My experience has been a GREAT one!

[tuck]

I purchased a used PTR96 about 4 years ago. I had been laid off (again!) and was sick of it all and wanted to start my own thing. At the time, I hardly knew how to turn on a computer, but I had worked most of my life in the sign business from designer (drafting table) to sales and production.
When I started out, I got a lot of great help from Ron Varela, whom some in here know. I didn't have time to go to school and learn CAD. Ron had me making dust in a few days. There was much to learn, but he was always a phone call away. I'll say that the folks at ShopBot have been great as well. Whenever I had problems with my machine,(there hasn't been many) they have always been VERY helpful.
I am not a sign company. I do CNC work for sign companies that have a need for CNC work. They do all the selling and hassleing with customers then bring me the work along with the materials! (Mostly sign foam.)I built a 20'x24' shop right next to my house a couple of years ago (sure beats renting a shop)and I am exactly 6 steps out my front door from work! I often stumble to work in the morning in my underwear to get things going! LOL! (I live out in the woods and am a "one man operation", so I can do that!):-)
I would say to anyone that is thinking about buying a ShopBot and starting a business this: Have a plan. Know where your customers are gonna come from. Don't think they will just magically appear once you buy your machine. There are many, many ways to make $$$ with a CNC, and signs are certainly one of them, but do have a plan. Once you have that, the rest is easy. If I did it, anyone can, if they want it bad enough!

Tuck

[mikejohn]

Tuck
An uplifting message to start my day.
Well done, and thanks for the sunshine, and thanks for not posting pictures of you going to the shop in your underwear

..........Mike

[tuck]

You're welcome, Mike. You haven't lived until you've gone to work in your snaps! LOL!

Let me say that while I am not getting "rich", I am making very good money and making it easily,...almost TOO easily! I made over $1,000.00 this week and I maybe had 8 to 10 hours of actual work in it. (File time, phone time, running to Home Depo, sanding and spray painting.) I don't count the time my 'Bot is running. Once I get it going, I usually come back in the house and do whatever. Maybe even get dressed. Or at least think about it!

It's wonderful, and the BEST thing I've ever done (work wise) in my 52 years!I would have a damn hard time punching someone else's clock again. I'd rather die.

Tuck

[fleinbach]

Well done Mark, these are the stories people like to here. I left Ma Bell in 1985 after 20 years and have worked for myself ever since. I never regreted it for one minute. Off course I didn't have a Shopbot back then but sure could have used one. I was designing and building Parabolic Satillite dishs for 5 years before I left the phone company. The Shopbot would sure have been nice for cutting all those curved ribs.

By the way my shop is only 10' from my back door and that sure is nice. (Don't tell no one I'm in a residential neighborhood) Luckily I have increadably great neighbors.

[tuck]

Bob Dylan wrote and sang the song: "You're gonna SERVE SOMEBODY!" How true! I only have a few clients, but they are demanding and expect the best. I do right by them, and they keep me busy in return. However, they only THINK I'm busting my kiester. It's all far too easy if you halfway know what you're doing with CNC.

I could teach a monkey to do it, no kidding.

[mikejohn]

Mark
My very good friend in the Aerial mapping business used to say "my grandmother could do this 90% of the time" but it's that 10% thats left thats important

.........Mike

[Brady Watson]

Yep...I too run out to my shop in my jammies most of the time to get things going. What I like most is the short commute, coupled with the lack of senseless meetings I was forced to attend previously. I've been relying on the Bot for the most part for the past year and a half. It was scary to think of quitting my previous job and all of the 'what ifs'...Fortunately I got laid off, so I could collect 'unenjoyment' while I was trying to get business with the bot.

The day after I got laid off, another botter sent me a nice sized job that he couldn't cut cleanly on his PC router...that's when I was glad that I got the Colombo. After that, word of mouth has pretty much kept me going. It's good to have a website to showcase some of the things that you have made or cut on your machine. Explaining what you do exactly is sometimes hard to put into words that your customer can understand....pointing them to a picture intensive website helps.

