Hello!

[robhooley167]

Hello all

I've recently joined the world of home CNC with my purchase of an Inventables X-Carve. My experiences with it haven't been overly positive but I'm in the process of upgrading it to make it somewhat useable.

I tried to dip into the CNC world a few years ago but costs were prohibitive for me then, fast forward a few years and now I'm snapping carbides and burning HSS to my hearts desire.

A bit about me, I'm a materials science PhD student working on high resolution electron microscopy, I enjoy making stuff as a hobby, I'm currently limited to wood and aluminium but eventually hope to get a knee mill and lathe to do some metalworking.

Looking forward to digging around this place, looks like a bit of a goldmine!

Rob

[JAZZCNC]

Hello all

I've recently joined the world of home CNC with my purchase of an Inventables X-Carve. My experiences with it haven't been overly positive but I'm in the process of upgrading it to make it somewhat useable.

Hi Rob and welcome.

You should start a thread with your experience of these machines so others can be made aware of what they are buying into.! I've often tried to make folks aware of potential issues they are going to encounter and the limitations of these light weight machines so it would be good to hear it from the Horses mouth so to speak exactly what negatives come with these machines.!

Anything can help with just ask.!

PS: Any relation to Mark Hooley from Barnsley.?

[robhooley167]

Hi Rob and welcome.

You should start a thread with your experience of these machines so others can be made aware of what they are buying into.! I've often tried to make folks aware of potential issues they are going to encounter and the limitations of these light weight machines so it would be good to hear it from the Horses mouth so to speak exactly what negatives come with these machines.!

Anything can help with just ask.!

PS: Any relation to Mark Hooley from Barnsley.?

That's a good idea, I found very few truly impartial reviews of them as so many had been given away "for honest reviewing". Maybe I'll get round to it this weekend.

I don't know a Mark Hooley in Barnsley, I have some extended family around Manchester but none in Barnsley to my knowledge.

Thanks for the welcome!

Rob

[komatias]

Hi Rob,

good to see more Ph.D's on the forum, was starting to feel lonely :D.

Did mine in MechEng at Bristol Uni studying ultrasonic guided waves.

My advice would be to make use of the Universities machine shop as much as you can and make friends with the machinist there. They have stories to tell and may even allow you to learn on a real machine.

Looking forward to seeing your post on the X-carve

George

[Neale]

Good tip on making use of university workshop. My experience is that they are so used to real numpties making a nuisance of themselves that they are really happy to talk to someone with some idea of what they are doing! I learnt a lot from the technician when I was doing my PhD... (and I keep that quiet on this forum as you just get accused of being an incompetent theorist who can't put a cutter in a chuck right end first - see reference to numpties above )

[JAZZCNC]

72654 I learnt a lot from the technician when I was doing my PhD...

Ye Neil but (P)izza (H)ut (D)river doesn't count and half the lads in Uni learnt a thing or two from that pretty Beauty Techinician. . .