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Betacrash writes in with a mini-review of the CarveWright wood carver we posted about awhile back -
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).CarveWright wood carver in action (video) - Link.
Didn't we already hash this out about a week ago?
Yep. We did...Jan 18th.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/01/8.html
It's a good system, but I think most of us would prefer to build our own.
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Took a few tries but I think I'm getting the hang of using the Compucarve. Where do we find the software to convert .ai to carvewright format?
Letters can not be made small, they have to be over an inch or two to carve correctly. Trying to learn how to use the 3d scanner option now, create an object in clay, scan and carve.
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Does anyone know if this can carve plastics? Plexi, etc.
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It will carve plastic, but only harder plastic. This is due to the speed of the cutter. It will melt softer plastics (such as styrene).
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I just returned a Carvewright unit. In 22 days, it made no sawdust. I had an infant mortality failure of the quick coupler and subsequently the carving bit. It took 3 weeks to get the quick coupler. There were 17 emails and 16 phone calls.
Some of the calls were because the free software issue did not download.
When I tried to fix the coupler, it was on so tight that a heat gun would not release the Loctite they used.
My experience is the software is good and easy to use, but the hardware support of the company is worse than nuclear waste
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Where can I find the software to convert .ai to carvewright format?
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