The biggest thing is letting people know that you are out there...plus having the courage to try new things. Cutting exotic materials has been my strength and the majority of where my business resides. I learned in the past year that I don't want to do fabrication, sanding, painting etc unless I absolutely have to. I also refrain from cutting MDF...I don't want to cut out cabinet doors all day long and REALLY don't want to breath that formaldehyde laiden death dust into my lungs. There are lots of ways to make $$$ without cutting cabinet parts out of MDF. Don't believe the hype...this machine can do some amazing things if you have the need, imagination and patience to exectute them.

What I find suprising is the fact that the majority of my business is out of state...with very few local customers. This tells me that I must be doing something right because there are CNC machines all over the place...there must be a reason they ship their material to me.

I also have a few unique metal parts that I make in one big run. I cut out more than has been ordered and pop them on the shelf. When someone orders a set, I go out to the shop grab a set off of the shelf and pop them in the mail...It's nice to make $ in your pajamas...

You can do it too! Call now...operators are standing by...


-Brady

[billp]

In their Jammies...?

[fleinbach]

Well if Michael Jackson can go to court in his ?????

[gerald_d]

I don't have pyjamas - this is a neat way to keep me out of a thread!

[billp]

Apparelly not....

[wmcghee]

It is really great to hear some stories of how others are doing with their Shopbot. I have been struggeling with a decision for the last year or so on what to do. I have a good job, or at least thats what everyone tells me. I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a good
J-O-B (Just Over Broke). Its about a
40,000+ dollar a year job with the railroad. Been there about 2 1/2 years. I work with good people and the work is usually easy. But it is second shift and my off days are like Tuesday and Wednesday. Sometimes they change to Thursday, Friday but they will always be in the middle of the week until I am an old man and the family is raised. And I just don't like working for someone else.

I have decent insurance, and very good job security. And I will be able to retire at 60 with a very good retirement (I'm 33 now).

I have for the last 5 or 6 years had a part time business woodworking. I've not done much in the last year or 2 with it because of the way I work. I have a website where I sell tools also that does pretty well. I would like to grow it more and do the woodworking (or something with the 'bot).

I would like to get some input from some of you guys on what you would do if you were in my shoes. I have a stay at home wife with 3 kids,3, 9 and 16. I will have my house paid for this Spring and have plenty of land to build a shop on.

I feel like time is slipping away and I have always heard that when you get older and look back on your life the things you regret are the things you didn't do. "Time steals a young mans dreams" is what a good friend tells me his Grandpa use to tell him.

Sorry if I made any of you want to go to bed early because of boredom.

[gwilson]

To everyone that has posted I love hear about your starts and businesses. I am working out my wants and needs for a bot now and will be ordering one here very soon. Have business plan as well. And just if any one needs it I am a cad operator w/ Autocad 2006 and Autodesk Inventor 10, If I can help with files and translations let me know.
Thank You,
Gerald

[Jay Olsson (Unregistered Guest)]

Hi guys, I'm a Swede in Fla. who's done boatwork and carpentry all my life, (25yrs). I somewhere heard about this shopbot'"thing", downloaded the manual and a year and a half later bought a clonker 10'x4'PR96. It's been 5-6 yrs now that I've had this thing going, as a supplement to my other machinery,all along keeping up with this forum as one of these who never post anything.
All I want to say is that ya'll are great,and there can not possibly be a nicer group of people out there.
Thanks everybody for allways being willing to lend a hand to whomever need it. Awesome.

[gerald_d]

Bill_P, was that just a typo on apparently, or clever wordplay on apparel?


In our case the ShopBot was used to set up a career for an 18yr-old son when he finished school in the year 2000. In some months he earns more than his father, other times (like this week) he gets into his pickup with some friends and goes exploring around the country. None of his old schoolfriends have the independence and self-assuredness that he has today.

