3D Carving Time

[Rcnewcomb]

The next time you get frustrated how long 3D takes to carve consider the carving time on these projects:

[Leo]

Every time I see something that I say WOW.

Every time I get into the topic of CNC vs Hand carve, I say, NO, cnc is not replacing the hand carved.

I can see a 4 axis or 5 axis -- Rotating head - - NOT a rotary axis, to be able to do that job. This is NOT vectric software to program it. Even so - there is a skill involved to design, model, program, tool selection, process.

Awesome - I would love to own some of that artwork, either CNC of hand carved.

[mtylerfl]

I'll bet many of those skilled hand carvers could beat a CNC time-wise trying to carve the same thing.

Fascinating how intricate those types of carvings are.

[Desert_Woodworker]

This is a project that I tinkered with- 5x7" 20 hours of continous machine time- If this were to be "hand carved" I would love to know how much time it would take and could they even accomplish a similar hand cut version?

[Rcnewcomb]

Do a Google image search on Jepara Wood Carving to be amazed. This is a town in Indonesia known as a center for wood carving.

[martin54]

I was amazed when Dale first posted this & it still amazes me just as much, I doubt CNC will ever replace these guys because they are probably on a very low salary so it wouldn't be cost effective.
For those that missed it this was the post Dale put up on the forum a while ago

http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php? ... ng#p179085

[ger21]

This is a project that I tinkered with- 5x7" 20 hours of continous machine time- If this were to be "hand carved" I would love to know how much time it would take and could they even accomplish a similar hand cut version?

A hand carved version, done by a good carver, would likely be much better. But, it would cost a fortune.

[garylmast]

I was amazed when Dale first posted this & it still amazes me just as much, I doubt CNC will ever replace these guys because they are probably on a very low salary so it wouldn't be cost effective.

What I see from some prices of what these items are selling for, they probably don't make much more than a $1.00/day. (about what I'm paid). Gary

[martin54]

I was amazed when Dale first posted this & it still amazes me just as much, I doubt CNC will ever replace these guys because they are probably on a very low salary so it wouldn't be cost effective.

What I see from some prices of what these items are selling for, they probably don't make much more than a $1.00/day. (about what I'm paid). Gary

Wow, I am going to have to move & get a job near you Gary if your getting paid high wages like that

[Desert_Woodworker]

This is a project that I tinkered with- 5x7" 20 hours of continous machine time- If this were to be "hand carved" I would love to know how much time it would take and could they even accomplish a similar hand cut version?


A hand carved version, done by a good carver, would likely be much better. But, it would cost a fortune.
Gerry

Not much of a response from a Wizard!
Good carver? please describe
Much better? how is that
costs? how much yours vs mine

[Desert_Woodworker]

please forgive my last "post"

[Desert_Woodworker]

please forgive my last "post"

[IslaWW]

I was fortunate to have seen some of this type of work up close. One of my customers had an 18" tall wooden carved piece of a sitting male religious figure that had been presented to her mother, who was an ambassador to an Indonesian country in the 50's. The detail was simply amazing. The person that carved it used nails sharpened on rocks for carving tools, and took a year to carve the piece. He was compensated around $1000 for the carving by his government. His talent made him one of the wealthiest men in the village.

[mikeacg]

20 hours of machine time? What about all the time it took to 'build' the 3D model?
I still hand-carve some of my stuff because it is faster on one-offs to start making chips than to spend the time programming it...
Even pieces that come off the CNC still require a bit of handwork to finish them! Don't get me wrong - I love my machines - but they are not the answer to everything!

Mike

[TReischl]

There is a huge difference between hand carved and machine carved. HUGE.

Here is a carving I did a few weeks ago (it is not quite finished):

The first notable difference is the undercutting. Without it, the carving would look lousy. The second big difference is the sharp inside corners. Looking at a machine carving there are no sharp inside corners because of the ball nose cutter. That sharp corner creates the shadow line needed to define the carving. Machine carvings always look a bit "blurry" because of that ball nose cutter.

BTW, the pic above is straight on, not taken from an angle. This is a project from Mary May. If you have not seen her site on handcarving take a drive over there. It is a great site and she offers some free lessons in addition to a subscription. https://www.marymaycarving.com/carvingschool/

Machine carvings look ok from a distance if a small enough ball nose was used. But if the carving is to be viewed at a distance then it is usually fairly large and the amount of time to carve it using a small ball nose is outrageous.

Ok, all that being said. . . . I do both types of carving. I also use the CNC to rough out a carving, saves a lot of time and gets me pointed in the right direction.

Here is one of those:

This one is about 4 inches tall.

An interesting thing that most any carver will tell you is that the first one takes quite a while, the ones after that go much faster. In this case, the first one took about 3 hours. If I go into the shop to make one today it will take under an hour. The same thing is true when using the machine if you take into account the time required to program it.