Carving machines are obviously more than just about personalizing things, as they help makers create all sorts of objects based on custom designs.
What’s truly revolutionary about the Carvey 3D carving machine is its form factor. Since it fits on a desk, makers have just a few minutes to wait between the moment when they finish their design on the computer and the time the carved objects are done. Created by Chicago-based Inventables, Carvey is a tool that could prove equally useful for artists and industrial designers or makers.
When it comes to sculpting, there are two possible main ways to do it. Either you start from scratch with a malleable object that you model according to your wishes, or you have a massive block that needs to get carve to obtain the desired design. While 3D printing can be used for the first method, 3D carving is the way to go in the second one.
Carvey is extremely versatile, in that it works with a great number of materials, including:
- Circuit boards
- Cork
- Hardwoods
- Linoleum and other stamping materials
- Plastics such as acrylic, HDPE, Delrin, Corian and PVC
- Plywoods and MDF
- Soft metals like aluminum, copper, brass, silver and gold
- Softwoods
- Waxes and foams
With so many options, you can start the 3D carving machine as soon as you’re done designing the object on your computer.
This 3D carving machine is currently featured on Kickstarter, where Inventables looked to raise $50,000 for mass-producing Carvey. At the time of writing, backers had pledged $581,620, which is nearly 12 times the initial goal, so there’s no doubt that Carvey will become a reality. Early birds had to back the project with $1,999 to secure one carving machine for themselves, with an estimated shipping date in September 2015, while the regular folk who pledged $2,399 will get theirs in October 2015.
The following video should give you an idea about what Carvey is capable of:
3D printing and 3D carving become more popular with each passing day, and since devices using these techniques become more and more affordable and easier to use, more people are getting a chance to express their artistic selves. Making complex art creation mainstream doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of the design will drop in time, but that it won’t require as many skills.
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