use the xcarve to make some projects and hopefully atleast make the money I spent for the machine.
I bought the X-Carve to learn how to use a CNC machine. I started making simple signs for family and friends and before I knew what was happening I started having people ask me if they could purchase a sign. I had no desire at all to sell things, but I quickly figured out I would go broke if I continued to just give everything I made away. I never advertised anything, I would just post the stuff I was making to my facebook page and that resulted in more demand than I could fill.
Just having a dozen easy Christmas ornament designs that were intended for family brought in so many orders it paid for my X-Carve.
The more stuff you make, the more demand you will see. In my experience it is almost impossible not to make back the cost of the machine.
In my case I wound up buying a small commercial CNC machine once the X-Carve taught me enough and I was able to earn enough in 6 months to pay for it also.
I know that there are many others on this forum (way more talented than me) that are making and selling really amazing items.
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That is no surprise! I’ve seen your work and it’s amazing!
From what I can tell there is Noone around me with an xcarve or a cnc. I’m thinking I can make some decent money making some custom stuff for my parents pet store and at the local flea market. I’m not looking to make tons of money bUT hoping to atleast make my money back for the machine.
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I’ve been seeing allot of signs and I think I’d love to do those as a start. Great find BTW using cutting boards from the dollar store! Any chance you have pictures of your work?
Hobby and making money 
I bought my machine strictly as a hobby and something to do to relieve stress and make gifts for friends and family. That said, almost every gift I’ve made has ended up with inquiries of sales and sales themselves as they wanted to give gifts as well. It seems that if a person were to put even a small amount of effort into marketing that you could get very busy making things very quickly.
–Rick
I bought my machine both to get into the cnc world at a price I could afford and to embellish some of my woodworking projects. The timing was right when I got word of the need for someone to engrave those darned deck boards at a price the customer could afford. I was able to recover the cost of my machine within 3 months as well as a number of free meals to boot! doing this job has generated leads for other work as well. As previously mentioned, it helps being the only machine of it’s size in the area. The smaller units cannot handle larger items and the bigger machines need bigger, more involved work to be profitable.
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I use my X-Carve for making accessories and molds for my holster company.
Without the X-Carve I wouldn’t have my business 
Planning on doing some upgrades in the near future.
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How do you guys base your prices on items you sell to others? Time the machine takes plus material?
That would be something that I would get if I really get into selling stuff but I know it won’t be cheap if something breaks, the one that I use at work the spindle was dying on us, a new one was $8,000 but we got it rebuild for $3,000. Nice piece of equipment AlanDavis!
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So from what I can gather most of you’s make money making signs? Is that the most popular one?
I’d bet that, yes.
My work is automobile related.
oh really? I actually want the cnc for automobile stuff making carbon fiber switchpanels. what do you do?
I made boxes all different sizes by the order. 10x8x12 to 24x20x30 inches.
Used for brides getting ready for wedding. Some with 3D some of them just V bit carving. Left over pieces I made door name signs, Bird feeders, small keepsake boxes. Now I’m getting ready for kindergarten decorations. I have big order waiting for my big cnc will build smurf vilages for them.
Posibilities are endless. Next will be children’s room furnitures and play houses. Is that enough?
I made my money back withing a couple of weeks
I’ll be buying another cnc machine here by christmas
It all depends on area as well - if you are within a 5 mile radius of 10 other XCarve owners you will have to be unique and some areas just are not impressed with CNC signs. I am in the range of woodworking before the Xcarve but I’d say the integration paid for the unit not getting thousands a month in sales like some guys but also have a real job that supports me.
The main business is electrical and lighting systems. Lately, I’m engraving a lot of aluminum, fluid-cap covers.