Quick Question

[daryl_wong]

Aloha All,

I'm soon to be a new Shopbot owner. I have a prs alpha 48x96 coming in next week. I've never used one and never seen one in action. This is a big step in production and investment for me.
A few of you have already helped out with advice and that is what convinced me to invest in my new shopbot.
I'm sure many of you have heard these questions before but I would appreciate any advice or link to where I can find more info.
1. what type of computer would you reccomend and why? Laptop or hard drive? Any particular brand better than others?
2. Dust collection system. Is there a simple setup I can get for the machine to pick up the dust and chips? My shop is so small that I am installing the shopbot in my garage. It took three days to clear out 25years of junk, but I feel like a free man now. Will a simple 1 hp dust collector do? I don't know if I want to invest in a 3000.0o cyclone.
3. How loud is the shopbot. I have a 3 hp spindle on it. I don't want to piss off my neighbors. The garage is enclosed and that is why I asked about the dust collection.
I can't wait to get the table and set it up. I've been lurking for two years now and finally decided to bit the bullet.
I don't know of any shopbots in Hawaii and the rep didn't know of any either. In fact after asking around, there are less than a dozen in our state.

Aloha,Daryl

[thewoodcrafter]

Hi Daryl,
Congratulations on your new machine.

I use a dedicated computer for my machine and will shortly be networking it to my laptop. I think ShopBot has recommendations on the minimum computer required. But at least 1meg RAM, 2Gig processor, you don't need a big drive because you should be designing on a separate computer, don't need really good graphics, same reason and USB 2.0 port. A wireless keyboard may be nice.

I have a cheap 1.5HP bag type DC. I wish it was 2HP. But works O.K. It is ducted from overhead. You may not have the space above.

A spindle will be quiet. The cutting bit will be noisier.

Now hold down is something else. What are you planning for that? Mechanical or vacuum?
Vacuum may be a little noisy. Shop vacs or blower?
Blowers are very noisy.

Don't forget to register with ShopBot as a demonstrator. They pay a bounty if someone buys a machine after visiting your shop.

[daryl_wong]

Aloha Roger,

Thanks for the tips. I will look into the dust collector and see about a 2 hp one. The collector will have to be in the Garage too.
From what I was told by Jamie at shop bot, most of the things I need to do for my hobby/business is 2D. One shopbot owner suggested I make jigs to hold down the pieces of wood I will be working on. He even suggested I make all the jigs on one board that can be removed so that another board with jigs for other items can be set up quickly.
I'm hoping this machine can save me time and increase production. I came to the conclusion that I need something like this when I carelessly routed the tip of my finger. It was an awakening. Even though the injury was minor and just the corner was lost, it still hurt like hell. The less hands on that I have to do the better. I've been woodworking for 20 years in my small shop and it was bound to happen. I'm just thankfull it was a minor injury.
I will look into the different computers. Do you mean that I should have one to run the shopbot and one to do design on?
As soon I figure out how to run the shopbot I will be happy to demo it for shopbot. I hope the learning curve isn't too steep.
Thanks for the info and I hope to keep everyone updated on it and my progress.

Aloha,Daryl

[sawdust535]

Daryl,
I also have a small shop and went with a 1-1/2 hp Jet DC with a cannister. Seems to be working great.
My spindle is very quiet, but as roger said, cutting noise is loud, about the same as using a hand-held router. Noise depends on depth of cut, material and feed rate.
I just made a hold-down jig for my PRS Alpha Buddy which is working out pretty good, but thats because of the design of the BT table. I think a vacuum system would be a good option for a larger machine like yours.
What bit did you use for finger tip routing? (just kidding)

[Gary Campbell]

Daryl..
We use the 1.5 hp Delta cannister for our dust collection. It works very well, but is not the cheapest out there with the same flow. Before you use an inexpensive dust collector with a bag, do some homework on the net. Fine dust is hard on the lungs.
The noise of cutting, dust collection and vacuum hold down will test your relationship with a close neighbor. Make a couple small projects for him to keep him interested and happy.
Gary

[daryl_wong]

Aloha All,

Thanks for the great tips. George lucky for me I was using a round over bit. So the tip rounded over when it healed. haha. I am a Dentist by day and a mad wood shop worker during my free time. So everyone and most of my friends think I'm nuts to work with all the power tools in my shop. Here's a picture to remind all of us to be careful. I got careless and got lucky that it wasn't worse.

