Advice on a budget hobbyist CNC?

[David Brimm]

My wife is a hobbyist wood worker, artist, jewelry maker, carver, etc and is interested in getting into the CNC world on small scale and wanting to purchase her first machine. She had set herself a budget ceiling of $4,000 and after a bit of shopping had decided on a Carvewright. This evening she was looking at the Rockler catalog and came across the Shark Pro Plus machine and is now wondering if that might be a better machine for her needs.

Which machine is better for basic non-production hobbyist work? Cheaper and easier to maintain? More reliable? She will mainly be doing jewelry pendants, ornamental carvings, decorative box lids and signs for some of her local business contacts. She will be working mostly with wood, Corian (or similar materials) and possibly aluminum.

Any suggestions or input would be much appreciated.

[Mike Package]

I can't speak to the Carvewright, but I owned a Shark. It will do those jobs, for sure... with the possible exception of the aluminum. That might be asking a bit much. The control software was very limited but probably won't impact her ability to work. It wasn't quite as rigid as I needed it to be for what I'm doing, and the bed wasn't big enough (although the flipside to that coin is that it is fairly small and light) so I eventually moved on. I sold it to someone doing ornaments in Corian and I think it probably suited their needs very well.

Unless she needs the extra size, I think the regular non-Pro Shark might be the better bet. The way it's designed, making it larger would make it even less rigid.

The Shark also includes the excellent VCarvePro software, which is a big plus IMO.

K2 also offers a 25x14 machine in that price range that would offer the benefit of using a full-size router or spindle.

If she can possibly up the budget to $6-7k, the world opens up a bit and machines like the Stinger and the Shopbot Desktop come into play and things get much more interesting...

[David Brimm]

Thanks Mike, we'll check out the K2!

$4K was stretch so anything more isn't going to work at this point unfortunately.

[Doug Griffith]

You may also want to take a look at Taig and Sherline CNCs.

[Brandon MacDougall]

The Carvewright.

Comes with some of the coolest Cam " 2.5 d" software you can own for free " Designer"

[james mcgrew]

the carvewright can be a lot of fun, in my case it was a whim purchase that soon sent me onto larger projects, in your case it would fit, it has enough models in its initial software to fit with what you are asking and will do your job, hopefully it will turn into something that may move onto larger and better things, if you were to get it master it,, resist the urgew to purchase any thing else unless the machine pays for it. this learning curve method will not only save you money it will move you along the curve much quicker

[AL Ursich]

I have been a long time user of the CarveWright and have posted many things here about my success... I use if for my Business... 95% of what I make is made with the CarveWright... I have passed $14K in Gross Sales this year and have a bunch of work to still do... SO buy the CarveWright and let it pay for a bigger machine....

The new "C" model is the best bet for Reliability as it addressed the early weaknesses in the machine. I have 4 "A" units buying the first for full price in 2007 and the 3 others broken for about $500.00... NOW you can find GOOD Used Units on the CW Forum for about $500.00 They won't have a Warranty but if you are handy with a Screwdriver a Great Buy..... Or Buy a New "C" unit with Warranty and LEARN the system and maintenance. Then Add additional used units to your fleet cheap.... Once you buy the Centerline Text Add On and the Probe Add On you can use it with all the machines.... I had a Shop Bot in my future until I saw the CW Ad and I was Hooked....

There has been excitement this week about the guy that came up with the 4th Axis jig that would let you carve on Round Stuff like a CAIN.... See the Forum for the Excitment.... I post under digitalwoodshop with thousands of fix it advice posts.

Join the Forum.... You could get a good used machine and the add on software for about $1K.....

Good Luck what ever you decide....

AL

[David Brimm]

Thanks for all the input and feedback guys.. my wife read over all your comments and then spent some hours looking through the site here and eventually made up her mind.

She pulled the trigger on a Shark Pro Plus as she decided it had the best features for what she wants to do. Will post updates after she gets going with it once it arrives.

Thanks again!
Dave

[james mcgrew]

welcome to cnc !!

[Jerome Stanek]

Have her download the trial version of Vcave Pro to practice with. The files she creates can be saved and when she gets the Shark she can use Vcarve to make her cut files. This helps get a jump start on the CNC proccess.

[Brandon MacDougall]

Nice work.