My new machine - Guess the make!

[Pilsbury]

Vectric software is pretty good - I've not used anything else obviously but it is very intuitative and does all I need. You'll get the hang of it super quick.

The press was a Eureka moment for me - I've learned the inlay technique from watching youtube vids..... None of them really show the press, just tapping the plug into the pocket with a hammer. It's only when watching closely after I've had a bit of experience and after the glue up has dried, you can see how much tighter the join is. No way that is just clamps. So I welded up a little press jobbie to really squeeze the parts together. Makes a difference for sure. I did that design early on with just clamps and it was a disaster.

[Kitwn]

Vectric software is pretty good - I've not used anything else obviously but it is very intuitative and does all I need. You'll get the hang of it super quick.

The press was a Eureka moment for me - I've learned the inlay technique from watching youtube vids..... None of them really show the press, just tapping the plug into the pocket with a hammer. It's only when watching closely after I've had a bit of experience and after the glue up has dried, you can see how much tighter the join is. No way that is just clamps. So I welded up a little press jobbie to really squeeze the parts together. Makes a difference for sure. I did that design early on with just clamps and it was a disaster.

I've had Vectric Vcarve trial for a while and really like it, though I found it necessary to watch the tutorial videos, maybe because I'm so used to how CamBam does things. The clever snap tools are really good for drawing up signs and the like very quickly. I've gone for the Desktop version initially ($500 instead of $1000) which is limited to 600 x 600mm but there's plenty bits I can make within that footprint while I'm getting the hang of it. CamBam is excellent for the engineering type pieces like clock gears etc. but I think Vectric is going to be much easier to use for decorative carving which I want to try.

The press is clearly working well and leaves all your precious clamps available for what they're best at.

Kit