[jay]

OK, you fellows have moved me to stop lurking and pipe in.

For you guys that are thinking of purchasing a Bot, all I can say is it is the best thing I have ever done.

I paid for my Bot and made a living in ten months of ownership. My wood carving and woodworking started as a hobby after retirement then after 5 surgeries to my hands (carpel, trigger fingers, etc.)I had to give up personally doing the carving. Figured there had to be another way. Someone told me about the Bot. I watched the forum for about a year thought about purchasing a used machine but very few came along so with no idea of what I was going to do with the machine I decided to buy one anyway.

I was warned not to get too excited and make a lot of promises to people that I would get work to them. I received the machine, built my own steel table and went about learning two things. One, what I could not do with the Bot and two, things that I could do with the Bot.

I do a bit of everything with the machine, I cut stair stringers for a local stair company, cut signs for a number of the local sign companies, cut cabinet parts for stuff I make for some of the local furniture stores, make some specialized moldings for a local lumber yard, cut rough landscapes panels for a local carving school, etc.

All in all, I have a lot of fun, don't work a ten or twelve hour day anymore, after all I am retired, ya right, well that was the plan, and make enought money to keep the wolf away from the door.

Just thought I would mention the major reason I purchase the Bot instead of another CNC Router was because of the Forum. You will never come across a better bunch of great helpfull people.

Thanks to all those who participate so freely in this forum.

Jay

[Brady Watson]

Personally, I tend to march to my own beat, and the experience of owning a shopbot has just helped me to be, well...more of me. The best advice that I could give anyone would be to follow your heart. I had my bot for about a year or so before I got laid off. I used to write software for a living and the stresses of the 100 mile round trip commute, office politics and incredible workload really got to me. I knew that if I kept up that pace I wouldn't make it to 40. I bought my bot as a 'Plan B ~ maybe someday'...Well as the company went under from poor management, I found that Plan B was soon Plan A when I got my severance pay and walking papers...I was a bit scared since I still had the mortgage and other bills to pay...BUT I had wished, prayed and summoned this with all my might because that job was killing me...so I was pretty happy inside when it all came down to it.

What really bolstered this change was all of the MANY posts and personal e-mails from other shopbot owners that helped me get going with the business side of the bot. There was no 'there, there...or poor you' nonsense, just helpful, straight advice and wisdom from those who had been in my same situation. That experience right there justified my Shopbot purchase...and I knew that I had found the right group of people to propel me into the right direction. There really is no other community like the Shopbot family. I guess it's like a Harley in a way...if you don't own one, then you wouldn't understand.

Probably the only real truth out there, is the voice that you are hearing and the echoing of the old man speaking of time and lost dreams. Of course as a father, you have to do what's best for your family, but you want to do that without breaking your own spirit. I'm sure that there are a number of times that any of us can remember when we ignored that voice inside (yeah the screaming one saying, "I'm not sure how much longer I can take this job...etc")...and because we ignored it, we paid a greater price than if we hadn't.

The biggest lessons that I have learned since I started a business with my Shopbot are:

1) Trust the universe in all of it's wisdom that you will be provided for. You're still here, aren't you?
2) If you are getting paid to do what you love, you are doing what you are meant to do in life.
3) Don't feel guilty charging people for 'playing'
4) The only way to fail is to stop trying.

I now work probably 18hrs a day all together...BUT no longer have the stress related ailments I had 2 yrs ago. (it's not really work remember?...I'm getting paid to play!) I'm not making what I made in the corporate circus...but I am happy! I genuinely love what I do & nobody tells me what to do. Momentum is building and business is getting better and better every day. YOU have to do what is right for YOU...and there's no 'wrong' way to do it.

Keep visualizing your business...as if you already have it right now (that really works). You may be suprised how quickly and perfectly things start moving towards that vision with only your strong intent. Think of work in the context that a musician does ~ "It's just a gig, man"...You play one for a while, then move on to the next one. In the end, it doesn't really matter what you do...but don't leave with your music still in you.

