Was about to sell the X-Carve... when

By the way… since my original post a year ago… the X-Carve has been working flawlessly… touch wood, sniff a gypsy, pat a priest and all that…

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I have come as close as seeing the destruction in great detail in my mind.

Mark, after reading the first third of your post I had to stop and look at the poster’s name to see if it was one I had posted and forgotten about.

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Looks like the beginning of something great, buddy.

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I’m tickled to think that some of the props for the Statesman and Kingsman sets may have been made on an X-Carve.

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Too funny!

Good morning i am looking into getting the X-Carve, but i have a few questions first about software, is the unit compatible with programs like Coral Draw and others, that i already have that will work with Easel.

The Xcarve only do what the sender program tells it to do.

A typical work flow consist of three phases:

  • CAD (Computer Aided Designing like Coreldraw, Illustrator, Blender, Fusion360, Sketchup and what not)
  • CAM (Defining the actual tool paths (gcode) for the machine, Computer Aided Machining)
  • CNC (Computed Numeric Control, the actual sending of the code generated in CAM to a suited gcode sender

Easel is a 3in1 package as it can handle all three stages.
You are not limited to use Easel for any stage, you can adapt as seen fit.
Many use their program preferences for stage 1 and 2, Easel or a different sender program can be used for the final stage.

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Hi, Willie. Following up on what Haldor said:
You will need a computer to connect to your XCarve; it doesn’t come with one. The XCarve speaks a language called GCode. On your connected computer, you will need a program that sends GCode to your XCarve. That can be Easel, but there are others as well. Many of us use one called Universal GCode Sender.

Before you can send GCode to the XCarve, you need a program that will create the GCode for you. That can be Easel, but there are numerous other programs that do it, such as the products from Vectric. I use Aspire and am very happy with it.
https://www.vectric.com/products/learn-about-vectric-software.html

Before you can create GCode, you need to design toolpaths. These are the paths that the XCarve router will move on, in three dimensions, as it carves your product. Easel will create toolpaths, and so will Vectric and other software.

Before you can create toolpaths, you have to have an image to create them from. And this is where your CorelDraw and other drawing programs come into play. You need a program that can handle 2D and 3D drawing. Whatever program you use, you will need to create your image in a file format that your toolpath-creating software can read. With Easel and Vectric, this all happens in the same program, so you don’t have to worry about it. Easel and Vectric software are also able to read files in a variety of filetypes. I don’t know about Easel, but Aspire can open dxf, dwg, eps, ai, pdf, svg, skp, rlf, eds, 3ds, asc, prj, x, lwo, wrl, obj, 3dclip, stl, v3m, and it’s own crv3d and crv. Some of these it opens directly as a project, and some it can import into a project. Note the absence of cdr (CorelDraw). This filetype would need to be converted to a different format; there is software that will do this, too.

So, following Haldor’s workflow:

  • Draw or obtain a suitable image using your preferred software
  • Create toolpaths from the image
  • Save the toolpaths as GCode files
  • Send the GCode to your XCarve

With Easel, everything happens in the one program, so you don’t have to save GCode files first. Using Aspire, you can draw and edit the image, define the toolpaths and save them as GCode, but it doesn’t send them to the XCarve; you need Universal GCode Sender or another similar program for that.

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I have a similar problem haven’t been able to fix it. Just ordered some of these per your suggestion. Fingers crossed.

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I know this is a couple of years old but man…sorry about your troubles but reading that you got it to work…freaking awesome!!

I wanted to comment on this first to tell you that I’m wicked happy you finally got it going and to have it bookmarked via reply just I case I run Into anything like this when I’m able to save up enough to indulge in one of these babies.

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LOVE IT!!! Great post too!

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I’ve come close a few minutes ago.

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Glad to hear that you found the problem!
Of course, I think this post is probably one of the most entertaining stories I’ve seen on the forums!
I’ve been there with the same frustrations, and have determined that while we as users tend to blame the machine when something goes wrong, it is more likely to be the loose nut behind the wheel that causes the issues.
Thank you for posting this. It made my day!

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Thanks @MarkBreakspear, you have just saved my life with this post. I have wasted so much wood, after many mods and went to check for those screws and were missing!!. I’m on my way to my local hardware store

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Hey all, just a quick update because, well, why not.

The x-carve has not stopped working since I fixed the big issue. My waste board looks like the back of a sun burnt iguana and probably needs resurfacing or replacing… something to do after I finish Jumanji.

I read all the posts that followed mine again and I’m pleased it may have helped a few of you out there.

I’m not a frequent poster on the forum, but I benefit greatly from the genius peeps posting here, and showing their work.

Thanks everyone…

Last word of advice… never carve MDF on the dining room table.

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I just purchased the X Curve 500 today and found your article. It now convinces me to get loctite. thanks for the information and i hope my projects turn out as good as yours

As a likely last follow up to my follow up I just wanted to say that the X-carve still performs perfectly. I occasionally see people who are recent graduates to the x-carve having a hard time and come to the forum to ask questions or wonder why they bought this… I was the same… for 18 months I battled this thing, only to find out it was a missing grub screw that had been the issue. So… as a final post on this, I am now 6 years in on my x-carve and it has never go wrong since I fixed it all those years ago. The quality is amazing and my only complaint is the bed size. I recently started the order process for an AVIDPro CNC (5’x10’) as I find I’m making bigger and bigger things. I will likely gift my x-carve to a local school once I get it, but I will be sad to see it go when that day comes. Like my first girlfriend, who taught me so much, caused a bunch of issues, and needed screwing right before she would do anything (thanks forum) for all the help, we remain great friends. You never forget your first CNC.

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