Make:

• Hot glue for expressive LED diffusion
• DIY PSX to USB is A-OK!
• Make Your Own Prescription Swimming Goggles
• DIY: Charging Station
• Cube Corner Clock tells time from 3 sides
• DIY gameshow buzzers ftw!

This is also sold by Sears; here's a link to their site, which has a good number (87) of reviews, with QUITE a variance in opinion:

tinyurl.com/22whm8

Exactly what I was going to say yachris. Dollar for dollar, it's cheaper (and probably better) to build your own.
Hell, you can build one in a weekend that'll out perform this thing. My Solsylva cost me around $500 and I can always reuse the steppers and driver (board) to build another table.
And doesn't the Carvewright system only use proprietary software? You have to buy modules to do different cuts (maybe I'm wrong).
For me that's a "no thanks" right there. I prefer VCarve or ArtCam etc.

I've built two of John Kleinbauer's (www.kleinbauer.com) low-cost CNC routers and am part-way through a Sieg X1 mill conversion, so I am certainly an advocate of the DIY route(r) for those who choose that path.

That said, for someone like my father who is almost entirely a woodworker, an off-the-shelf machine that's very well-integrated in terms of software and controls, would be the only way to go. Very few computer programmers could solder together a motherboard from scratch if called upon to do so, but they are still able to use computers to do wonderful things.

From my perspective, it's all good for the DIY scene as will ultimately lead to more options at the same/lower cost for everyone. 10 years ago, "consumer CNC" was an oxymoron. The fact that Sears is selling one now is a Good Thing, even if the device itself is imperfect. The mechanical problems mentioned in the Sears reviews are certainly not trivial, but they are also the sort of things that can be worked out in a V2.

I have a carvewright and the worst thing about it is the proprietary software. The software seems very stupid at first but then it seems kind of revolutionary. It definitely takes some reverse engineering to get 3d models to carve accurately on this thing, but it can be done. Look at www.liquidguitars.com You were unable to import vector graphics (DXF, DWG etc) but just recently one of the creative carvewright users made an application that can convert .AI files to carvewright files. That has allowed my creatiity with the machine to boom. The only software add on that you can buy for it now is a module that allows you to do V-carving (chiseled lettering)

my school has one and it's all right, not great, but not bad, I've only tried it on soft woods though.

Posted by: Machinery Distributors on September 6, 2008 at 12:11 PM

Hello all!
We are http://www.machinerydistributors.com/cww an authorized distributor of the Carvewright and would like to put in a quick word about the reviews that can be found online about the Carvewright.
This is not an advertisement for our company, it is simply a researched investigation into the issue of the reviews that can be found online of this machine, and hopefully will answer questions for those of you considering a purchase.
These reviews are often referred to in discussion forums and are a common thread in the emails we receive from interested buyers.
Some of the reviews can be found in forums where people can post opinions, questions and so forth, others are strictly review sites that offer the prospective buyer some feedback from other buyers.
Needless to say they carry a lot of weight and often directly affect the buying decisions of consumers.

DATA
We gathered all the reviews that were readily available and read through all of them individually. We discounted all postings that were not based on actual ownership of the machine. Negative reviews based on the difficulty of learning the software or learning certain aspects of the machine, and experiences directly related to the lack of satisfaction with a specific retailer were not included either.

Websites that had fewer than three actual owner -based reviews were not used.

The primary source of reviews were in the order of appearance in google:
1. http://www.artisthideout.com/carvewright-wrong (15 out of 30 reviews considered)

2. http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000WA7FTC/ref=pr_all_summary_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 (15 out of 19 reviews considered)

3. http://toolmonger.com/2006/12/28/reader-find-the-craftsman-compucarve/ (13 out of 47 reviews)

4. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00921754000P scroll down and click on reviews. (92 out of 108 Reviews considered)

The rest of the websites, and majority of other forums consisted of an isolated review, but mostly speculation and aspects of hypothetical ownership. These included:

www.blogmakezine.com
www.about.woodworking.com
www.talkshopbot.com
www.tuaw.com
www.arboristsite.com
www.woodworkingonline.com

The reviews were classified as follows: Positive, Negative and Mixed (reviews that were very much in favor of the machine but thought that some issues needed resolving, typically a three out of five star rating)

THE RESULTS
Artisthideout.com resulted in 4 Positive, 7 Negative and 4 mixed Reviews.
Amazon.com resulted in 8 Positive, 7 Negative and no Mixed Reveiws.
Toolmonger.com resulted in 7 Positive, and 4 Negative and 2 Mixed Reviews
Sears.com resulted in 50 Positive, 35 Negative and 7 Mixed Reviews.
Total we have 68 Positive Reviews, 53 Negative Reviews and 15 Mixed Reviews.

How do these weigh against the total number of Carvewrights sold?

Well picture this: This company has sold over 14,000 Compucarve/Carvewrights to date. That means the negative reviews represent less than 5 one thousandths percent of the total sold.
That is .005 percent.

Conclusion
The feedback on the internet is not representative of the ratio of user experience whatsoever simply because there are simply not enough reviews.

In fact the negative reviews do not even outnumber the positive ones.

Our experience with the Carvewright as retailers has been very uneventful. Yes we have had a small handful of issues and technical difficulties reported but as with any machine as complex and sensitive as this, when combined with new owner inexperience, at times will force an issue to arise. However with 14,000 machines humming away in the country, it is probably safe to say that just like any other machine, one can encounter problems, but for the most part if used properly and well maintained it can and will perform wonders.

More importantly, we consider how the manufacturer has handled the problems that have arisen. As longtime retailers, having bought and sold Millions of dollars of merchandise, we can state that the level of service provided by the manufacturer of the machine to the end user has been very satisfactory.

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