Hope that helps.
-Brady

[mikejohn]

Gentlemen all
Longing as I am to be a true member of this community (9days, 9days

), I thought "this going to work in my night shirt I can do".
You all forgot to mention where all that sawdust can end up!
..........Mike

[billp]

Gerald,,
No typo, just an attempt at a clever pun which "apparently" was out of reach for some...
AND to keep on target with this thread , the shop mantra here is: "Nothing is really work, unless you would rather be doing something else......"

[weslambe]

Wayne,

I was a computer geek and I wrapped up my last contract job in August of 2001. I thought that I could cool my heels for a couple of months then go looking for the next contract. 9-11 was the next month and the next contract never happened. I sat around the house building furniture for my wife and raising my little girls. (then 4 and 6 mo.)

After about a year and a half of this I found out about the Shopbot and went to the 2003 jamboree. I bought my prt96 at the jamboree and haven't regretted it for a minute.

If you haven't seen what I've done with the 'Bot then go to www.doorbot.net (http://www.doorbot.net) and see. Not only has the Shopbot helped bring in a second income, it's given my career goals a new direction.

I am currently in negotiations with a regional building supplier to sell my cabinet doors and if they start giving me too much business, I have lined up a couple of other Shopbot owners to take up my slack.

If you have a product to sell before you buy your Shopbot you've got a great head start. One thing that I've said over and over to my software customers is that the small cnc shop is the modern equivalent of the blacksmith. Every town needs and will have one. If you don't do it, someone else will.

Now I have 4 children. 2 girls aged 8 and 4 and 2 twin boys aged 16 months. I stay home with them during the day and work on DoorBot. At night and on weekends I make cabinet doors as they are ordered. I am on the verge of great success and I wouldn't be anywhere close to this without the ShopBot.

To sum it up; I am very pleased with ShopBot.

Wes

ps, in regards to Geralds post below this one; how true. The shopbot doesn't make anything except what you tell it to make. If you told it to make left handed smoke shifters it would do it all day long. Now, can you sell left handed smoke shifters? That's another issue. It helps to have a product to sell lined up before you purchase your Shopbot. I have seen quite a few shopbots for sale in the couple of years that I have been coming here. I think that it's mostly because they thought that they could throw some material up on the machine and start making money. It's not that easy, it's a business and if you don't know how to run one, you have to be able to learn how.

[gerald_d]

Bill, I thought that apparel was only used by Brits who try to look clever by using French words - like old Mike here.

And, to the point of this thread, I think that we have to realise that there could also be a story of failure for every success story that we see here. There must be a good many people who buy SB's (possibly even encouraged by testimonies like those above) and then just don't get it all together. There is nothing inherently magic or special about a SB. Those of us who do speak glowingly about SB's fail to give credit to our own inherent determination and drive. We would all probably have been equally successful if we had bought doughnut franchises - except that we would have had to be more careful about what we dressed in.

[robtown]

I wouldn't know what spindle speed and feedrate to set a doughnut to...

[rookie432]

I have to say Wayne and I are in the same boat. Good full time job, fair salary and good benefits. However I don't know what I would do without my bot. I have to have an outlet for my creative needs and the bot gives me just that. Not to mention it allows me to make extra income that never hurts. (by the way the bot business has been a good tax shelter for a home based business). PLanning on building a new 1500sq ft shop and the bot will pay for it. Whats better than that.
Had my first child last year and that has slowed me down a bit, however it has forced me to focus a little better on doing work that is profitable. This allows me to cherry pick the work I want or the work I need.
I'm part time botter and my clients are aware of this going in to a job. This helps curb the unrealistic deadline driven clientelle. But the bot and I can give them a uniqueness that my clients cant get elsewhere so... most of them are willing to wait for me. No pressure and I can chose how much I want to make in a year.
One last thing for guys like Wayne and I. There is nothing better than knowing that if the rug was pulled out from under me tommorow, as far as my full time job was concerned, that I have something to fall back on. Ive spent the last few years becoming proficient with the cnc and build a good customer base that I could enlarge at any moment. Expanded my capabilities to multiple product offerings and am adding new product capabilities every day. So if the market dropped out or ,God forbid, another 9-11 incident and my job wasn't there tomorrow. My family and I would be o.k.

