Official Luthiers Forum!

As some of you know, I am 60 years old. "You can teach an old dog new tricks; he just won't remember them for long." I am not whatever side of the brain makes one understand computers, and most especially, CAD and CNC, except in abstract conception. You folks just have to look at this dealy- Google "carvewright"-- think about sending your pearl through this on a backer, or the scarfed headstock before gluing- fretboard inlay for klutzes anyone? For $2000. I was drooling on my keyboard looking at the uncrated Fatal, but it was making my head hurt. I think this fellow has something special here. Thoughts?Sorry, I still cannot link;see what I mean? Best regards to all, MT

Amazing. Seems like the perfect tool for a small shop.

_________________
Brad
Avon, OH

link

That's pretty cool. Looks like Sears will be selling it, too.

_________________
______________________________
Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Apparently, Sears does not have them yet. And, a woodworker acquaintance emailed the Carvewright Company and was invited to talk by phone to the CEO/developer/owner. He did so and came away feeling quite confident in the company's support and , obviously, accessibility.$2K isn't pocket change, but it wouldn't take long to get over the initial pain in use. On the other hand, I'm not going to ebay a few LN's to buy it now. But it is really tempting. Lots of other uses-profile braces, bridges from scratch,mortise-tenon neck and headblocks;let the small shop mind run wild. For the electric solid and all archtops,mandos, it could be a real winner. I starting to believe that I had better test drive one of these for all of you.TAS,TAS,TAS Oh NO! MT

Do it Mike! Jump! Jump!   

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

Mike, when you do the Google search, check out some of the other woodworking forums. They do a pretty good job of showing the systems limitations (5" work area but only 3" cut and the inability to use files produced by other CAD programs). I'm interested but will wait and see how it holds up to long term use and how the machine and software evolves. It would be a nice addition to the shop.   

_________________
Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

They have a pretty good forum going on their site where you can get an idea of what people are doing with it. Apparently support for dwg/dxf is on the way in an upcoming software release.

_________________
______________________________
Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

This machine, in my estimation, is a milestone in the evolution of wood (and plastic) working tools. The machine has it's limitations but sounds like some of them are being addressed. I am curious as to what the spindle collet looks like. I understand that it will take 1/2" shank tools which seems awful large for such a small head.
Maxnc
This might be a better alternative for some. It has it's limitations also but a lot of capability. I bought one of these back in the 90's at a price of $1300. It's been a workhorse but I did retrofit it with servo drives for more speed and accuracy.
Nelson

Don and all others interested- It has a 200 hour cap on the warranty. I don't like that. I figure with replacing and supplementing tooling and shipping, and tax if vendor is squeaky, one would be paying about $18 per warranty hour. Of course, things don't just die when the warranty runs out(Well, maybe Harbor Freight) but they aren't giving us many "miles" over the period of time.MT

Wow! that looks like a great tool to have!! Nice stoking stuffer!

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

    I've seen machines a little more involved than this about 15 years ago for about $12,000! Man the price has sure come down!

    I would really like to see and hear from a lot of users first before I would buy. Love the concept though!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

for some reason I worry machines like this could make certain things a little too easy...

[QUOTE=KurT] for some reason I worry machines like this could make certain things a little too easy...[/QUOTE]
which is why you carve you neck profiles with a piece of flint, right?

_________________
My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

I normally use a butter knife.