X-Carve is a 3D carving machine that can carve projects out of wood, a variety of plastics (e.g. acrylic and HDPE) and other materials. Many other companies refer to machines like X-Carve as a CNC milling machine or CNC routing machine. 

One of X-Carve's key benefits is that it is open source and customizable, making it easy to create a machine that meets your needs. X-Carve ships in multiple boxes that you assemble upon arrival. This modular building design makes X-Carve one of the most affordable CNC machines on the market and the perfect addition to workshops of all sizes.

We provide very detailed assembly instructions (and video instructions) as well as a step-by-step setup program to configure the electronics. Once X-Carve is assembled, simply plug the USB cord into your computer, fire up Easel (our free web-based design software), and you’re ready to get carving. 

For any X-Carve questions, technical or otherwise, you have a few options. We have done our best to outline many of the X-Carve FAQs within this support center. Our online forum is filled with passionate X-Carve owners of all skill levels. They can help beginners get started or assist advanced users with supplemental CNC knowledge.

You can also reach out to our Customer Success team: they have many years of experience using X-Carve and Easel and are happy to answer your questions.

Yes! We are excited to be partnered with PayBright.

PayBright is a Canadian payments company that provides consumers with instant point-of-sale installment plans (simply known as the Buy Now, Pay Later model) for online and in-store purchases.  PayBright has partnered with over 7500+ domestic and international merchants, allowing them to offer installment payment plans to their Canadian consumers in a quick and easy experience.

PayBright was the first integrated installment payment solution for e-commerce sales in Canada, and is partnered with leading retailers including Wayfair, Samsung, eBay, Endy, Casper, The Source, Lenovo and Steve Madden.

Headquarted in Toronto, PayBrighthas approved over $1.76 billion in consumer credit since inception. For more information visit www.paybright.com

Everything you need to know or want to ask about financing through PayBright can be found HERE

1. Where do you ship from? All products ship from our warehouse in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

2. Where do you ship to? We ship to all provinces in Canada.

3. What currency are products sold in? Canadian Dollars.

4. Do I have to pay any additional import fees like duty? No, you are purchasing from a Canadian company, you only pay for product, Shipping and Taxes.

5. What are my payment options? We accept all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Paypal.

6. How long does it take to ship my order? We typically ship within 2-3 business days from the order date.

7. How do I track or get the status of my order? We automatically email you know when we receive your order, we will send you an email with status updates and when your order has been picked and shipped. We will include your tracking information.

8. Do I have to assemble my X-Carve? Yes, but not to worry! - we provide step by step instructions, we also have full written and video resources found here: Welcome to X-Carve Remember we are just an email or phone call away to help you through the process: Support.

9. When is X-Carve Pro coming?  We anticipate delivery in Canada for late August, early September 2021.

If you're considering a CNC milling machine for your shop, X-Carve is an affordable, high-quality machine for makers of all skill levels. Many small business owners, woodworkers, hobbyists, and new makers find X-Carve beneficial for the kinds of projects they want to create.

Many of our X-Carve customers have shared that owning an X-Carve increases productivity over using hand-carving tools. Owning an X-Carve also expands project possibilities for some makers, as it enables people to make projects they may not otherwise have the capacity to make.

For example, Glenn at Michicanery had a vision for the video game controllers he wanted to make. However, he didn't have the technical expertise to bring them to life until he purchased an X-Carve to help him make precise, detailed assembly components.

One of X-Carve's key benefits is that it is open source and customizable, making it easy to create a machine that meets your needs. X-Carve ships in multiple boxes that you assemble upon arrival. This modular building design makes X-Carve one of the most affordable CNC machines on the market and the perfect addition to workshops of all sizes.

A CNC machine's rigidity is an important consideration for the kinds of projects you want to make. X-Carve includes single-piece extrusions for the x-axis gantry and spindle mount. This adds rigidity to the frame and makes it possible to carve harder materials. We do not recommend carving materials that are harder than aluminum, as it is difficult to get reliable precision. 