Aloha,Daryl
3139

[gerard]

The Above picture is something that everyone should take the time to look at, and consider seriously, Daryl is a dentist by profession, years of training in school, and probably even more experience with his fingers in peoples mouth obviously qualifies him to have an understanding, and respect for safety, but as the picture above proves, even the best qualified to understand and respect safety can overlook it sometimes with grave consequences. As users of dangerous equipment, we have to look at it with respect at all times, and continually ask ourselves, "How can this thing hurt me, or others" or "how can doing this or that hurt me or others" and be prepared for those possibilities, either by taking advantage of safety features built in, personal protective equipment, such as safety glasses, buttened long sleeve shirts, face shields, hearing protection etc, and of course, when all else fails, try to remember not to put your body parts where they shouldnt be. Daryl, Im glad to know that your injury will heal, and not compromise your quality of life, I thank you for sharing, because it reminds me once again that there are tools to be sacrificed to do what ever I think my hands should be doing when they really shouldnt. The note to self that I am taking away from this is to have a compressed air line handy for blowing dust out of the way as I examine a project being made.

[Gary Campbell]

That finger is just UGLY!!!! A good reminder though.

I have a friend, that back when he was a long haired hippie woodworker, always wore a red bandana, tied on the side, as a sweatband. Always, that is, until the day the loose end of the bandana was sucked into the 3/4" roundover bit turning at 20K RPM, winding it around the bit. It has been estimated that the closing rate between the router and his head was approaching the speed of light. My calculations are somewhat less, but then, I did not have the router in my hands.
Gary

[sawdust535]

Daryl, a word of caution about your previous post:

"I'm hoping this machine can save me time and increase production. I came to the conclusion that I need something like this when I carelessly routed the tip of my finger"

A CNC router can be just as dangerous. A fast move or jog speed can send a spining router toward your fingers faster than you can say "ouch"
I like Gerard's note to run an airline for dusting off.
Enjoy your Bot when it arrives, and thanks for the photo, it makes a great safety reminder.

[w1cam]

I've got one for you, Several years back working in a machine shop, I operated/programmed a large CNC. The shop was at the lowest point of the air lines and we got a lot of water in the lines and more than the filters could stop. Well, air was what held the tools up around the spindle of the CNC mill machine. Every once in a while a tool would slowly fall while the working tool was in the spindle working and with just a light tap from your hand the loose one would go back to where it was supposed to be. After tapping these tools a number of times, one time while taping the tool, in the program came a tool change and hooked my wrist into the tool carriage. So my arm is held into this machine and I'm watching the screen's code quickly come to the next tool change where the tool carriage will do a high speed 180 and will certainly rip my arm from my body. In a panic I'm reaching as hard and fast as I can for the emergency stop button and yelling with no one else in the shop at the time. I hit the button with my foot within two lines of code.

Safety First!!!

[Towersonline]

Kevin, glad to hear the E-Stop was within your reach. In my travels I have visited many shops with CNC equipment. I don't think the folks that are responsible for the equipment realize how important the E-Stop is. I have seen them mounted to walls 20 feet from the machine, next to the computer, and in one case it was non existent. Perhaps everyone should rethink the placement of their E-Stop button!!

Perhaps Admin should re-title this thread as Safety lessons learned.

[bcammack]

I think there's an aweful lot of good in those "light curtain" e-stop systems.