We love desktop 3D printers, except that it's often hard to do anything with relatively flimsy thermoplastic results. However, the folks at Inventables want to change that with Carvey, a home-based CNC machine that etches your designs on wood. Since that type of device already exists for industrial applications, the team decided to build a complete system from your first sketches to a final printed object in wood, brass and other materials. The design software is called Easel, and runs in a web browser on any machine, or you can use any CAD and machine control software if you prefer.
Once the design is ready, you can pick from numerous interesting materials, like hardwoods, plywood, soft metals like copper or gold, plastics or even carbon fiber. From there, the machine calibrates itself automatically and will normally carve your object in a few minutes, a far cry from a standard 3D printer. Of course, Carvey and similar CNC machines can only carve in "2.5D," and can't do the sculpturesque designs possible with a 3D printer. It's also far from the first 3D CNC carver to hit the market, or even the first such machine from Inventables. But it's a very polished-looking desktop device, and is aimed at designers who don't know a veiner from a v-tool. If you're interested in pledging on one, you can grab an early-bird special for $1,999.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Carvey
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