Copy Carver has any one here built it ?

[raul segura]

Picked up a copy at the site , www.copycarver.com (http://www.copycarver.com) $20 bucks it can be built with about one hundred dollars plus trim router. It is set up to cut in the round, or relief. Carving on door or head board panels perhaps ?

Dose anyone have experience with this home built machine ? and if you have, how would you rate it ? and would you make any changes after the fact ?

Appreciate any comments , Thanks

Raul S.

[Jim Kountz]

The guy who builds my mandolins has a similar setup for the carved tops. It seems to do a very efficient job. As you would expect there is still a fair amount of surface clean up to do but it does save him hours of time he says. I would be interested in your progress and results if you build it.

[Paul Di Biasio]

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/zp/a_router_duplicator.jpg

[raul segura]

Jim,
A gentleman on another thread made one for his cousin . Hes going g to see if some pictures will be available , if so I will display them here too.
Paul,
That machine looks very sturdy and relatively easy to build,without welding. The block and track look like CNC parts, black pipe, two weights and some hardware. Looks like you could save room by skipping the base panel and opting for your work table so you can store it away.
I also noticed that it is more limited in reach than the copy carver but I think it is set up for signs. One could finish it it out a little different though don't you think ? The price would go up using those slide but bet it would be worth the trouble.
Thats something to think about .http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon3.gif

[William OConnell]

Picked up a copy at the site , www.copycarver.com (http://www.copycarver.com) $20 bucks it can be built with about one hundred dollars plus trim router. It is set up to cut in the round, or relief. Carving on door or head board panels perhaps ?

Dose anyone have experience with this home built machine ? and if you have, how would you rate it ? and would you make any changes after the fact ?

Appreciate any comments , Thanks

Raul S.

I made one like the one in your piccture. However mine is made larger . Mine has been tweaked and rebuilt more than once as it is imperitive that the swing box is perfectly square as the way carving bit and stylus are located any amount of out of squarenesss in the swing box gets translated thrice in the translation.
They take up quite a bit of space but I like it. Eds also a great guy to deal with. I actually went back to hiis site and bought a powercaver from him. Ive since come across a very small powered denture carving tool which really helps with the finer stuff.
I say go for it

[William OConnell]

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/zp/a_router_duplicator.jpg

Thats not it

[Andrew Joiner]

I had a heavy cast iron Northstar brand carver for years. I bought it used and made some money with it in my woodworking business.

The thing with carving machines you need is mass and rigidity. Even then in my opinon they should be called "roughing machines". You get the rough shape but no"detail".

The pistol handle in the Copy Carver site photo would work OK on a heavy machine, but you'd have lots of hand work to clean up cutter marks. I'm a bit skeptical of a light wood frame and tiny router. It may work for very small stuff.

[raul segura]

substantial weight sounds right for a substantial piece of work Andrew.
I thought of maybe using the copy carver cart and pipe track and then building something like what Pauls picture has , A CNC rod and pillow block instead of the swing box. With the black pipe and CNC parts ( which sound like they can take a beating), this could be better. E bay One rod 3' long and one- two blocks run about seventy to ninety dollars.
William, looks like you have cleaned up a bit with that dental drill. How much bigger have you made your machine ?
and lastly curiosity being in my nature, what have both of you made with these units. Andrew it sounds like you've made some large items . I would like to apply this to making money besides a little fun. ether way looks like I'm going to build something that resembles these things.

[Myk Rian]

How about something like this. Router Magic by Bill Hylton.

