Woodcarving is a form of art that goes back to the 18th century. Woodworkers thoroughly created designs that have decorated the interiors of homes for a long time. Most of these designs were hand carved as back then there was no machine carving technology. These pieces took a lot of time, focus, and dedication to create. Mind you, you had to be trained first before you could accomplish anything as a hand carver. Most of these schooling and apprenticeship is not available today so the a need to shift drastically to machine carving. Additionally, a lot of wood items today have a carved trim which only comes out as perfectly as they can be only through wood carving machines. Visit https://shop.snapmaker.com/ today to get more information.
Machine Carving
Computer Numerical Control (CNC) has been around far longer than any of us have been or may realize. To your surprise, early concepts for carving machine wood have been around since 1751. However, it was not until the 1950s, that the design became more refined.
How is CNC carving done?
From the name itself, we learn that a computer is essential in the process and that it controls everything. Basically, without the computer, you cannot do anything. Complex designs are fed into a computer program. At Snapmaker, the software is used to create 3D models, and then the CNC machine uses this information to create the items. The programming model allows you to produce precisely what you want, with all the fine details exactly how you envisioned it.
There are many advantages of the process occurring this way. One is that since the designs are programmed into a computer, one can create the same part as many times as he wants. He only needs to hit repeat on the computer and the process restarts. The standards for the repeatables are the same as the first one ensuring high quality. No discrepancies are recorded. The second advantage is that since designs are digitalized, scaling the art to accommodate various sizes or custom requests can be accommodated without wastage of time.
Reproductions
When a hand carver plans to replicate a piece, there is no telling how precise he can do so. Machine carving, on the other hand, can reproduce the items with maximum precision. This is because you can see the 3D model design in the software before the process begins. You can scan an existing item or let a designer handle everything. The advantage of this is that the software allows you to see a rendered version of the part before the machining process begins. You can be sure that what you see in the rendered version is what you get in wood form.
Widen the scope
Companies that have shifted and adapted to the new machine wood carving method have managed to widen their market and serve more people at the same time as they used before with hand carvers. With machine carving, one can raise the number of products they can produce including different sizes and profiles. It is important to note though that the actual design process might take some time, although not as much as with hand carvers. However, when the design phase is complete, the actual carving duration is very small. The advantage of this is that the technician is not held up in one particular task. As the machine carves, he can engage himself in other duties. The result is the job is done faster and customers do not have to wait for a long time to receive the exact project they envisioned.
Machine carving is also economical since services are done at a much cheaper price compared to hand carving and you receive your project quickly.
Conclusion
Although hand carving is a nice piece of art and will continue to thrive in some areas, it would be wise to embrace wood carving machines as they represent the future.
