Hi All, new to the forum, but I have been tracking stuff for a while. I’m seriously considering buying an X-Carve, but I wanted to see one in action first. Is there anyone in the northern suburbs of Chicago who would be willing to let me be a fly on their workshop wall?
Cheers,
Allan
There is a company down on Van Buren that sells X-Carves 
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Hi JDM. Yes, I contacted them, and they don’t have a showroom… they suggested I ask the community.
You might send an email and ask if they know of a library or maker space in the area.
Beyond that, it’s a great machine. I was a customer of the 1st gen pre-order. The new version is even better.
I’m 60 miles South of Chicago, and would be happy to demo my machine, however I’m on a particularly aggressive contract at the moment and I’m working 16’s (including weekends) until June 12th.
After which I’ll have time, week day or weekend, If you want to wait that long.
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Thanks for the offer Darryl, I’m not in a hurry, but 60 miles … ?
It’s an hour on I57, very little traffic, and great views of the cornfields…
What’s two hours when you are thinking about spending close to $2000?
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I’m pretty close to the WI boarder by I-94 in Grayslake IL. Happy to show you mine but it looks like a tornado hit it.
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Thanks to both Darryl and Larry, but Patrick wins by proximity… Grayslake is much closer to me 
When might be a good time? Not sure about the protocol on this forum, but can I just give you a number to text, or an email address to discuss offline?
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He wants to see machine in action, is your machine visible you think. 
I dont think Mr. Phil’s machine would make a good candidate for a demo since it has been so modified that it’s next in line for a transformers movie. (i’m kinda jealous BTW)
To make a good impression on a noob he should see a basic un-modded unit so he has a better idea of what he’s considering.
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I’m in the Following In Phil’s footsteps club, but it’s only in infant stage.
Call it Stage 1, New X axis. I haven’t stiffened Y yet but about to.
I’m guessing:
Stage 2 is Z axis upgrade
Stage 3 is upgraded motors and controller
Stage 4 is belt replacement.
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But that means upgrading the controller and belts at the same time. I added up all the “upgrades” I wanted and it was $700-$900. At what point do people just do the ole Radiator Cap upgrade?
No you can just do the Z motor with the Z axis. That’s what I’m doing. The motor is still a 2.8A motor which is the same as the stock NEMA23s.
That’s my upgrade path. I already bought the motor and the Z axis. I’ll try to make some $$$ with the new Z to cover the cost of the other motors and belts.
I agree completely. I had an older truck that I did a lot of upgrades on but our first winter here and the heat broke on the driver side and I finally said enough is enough.
When I was looking at $800 worth of upgrades for the X-carve it was a different story. And if I was making money with it then I could easily justify it. I’ll have to dig back through the posts to find your motors, etc. I looked at the GT3 pulleys and belt yesterday and it was about $80.
We should all get together and talk Phil into selling the XP-Carve, or the P upgrade kit to the X-Carve.
Although I am guessing all the information we could need is already in his posts.
Psycho-billy X-Carve!
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