[raul segura]

I didn't get any pictures of the carver from the other sit but this is the information I received from the conversation,

I finally called your cousin,
he said he only used it two three times. wasn't what he'd expected. As a relief artist the deepest he cuts is about a quarter inch with out under cuts. He's able to shape and design just as easily with custom outline templates he makes and has learned to trust his abilities. Earlier on he was cautious of duplicating it freehand. The results, he said didn't really quicken his timing because of so much finish work.
On the other hand he said , working 3d in the round would probably work well for shaping something simple in form like for instance a violin or gun stock ( simple meaning irregular , but accurate in shape without fine detail ). I'm sure it is no easy task to accurately tun a violin by shaving it out.
your cousin said you did a very fine job upgrading the ply wood and using a bigger router than the called for trim router. He said it was surprising how light it was with the counter balance, Id bet it is more slick than those made with the CNC rod and pillow blocks (comparing that to the swing box set up).
Price for parts have increased dramatically and with upgrades it rang up at about 450-500 including nice router. All in all , I'm still interested in the design but,need to look around for less pricy parts to make it possible. I due a little welding and think this is an approachable idea.
Thanks guy'shttp://sitelife.woodmagazine.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif
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I'm a little slow today, I'm not understanding how that last carver floats the object ,Ill have to look it up if I can.

[Leo Graywacz]

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/zp/a_router_duplicator.jpg

Hey, no fair, you posted my duplicator. I wanted to do it :rolleyes:

It was designed to cut rosettes for entryways. I have used it for many other things. If you need it to be deeper you can just raise the travel bars with blocks. It can cut/copy a pc as large as 12 x 32.

http://fototime.com/08516E606716716/standard.jpg

[Brian Peters]

Cool idea. But why would I want to do that when I have a cnc router? :confused::p

[Leo Graywacz]

Because, sometimes it is easier to copy something than program it into a CNC. Other than that IDK

[M. A. Espinoza]

Hey, no fair, you posted my duplicator. I wanted to do it :rolleyes:

It was designed to cut rosettes for entryways. I have used it for many other things. If you need it to be deeper you can just raise the travel bars with blocks. It can cut/copy a pc as large as 12 x 32.

http://fototime.com/08516E606716716/standard.jpg

Leo,

Care to share any details on your duplicator? I've considered building one from time to time to rough out chair scoops.

Used to use a Terrco duplicator at a shop and it worked OK, usually we had a CNC rough them. Neither available to me now.

[Jack Briggs]

Nice unit, Leo!



Hey, no fair, you posted my duplicator. I wanted to do it :rolleyes:

It was designed to cut rosettes for entryways. I have used it for many other things. If you need it to be deeper you can just raise the travel bars with blocks. It can cut/copy a pc as large as 12 x 32.

http://fototime.com/08516E606716716/standard.jpg




Looks like 'bounce' is less of an issue with yours than with many others, including my Terrco Marlin 624:

http://www.briggsguitars.com/www/images/Terrco.jpg

http://www.briggsguitars.com/www/images/7013%20008.jpg

I can only take off about 1/8" depth per pass, so it takes 3 or 4 passes per guitar top, then considerable hand and Dynabrade sanding. Still, this method saved me at least 10 hrs. per guitar of rough shaping. It payed for itself after about a half dozen instruments!



Cheers,

[Leo Graywacz]

I made mine because I needed to make 8 rosettes. These things usually take me about 8 hours to carve out by hand. The unit cost me about $900 in parts to build, including the router and took me 10 hours, basically 1 day. Now I can make a rosette in about 40 minutes. It takes two different bits, a pointed sign carving bit and a core box bit. When I make the rosette I need to carve the center and one leaf. Then I rotate it either 6 or 8 times and cut out the petals. Then I take the finished product and coat it with epoxy and use this as a template.

The machine itself was pretty straight forward to build. The router I have was 3" in diameter so I used 3" muffler clamps to hold it. I made a backer out of steel that the clamps went thru and bolted tight, this was attached to a pc of steel angle iron which was attached to a plumbing flange which the pipe threaded into which held the counter weight balance. The rails (http://www.smi4motion.com/smi2/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=91&Itemid=69) and pillow blocks (http://www.smi4motion.com/smi2/products/components/pillow-blocks.html) were purchased through Specialty Motions, Inc. I based my design off of this copier (http://www.wood-carver.com/unispecs.html), but I wasn't planning on spending that much, that's for sure. If anyone is interested I can put up some more detailed pics. I don't have them, so if you are interested I will have to take photos.

