Hey everyone. I am in the market to buy my first CNC machine. I’ve had such a hard time narrowing down which one to buy. I seem to keep leaning towards the X Carve 1000mm. I understand there will be some time spent learning the machine, and also some normal wear and tear. Overall, is everyone generally happy with there X Carves or should I be looking elsewhere. Thanks in Advance for any help or encouraging words.
JD
Charleston, SC
The machine that you buy will be highly dependent on what you want to do with it. What do you plan to do with it?
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Brandon Parker
I currently own a construction company and am looking into slowing phasing in some wood crafts, signs, and furniture. I understand this is mainly a hobbyist machine and only look for it to supplement my income on rainy days. Don’t really want to spend more than $2500 on my first machine. Have been making a lot of flags and signs the old fashioned way.
I’ve watched a ton of videos on what the x carve is capable of and that seems to be what I’m looking for. I guess my question would be in the overall quality. X carve vs. shapeoko vs bobcat
I have an early version X-Carve, if I was in the market today I’m not sure I’d go for another X-Carve. It does want you want it to do, but it does require a lot of faffing around to get it to run nicely. And once it’s running well enough, to keep it running nicely.
I’ve had mine since 2015… I used the original 500mm machine to mill a solid aluminum Z-Axis with rails, and then I upsized it to a 750mm with an aluminum bed and T-Tracks. I do not have to do any “faffing” to get mine to run properly every time I go out to the shop.
In my opinion, the X-Carve would be miles better if Inventables would get off their laurels and update the Z-Axis to remove the V-Wheels. This is the weakest link in the chain. If all of the V-Wheels were removed and rails put in their place then it would be even better, but just upgrading the Z-Axis provides a huge boost in rigidity.
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Brandon Parker
Its a good machine, Easel is easy to learn I have no regrets in purchasing mine. I have had mine since April of 2018. Never broke a belt or had any issues what so ever. I recently have done some upgrades. Still resolving the last one. Hoping when my replacement shows up I am as satisfied as everyone else with same upgrade. Look for my projects under Steve’s Projects pretty much everything I have made tons of examples of what can be made. Easel is easy to learn at least I think so. I had zero experience n CNC. This forum was a great help getting me started.
Once things are dialed in, the machine is pretty good, especially for the price. I have an older K2 router with unsupported linear rails and anti backlash screws too. My Xcarve started out as a Shapeoko2 and got upgraded to current x carve specs. With the addition of Y axis stiffeners, an aftermarket Z axis, 9 mm belts and pulleys, and riser plates, the machine is close to the K2 in accuracy and a lot faster with the belts. I think that any machine that utilizes v wheels and belts will have similar results. If you are looking for repeatability that is less than .005 to .010 or so, you will have to spend a lot more cash for supported linear rails and ball screws. Of the 3 cnc machines I have, the Xcarve was the lowest expenditure. A plus is that it has aftermarket parts available for customizing.
My machine was purchased in Nov 2016. I love it and have had not real problems. Until just a few months ago when I upgraded the z axis it was completely stock. Same belts and same vwheels. Easel is very easy to learn and at times I like it better than VCarve. It all depends on what I am doing. This is a great first machine! Recently, I got the CNC4newbie New Carve. I would say it is a great second machine. I do not regret at all getting the XCarve as it is a great machine with hundreds of hours on it. I still use it constantly and will continue to use it. By the way, when I started, I had zero knowledge about the CNC world. Thanks to many people on this forum I was able to learn. I also cannot forget about the support staff at Inventables. They are second to none! Great team!
I just ordered mine. I was sold on the customer support and this forum. Thanks for the advice.
Easel makes simple CNC carving VERY easy. If I had to do it again, I’d buy the XController just so I could use Easel. But I’d definitely NOT buy the XCarve machine again. It’s too flimsy. I’d select something that’s much beefier.
I bought a used Xcarve 1000mm 2 years ago and had one customer from the previous owner with it. I found initially it didn’t reliably give me precise cuts as I felt it should. After about 1 month I realized the previous owner didn’t align it according to instructions from Inventables. Once I went through and verified everthing was adjusted properly I was able to make precise cuts as expected.
3 months ago I bought a new Xcarve and with Inventables instructions and Philip Lunsford’s videos it cuts very well. I make electronic circuit boards on it that are much better than anything I made in the old days with chemicals.
I find the issues with the rails are minimized by looking at cutting speed and monitoring the V-wheels are correctly tightened. I don’t have any issues once following the installation instructions mentioned above.
Just know that if Inventables comes out with a newer model they will STOP supporting the older version. They will not stock specialized parts, nor will they help you. Your 2500.00 investment will eventually become obsolete and Inventables will suggest that you buy the new model!!
Do you speak from experience or is this just speculation? The only thing that has changed on the X-Carve over the past several years has been the addition of the X-Controller which replaced the Arduino/GShield combo.
Support for legacy equipment eventually ends with most companies at some point or another when newer & better equipment is developed, so this should not be a huge shocker to anyone.
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Brandon Parker
I know from experience! But if you really did not want it why did you ask?
Just being nosey here.
Exactly what problems did you have that Inventables refused to help you with?
I bought mine in 2016 and found that Inventables customer service is second to none.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that this is a hobby machine and as such will not be as robust as a commercial machine.
If you understand that it will be a great machine for you.
Jan I hear you on that …
It seems that a lot of people buy hobby-grade machines made of aluminum and think that they are going to cut Inconel using a 1/4" 4-flute bit at 100 IPM with them.
I too have had no real problems with Inventables or my machine that I bought in 2015. The only problem I had was with one V-Wheel shortly after building the machine. The V-Wheel’s bearing fell apart, and when I contacted Inventables about it they sent me 6 (not one, not two, but SIX) new V-Wheels just to replace the single one.
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Brandon Parker
I would suggest you look at Probotix before you make a purchase of any CNC out there today. Len is great to work with if you have any issues/questions and their CNC’s are rock solid. I’ve had mine for 4 years and never regretted the move. That’s my humble 2 cents, for what it’s worth and good luck.
Hi, I purchased my xcarve in 2016 and for the most part it has performed flawlessly! This year I decided to lengthen my xcarve 1000 to 1750mm. I just added 2rails to the stock x axis rails and added some 1/4" self made stiffeners (5 on each side). The hardest part was lengthening ALL MY WIRES. When I got it all done, to my surprise, it worked great! Not many other cnc machines out there would be this easy to enlarge. The weakness is still in the v-wheels. Inventables has been great! This forum is like no other! All that being said, If I were purchasing a new machine now, I would take a good look at the Onefinity machine. It’s about the same price as the xcarve. Take a look at it on Youtube. (Several videos) Dennis
