Hey everyone!
Thank you for taking the time to read my post!
I’m looking at getting my first ever CNC for my small industrial design studio, and I am having a hard time deciding between getting a used Carvey or a new Nomad 3.
I plan on cutting primarily Renshape for fast iteration, but I also have to be able to cut aluminum for final prototypes.
As far as I can tell, the Nomad 3 is substantially more powerful and more rigid built, making it faster with both aforementioned materials, but it seems to also be way WAY louder than the Carvey.
I’ll be running it in its own room, but just next to the one I work in, so machine noise is certainly also a factor I care about (I get that neither machine will cut aluminum quiet though).
Perhaps someone in here would be so kind as to share their recommendations, or maybe point out something important I need to consider?
How is Inventables handling the warranty on the Carvey? Do they still have the timer running where simply leaving it turned on/connected to the internet eats away at the usage?
I suspect the Nomad 3 would be similar in noise volume if you limited the feeds and speeds/material removal rate to match what you’re measuring the Carvey at.
Yes, good point - I believe the support on Carvey is indeed very limited, as they are no longer making it.
That’s interesting! Perhaps I should also consider building a simple enclosure to put around the Nomad, to get it even closer to the Carveys noise level.
As a Nomad owner, I think that all else equal (e.g. tools, feeds and speeds) Carvey will be quieter because:
It has a much tighter enclosure. The Nomad enclosure has gaps between the plastic cover and the sides of the machine that a lot of noise gets out through.
It’s nearly twice as heavy.
The Nomad still uses this horrible Aluminium composite material for the top of the machine and the folded piece that makes the front of the machine and goes under the bed. This material, in my experience, only ever acts like an amplifier for sound, making the machine several times louder than it should be.
However I would not recommend buying either machine with the expectation that it will be sufficiently quiet. If you need quiet, I wouldn’t recommend buying a CNC mill unless you can either test one yourself and make sure it’s quiet enough for you, or accept that you might need to build an enclosure later.
Technically, it is possible to make the machine cut just about anything (even Aluminium) quietly but to do so means slowing everything down to a crawl. Unless you’re working on really tiny stuff, I don’t think it’s viable.
I think just about everyone on this forum who has needed quiet has ended up building an enclosure in the end.
Once you have an enclosure, I don’t think it makes much difference which machine you should buy, in terms of noise, so I’d go for the Nomad for the better spindle and ongoing support.
@WillAdams: while I would have expected you to be right, @TonyDangerCoiro experimentally found otherwise. When he replaced his spindle, he decreased the volume from 86dB to 75dB.
I run my Nomad 3 in a room in my basement and also work in the basement. There’s certainly some detectable noise, though I find that somethings like putting gym floor mat down under the machine and closing the door super help with the noise.
There’s been some meetings where my coworkers can kind of hear the machine, and others where nobody tells me anything. It’s worse with aluminium. Renshape is cutting butter, so should be easy there. It is a bit messy though. I’d also suggest maybe some sort of sound dampener/enclosure for the machine, but I think out of box it’s not too bad. I try and have my machine running when I’m not in meetings, which some days is impossible because we have meetings all day.