[M. A. Espinoza]

I made mine because I needed to make 8 rosettes. These things usually take me about 8 hours to carve out by hand. The unit cost me about $900 in parts to build, including the router and took me 10 hours, basically 1 day. Now I can make a rosette in about 40 minutes. It takes two different bits, a pointed sign carving bit and a core box bit. When I make the rosette I need to carve the center and one leaf. Then I rotate it either 6 or 8 times and cut out the petals. Then I take the finished product and coat it with epoxy and use this as a template.

The machine itself was pretty straight forward to build. The router I have was 3" in diameter so I used 3" muffler clamps to hold it. I made a backer out of steel that the clamps went thru and bolted tight, this was attached to a pc of steel angle iron which was attached to a plumbing flange which the pipe threaded into which held the counter weight balance. The rails (http://www.smi4motion.com/smi2/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=91&Itemid=69) and pillow blocks (http://www.smi4motion.com/smi2/products/components/pillow-blocks.html) were purchased through Specialty Motions, Inc. I based my design off of this copier (http://www.wood-carver.com/unispecs.html), but I wasn't planning on spending that much, that's for sure. If anyone is interested I can put up some more detailed pics. I don't have them, so if you are interested I will have to take photos.

Count me as interested in photos. I get the basic idea but there is always something to be learned from another's build.

Thanks,

-M

[Craig Regan]

I made one like the one in your piccture. However mine is made larger . Mine has been tweaked and rebuilt more than once as it is imperitive that the swing box is perfectly square as the way carving bit and stylus are located any amount of out of squarenesss in the swing box gets translated thrice in the translation.

What does the upper "swing box" swing on? Hinges, or some kind of pipe with bushings?

[Leo Graywacz]

More pillow blocks

[Craig Regan]

More pillow blocks

How about the copy carver kit? It has pulley wheels on the base but it is hard to see the back of the upper box.

http://tiltons.net/hovercraft/prop_duplicator/prop_duplicator.wmv

[Leo Graywacz]

My guess is that the box that the router and guide post are mounted on are just swinging on piano hinges. The back of the box is probably riding on ball bearing slides. It would be a bit sloppy, but if you used 2 pair on each side you could misalign them so there were tight. You could also use the shaft and pillow blocks that I used and it would be very precision. Looks like the design has potential.

[Dean Baehman]

If you are hunting for a carver and live near Roseville, Ca here's one with router for $99 on Ebay item #130281925536
no ship pickup only

[raul segura]

Leo Graywacz,
I'm glad Paul posted your machine I really like the simplicity of what you have come up with. Also appreciate the details of how you build up a rosette.Ill have to try.
It would be great if you could come up with more pictures. Thanks

[Tom Overthere]

The back of the box is probably riding on ball bearing slides.I'm pretty sure the swing-box back panel is attached to the side panels via piano hinges (just like at the front corners of the box).

Also, there's a picture on the CopyCarver website of a "large green build" - where it appears the bottom edge of the swing-box rear panel is attached to the plywood "sled" beneath it by way of two or three (or four) individual hinges.

To clarify, the hinges that enable the front of the swing box to raise and lower appear to be individual butt hinges (size undetermined).



I like the pillow block and shaft approach, but can't afford it. I think CopyCarver's "horse-and-buggy contraption" approach is probably sufficient - considering that roughing out seems to all I can expect from any of these implements - even the expensive ones.


QUESTION:
Does anybody know the specs and the source of whatever CopyCarver uses for the long side rails? And the pulley wheels? In some cases, it appears the rails are metal conduit. In others, they appear to be 3/4" angle iron...

For the record, I could find out by just paying $20 for the plans, but I don't want to for two reasons: 1) I made a pre-purchase inquiry prior to ordering the plans sometime back. The CC guy never even replied. 2) There are aspects of the CC design that I don't like. I hope to build a different machine (or maybe I'm just a cheap bastid :D)