Z-Zero on x-carve

I realize it’s hard to announce upcoming updates and equipment. I am very interested in your new x-carve machine. So excited with all the things I can do. This will be my stepping stone for a much larger machine later but will let me make cash faster to achieve that purchase. Few questions if I may. Probably the most important thing is zero z. I know you tap off slightly on the material, but I did see a post or someone mention you were going to come out with a z zero like the carvey has. Also is a laser in the future of the x-carve? Being new to cnc wood, I keep coming back to the accuracy at .075-.13mm. I see some machines (much more expensive) have .0002. Is this a main concern? I am very interested in making boxes. Will this cnc machine be capable of make tight joints for a box? Thanks you for your time in advance.

Hi @JosephWenclewicz
I too plan on making boxes from time to time and I found the link below that might help. If you can fit whatever wood you are making the box out of into the workspace of the X-Carve then you should be able to pull off any of these digital joints and more.

About z-zero, I can’t speak to what Inventables will be coming out with but making a z-zero plate and wire with alligator clip on it shouldn’t be too hard. The Arduino that comes with the X-Carve kit does have a pin for this, and should be pretty easy to set up. See this other link for an example:

Thank you for your help.

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I think I’m going to wait on my purchase and see what they come up with, add ons and the like.

@JosephWenclewicz The X-Carve is a kit you put together. We expect folks to be able to achieve a 0.003" tolerance when properly squared.

That should be sufficient to make tight joints in a box.

We do not currently have plans for a laser.

With regard to the Z zero touch off it does not provide more accuracy in setting the Z than using the top of the material. My understanding is it allows you to set the Z zero anywhere on the piece. This is useful in the case of a piece of wood that is warped. You would want to z zero at the high point of the material.

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Hello fellow woodworkers, I am new to cnc but dealing with any inaccuracy which will likely be very tiny compared to other woodworking methods is just a matter of proper calibration and adjusting the joints dimensions. I plan to cut joints as well. I will likely do a “test joint” much like you would do with any other tool. If the joints are loose, I plan to just micro adjust the widths of the mating “fingers” to overlap by the variance. It they are too tight I plan to reduce them. I suspect it’s like any other tool we would use for joints, that we might have to fine tune our cuts before making the final joints until we get to know the machine. I expect that even at the high end of .13mm which is 5/1000s (.005) inches this will not likely even be a problem, and will actually be the most accurate tool we use for joints. I will likely make a template blank of each joint edge I plan to use and in the future and use them to lay out my joints on various boxes. If/when this is complete here’s what REALLY cool. We can share the templates through Easel !. That’s going to be great !

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thank you. .003!!! Great

Thanks. Good looking out.

Here’s a sneak peak of an accessory we have in the R&D lab.