If you're still trying to determine if an X-Carve will work for the project you want to make, we encourage you to join our online forum. The forum is filled with passionate X-Carve owners who can help beginners get started or assist advanced users with supplemental details. We have also done our best to outline many X-Carve FAQs within this support center.

You can access the full set of X-Carve 1000mm instructions for your build here: http://x-carve-instructions.inventables.com/1000mm/ 

The X-Carve is a fully open source machine. We have made the machine model, bill of materials, and assembly instructions available to the public so you can modify and adjust your machine. As such, you can view a model of the entire machine and each sub-assembly on GrabCAD. 

Smaller machine and upgrade instructions can be found here:
http://x-carve-instructions.inventables.com/

Many people are curious about the tallest material they can use with the standard X-Carve. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a complicated question because it depends on the length of the bit you are using, the type of spindle you have, and the thickness of the material.

Here are the basic machine stats:

- The maximum clearance from the top of the waste board to the bottom of the DeWalt 611 spindle collet is about 67mm. However, this measurement does not account for the length of your bit. This is not the same as saying that you can fit a piece of 67mm thick material into the machine.

- The travel of the z-axis along the drive rod is about 90mm.

- The maximum bit length you can install is 38mm. Keep in mind that using longer bits will result in more bit deflection and potential errors. You can counteract deflection by using a bit with a wider cutting diameter (say, 1/4" instead of 1/8"), but using longer bits is difficult to do effectively.

One way to approach the question of maximum material thickness is to use this approximate equation:

(Material thickness) + (length of bit) ≤ 67mm

It's important to make sure that the length of your bit (which will be the same or greater than your depth of cut) and the height of your material are less than or equal to 67mm. In other words, the maximum material thickness you can use correlates with how deeply you want to carve into the material. Here are two ways to conceptualize this: 

- Engraving your material: If you are engraving your material, you may be able to get away with a piece of material that is ~57mm thick if your cutting depth and length of your bit is no greater than 10mm.

- Cutting through your material (cut-outs): The maximum height for a cut-out is approximately half the total 67mm work area, or ~33mm tall. The cut depth needs to be the same as the material thickness in order to cut all the way through it. To be safe, your material should be 31mm (1.25") thick or less for thru-cuts. Keep in mind that this will also take a considerable amount of time to cut through a piece of material this thick.

The X-Carve is it is an open source machine and we've published all the engineering files online. If you are interested in making modifications to your z-axis, we suggest bouncing ideas off our awesome forum community. 

X-Carve is a 3D carving machine that can carve projects in wood, a variety of plastics (e.g. acrylic and HDPE) and other materials. Many other companies refer to machines like X-Carve as a CNC milling machine, CNC router, or CNC routing machine.

After you have created a project design with our free, cloud-based Easel software (or another CAD/CAM program), secure your carving material to the X-Carve workspace with clamps. Typical materials used with X-Carve include hardwoods, softwoods, and different kinds of plastics. X-Carve is also strong enough to carve harder materials without compromising on precision.  

Send your files to your X-Carve using Easel, our free software. The design file is sent to X-Carve's motion controller (called X-Controller) in the form of specific X, Y, and Z coordinates for every toolpath. The official name for this data file is a gcode file. Gcode is the standard coding language for CNC-controlled machines like X-Carve. The gcode coordinates tell the machine where to move, how fast to move, and how deep to carve into your material during the course of your carve.

Lucky for you, Easel automatically generates the correct gcode for your project! This is one of the biggest benefits of using X-Carve, especially if you are new to CNC milling. Easel takes the guesswork out of generating the gcode required to carve your design. 

Easel continues to control the spindle the entire time X-Carve is carving your project. X-Carve's spindle houses the bit that carves your design into the material. The spindle moves along the workspace by sliding across a set of rails. As the machine moves, the bit removes unneeded material and leaves behind the material that makes up your design. When finished, the remaining material is your completed product.

