Thread: Is XYZ carve suitable for detailed wooden reliefs?

This is it?

https://3dtek.xyz/products/x-carve-p...oko-2-cnc-mill

Certainly a good idea to buy a complete machine for a start as there are enough things to learn without building and getting the machine working properly first.
( I have some electronics back ground as well.)

General consensus seems to be that a better machine can be built for similar money but there are disadvantages.....

Not sure if this machine will handle hardwood at all, although it has two gantry steppers. Router power may be a bit low as well.
Flex is a concern. ( 'always' with Gantry CNC Routers) Looked on U Tube to see if there is anyone discussing their machine?

Even if you buy it , learn to drive it, but it won't do what you want, you could sell it and get something more to your liking later on.

Yes. That's the one.
Although I have a background in such things I suspect I will struggle initially due to being out if practice, time poor and my bad back limits how much I can do in a day. So perhaps you are right about using it to learn. However I need to produce some good quality reliefs to realise some 'business benefit outcomes' that the 'finance director' can see.
You see the 'finance director' doesn't approve of my proposals to acquire machinery. The exception is that she does approve of me acquiring a cnc machine since I showed her a youtube video of a cnc carving a relief in wood. She can visualise some projects and see how the machine achieves these.
For some reason she doesn't grasp the importance and value of some more fundamental machinery.

So if I can produce the quality reliefs that she would like then it would be easier to build a 'business case' for other things I need. I'm more likely to get approval from the 'chief financial officer' that way.

However spending all that money and failing to produce the reliefs she wants would be a serious set back to the 'business transformation programme' otherwise known as kitting out the shed.
If you catch my drift.

I'm pickin' up what you are putin' down.....

I suggest emailing the manufacturers and asking them about cutting hardwoods, directly.
Best way to find out for sure, I guess.
Maybe google CNC Router hardwoods and see what spec machines pop up and compare.
My gut feeling is that it was not designed to cut hardwoods. Probably, plastics and softwoods, but I'm guessing....

Am I correct to assume that hardwoods are best to get detailed reliefs with a cnc spindle or is that a false assumption?

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I've been carving various woods for more than 15 years. Sizes from 15 cm to 150cm.
Hardwoods with no visually obvious pores are the best choice for detail.

I can carve with a Dremel @ 15k rpm, a RotoZip @ 20k and a Dremel SawMax @ 30k.
By hand, these are tedious machines to control for over-runs.

Conifers/softwoods with low ring counts 12/inch or less are useless/soft. 20-50 rings/inch is best.
The major issue is that conifer woods split easily. Under a CNC machine, you may not notice anything wromg until tomorrow
only to discover bits missing.

I'm positive that the same test pattern, made in 4? different woods for inspection will give you the answer.

The X-Carve forum is obviously dominated by North Americans and they recommend Poplar, Maple and Cherry. What would be similar timbers in Australia?