Of course bulk pricing would lower the cost of the parts. Add a little profit in there and the price is not too bad. Then there is the time to build it, program it, and work out the bugs. Steppers and controllers should cost ~$500 dollars. My Rockler guys did not tell me that.Īnyone else look at the specs? I've seen some comments on CNCzone saying that it could be built for much less? Not sure I want to take that step unless I bought a ready to assemble kit. According to the Rockler page 'USB interface with removable memory card interface' is standard. Well, seems I need to retract the second reason. The 4'+ travel on the z-axis definetly beats the Carve Wright 3/4' to 1' travel. I do agree, it is a good machine for a lot of people. So far, knock on wood, I have not had any problems (other than self induced) on my machine, but some of the Carve Wright machines do seem to have issues. I like being able to dump the project on a card and use it, keeping my pc dust free. The other factor was the control unit needs to be connected to a pc. It looks like a tough little unit, and will probably outlast my Carve Wright by years. I think the deciding factor was the ease that the Carve Wright software imported images for carving. I've used autocad since before there was Windows, so I was not afraid of the V-Carve interface.

I'm an electrical engineer doing process control. I liked the Carve Wright software better. I downloaded it, played with it and read reviews. I looked, seriously, at the Rockler unit before I decided on the Carve Wright. Z Axis is 4.5' and I think the Carvewright is under 2'? Not sure if that helps me but maybe someone?Ĭan't find out the Warranty but will email the person at Rockler, maybe ask about testing the machine, reliability, customer support etc. $120 you need to buy seperate, which I am ok with. I could be wrong but this maybe more power/strength/reliability.

Use a router (Bosch Palm Router) instead of a rotozip type motor. Vcarve 3.1 program which I have read great things about. Shopbot Buddy 32 would be nice but I just can't get the funds up (still don't know the exact running cost of a BT32 Alpha)įew things to notice about the Rockler CNC Shark is: I've been looking into one of these machines for small work.

Maybe our resident CNC guys could check into it. It's no Shopbot but it does appear to bridge the $$ gap between a Carvewright and Shopbot. I just read up on the new CNC machine Rockler is now selling.

Carvewright Designer Serial