Bill

[wmcghee]

Brady, you are right in everything you said. You seem to be a well educated man and, by the looks of your picture in your profile you have alot of wisdom for your age.
And your right in saying to follow your own heart. Noone knows what is best for me but me. But I have always been terrible at making decisions. I can go to Walmart to pick something up and if there is more than 1 item it can take me half an hour to pick one. Sometimes longer. I struggled with buying a Shopbot for about 4 months. I would still be trying to decide had it not been for the price increase in Nov. I jumped in and got one before the increase.

Wes, I have looked at your program several times and it is on my buy list for sure. I think that could be a very lucrative business. But Like Brady said in another post, I'm kinda afraid of the MDF dust. I have a jet DC1100 but the MDF really clogs its filter up and chokes it down. I will buypass the filter and blow it outside I guess.

Gerald, you are exactly right. It is the person and not the machine that makes everyone succesful. I think people often fail in business because they don't try with all their heart. They loose their focus somewhere and get discouraged and start giving up. I think with HARD work and determination their is nothing one cannot accomplish. It may be harder for some than for others because of certain variables but I truly believe if you set your mind to it you can be successful.

That being said though, you have to have certain business skills to make any kind of business be successful. I mean over and above your talents and learned abilities. My Dad has been a diesel mechanic ever since I can remember. He had his own business and most of the time stayed covered up. He had an hourly rate he charged and it paid his wages and thats about it. He didn't have figured in to his rates his profit margin, overhead, etc. Just because he probably didn't know the "business" end of it. Very talented mechanic, made a decent living for us. His business didn't grow and I guess he got burnt out. He drives a truck now. I would love to be able to have something where him and I could work together.

Its ironic because I never was interested in being a Diesel mechanic. I would help dad and watch him a lot but just never had a desire to follow in his footsteps. And he didn't want me to. I went to machinist school and got a pretty good job. Worked it for 4 years and got a job with Boeing, which in this area is pretty much the cream of the crop for machinist jobs. Worked their for 8 years and then 9-11 and Airbus happened. I was burnt out on it anyway and was looking forward to the lay off. I was going to woodwork and sell tools. Well, I saw an ad where the railroad was needing a machinist and applied. I figured I would not get it and was kinda hoping I would'nt. Well, they called and I took it. But what the railroad calls a machinist the rest of the world calls a diesel mechanic. But truthfully they did tell me this before I took the job. I thought it would be interesting working on locomotives. But I didn't stay interested very long.

While working in a machine shop I always operated a CNC. Fadal, Mazak, Cincinnati, etc. I always wanted to learn the machine and what it was capable of. I hated being a button pusher. I wanted to know the machine in case I ran into problems, etc. But most of the people, probably 60%, was the opposite. Just learn enough to get by and sit back. I didn't understand why these people were like that but I always kept my mouth shup and I was always willing to help them when they had problems. Don't get me wrong, I had to get people to help me occasionally as well. But to get to the point, the job I have now I just have no interest in learning. I just have no deire to put any extra effort into anything. I will do my job and try to do it well. But the drive is just not there for me. I guess maybe that is how the guys I used to work with felt.

[beacon14]

"In some months he earns more than his father"

Methinks perhaps Gerald's son makes the big bucks because when he's in front of his computer he's working, as opposed to saving the ShopBot community from certain doom. Not that I would have it any other way!