When your project is completed, we encourage you to share your project with other makers! You can also see what other makers are doing with X-Carve on our YouTube channel. 

Makers of all skill levels have used X-Carve to make incredible things, supplement existing project designs, and start a business out of their home.  

For any X-Carve questions, technical or otherwise, you view the X-Carve FAQs within this support center. Additionally, our online forum is filled with passionate X-Carve owners who can help beginners get started or assist advanced users with supplemental CNC knowledge.

You can also reach out to our Customer Success team: they have many years of experience using X-Carve and Easel and are happy to answer your questions.

We have a series of youtube videos in our Easel Live series that provides resources on how to use Easel and design projects for the X-Carve and Carvey machines.

The Inventables forum (hosted on our US site) is a great place to find additional resources. Also, our blog features helpful articles including this blog post Milling 101 (hosted on our US site).

You may also find some great inspiration on our Projects page (hosted on our US site)as well!

The X-Carve configurator tool will walk you through each step of configuring a fully functioning 3D Carving kit. After adding the machine to your cart, you will want to visit the bit set page for the most common Carving Bit Sets to complete your purchase.

The only additional item you will need to provide is a computer with a 64 bit Mac, Windows, or Linux operating system, a USB input, and an Internet connection.

All of our machines and our Easel software work with Windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu Linux.

For optimal results, we recommend using a Google Chrome web browser and a 64-bit Mac, Windows or Ubuntu operating system. 

Your laptop or desktop must have a USB port so you can send your files from your computer to X-Carve. Chromebook laptops—and other laptops or tablets without a USB port—cannot be used to send files to your machine. These devices can still be used to create and design files in Easel, but you will need a computer with a USB port for communicating with X-Carve.

System Requirements

Internet Access

Internet access is required to load and save Easel projects. Internet access is not required to work with a project once loaded or to connect to your machine and carve a project. If you do make changes to an Easel project while working offline, you will need to re-connect to the Internet to save them before closing the tab/window that the project is running in.

Browser

We recommend the latest version of any of the following:


Google Chrome

Safari

Firefox

Microsoft Edge

Operating System

Windows 7 or higher

Please note: Windows 7 and Windows 8 may not automatically connect with Easel, but you can connect by manually choosing the port. 

OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher*

Ubuntu Linux 18.04 or higher

These operating systems are required for connecting a machine to Easel. Computers with ARM-based processors, including Chromebooks, are not supported and will not be able to directly connect a machine to Easel.  Easel can also run on almost any operating system that supports the browsers listed above for opening and working with projects when connecting to the machine is not required. 

*Official support for Apple M1 chip coming soon.

Processing Speed

Windows: 32 and 64 bit

Linux and macOS: 64 bit only


Memory

At least 4GB of system memory

At least 100MB of hard drive space

Graphics

WebGL support: https://get.webgl.org/5

64mb or more VRAM, to display the 3D preview.

Screen Resolution of 1024x768 or higher

Input devices

Trackpad or 2 button mouse.

Keyboard

Your computer must have at least one USB port.

Easel has not been tested for use with assistive devices, including screen readers. If you are interested in helping us with this, please contact our Customer Success Team.

While the rest of the X-carve is not under warranty, the Dewalt router is under a 1-year warranty directly through Dewalt. If you need assistance due to issues with the router or are in need of a replacement, please contact Dewalt at 1-800-433-9258. 

We are very excited for the upcoming launch of X-Carve Pro and we have a growing community of Canadians who wish to purchase the Pro from us.  Unfortunately, unforeseen delays in the manufacturing process are creating unprecedented supply issues from materials, components and most significantly with shipping delays at ports of entry.

These delays are a direct ripple effect from Covid-19 and safety restrictions put in place all through-out the manufacturer and shipping process. Our latest projected inbound will likely be closer to October this year.


If you have not done so yet, please join our Newsletter so you can be informed and updated on the progress as we are updated in real time.  If you wish to schedule a call to discuss the Pro in more detail, please contact HERE