[mikejohn]

Dave
Don't be fooled. Remember the wheelie bin mountain.
Cape towns Mr.Soprano
..........Mike

[woody]

If the above stories don't make you stop and smell the saw dust, maybe this will help!

http://www.scottstratten.com/movie.html

[cabinetmaker09]

I have been thinking either or not to buy a CNC and this has help me mostly aim to go buy one, only if i had the money now. haha. Now if i did buy one how would i start a business or get the word out there? I wouldn't mind going into the sign business like you did, its not hard work at all. I've done about 30 signs for someone for free to help me out using the schools cnc
.

Im sure if you could start one i know i could. Should i just make an ad and start placing it around places and hope people start to come to me? maybe make a Carve your sign here and then place it somewhere in town in a window? maybe sell it on e-bay? Toss some ideas out there for my mind to think.

[jamesgilliam]

Andy, A good place to start is local sign shops. Go in and ask if they can do carved signs, and if they say no ask if they would like the ability to offer them as a product line, oh and take a sample piece with you. One local to me has agreed to refer customers to me, and for their trouble get a commision when I get the job. Not a bad deal for them just showing the sample and giving out my name and number.

[cabinetmaker09]

I haven't seen any signs business around town that i've noticed. I don't live in a big city. how would i advertise my signs online to get the word out of sign making to make word travel? And about how long did it take for you guys to make a complete sign from start to finish? Also should i charge so much per letter and a price for a blank with an addital fee for pictures? or how should i figure a price for something like that? Im never quit sure if im always underselling my work or over selling for something that i make.

Share some of your secrets with a beginner.

[donchapman]

Andy.

We've been sharing "our secrets" for years on this forum.

All you have to do to learn them is to make the effort to find and read them, which is easy.
Look up subjects under "Topics" or do a key word search.

There have been very long and detailed discussions of all aspects of pricing, advertising, signmaking techniques, etc.

Once you have made the effort to familiarize yourself with what has already been posted, come back and ask the questions that haven't already been asked and answered.

[cabinetmaker09]

And i have return... I was wondering what kind of woods that you have used that have turned out really good with out using any paint just finishing them? There are so many kinds of wood out there its hard to wonder what might look the best. Also How would you cut several lines of words on your sign?? Do you use a software to do that or do you just use the type setter on the shop bot [tt]? I've used the Type setter on the software to do all my signs but then again it didn't have to go past 1 line. Also what kinds of finishs have you used on your signs to get the best finish?

[donchapman]

Do an author search using my name and you'll find I've said something about all those things.
Most of my signs are high density urethane and painted but I still do a lot out of Ipe, western red cedar, and eastern cedar/juniper. I let them weather gray because any clear finish will break down within a year of exposure to sunlight.

I have done some Honduras mahogany signs and finished them with spar varnish, but they too need refinishing within a year or so if left outside.

Interior signs can be made from just about any wood and I often use water based polyurethane on them.

I design and do all my text in CorelDraw, Arts and Letters Express, and LetterArt9.5 signmaking software and then export dxf,eps,or ai files to Vectric's VCarve Pro where I further manipulate the design and created tool paths.

I suggest you just start making some signs for yourself and friends using the very user-friendly and reasonably priced VCarve Pro so you can learn by experience what works for you and what you like. A version of it called PartWorks is provided free with new ShopBots now.

Check out postings by Raymond Chapman, Joe Crumley (sp?) and the many other fine signmakers on this forum.

Subscribe to SignCraft magazine and find a copy of Mike Stevens book or tape on Layout through SignCraft.

Have fun and good luck!

[burchbot]

Hi Andy
Vectric software is the best you can buy for the money. I have V Carve Pro and Photo V Carve. Go to the Vectric forum and look around. You will find many ideas there also. What size machine did you decide on?
Dan

[cabinetmaker09]

okay ill search and see what i can't find on thouse authors. I decided on the Shop bot buddy for now. :D if i need a bigger one i can just go up to the school and use their 4x8 cnc.