Any schools using the Handi bot yet?

[Hoytbasses]

We've had our desktop for about a year and we're loving it! We can use a second machine and the principal is all for it. We're making signs, electric guitars, small jewelry boxes, ...pretty much anything our little brains can conjure up. (and my 61 year rookie bot programming brain can handle:-)

So I saw the blurbs about the Handibot and pretty much dismissed it as too small to be used in our setting:THEN I saw the video where the handibot was cutting out 12' long stair risers and doing all sorts of cool stuff on bigger jobs.

...which got me to thinking: for the price of one desktop, we could get two handibots, and make dedicated jigs for some of the stuff we're using the shopbot for. a great example is that we make lots of bedside stands in the 14"x16" x 32" (roughly ) size and kids are enjoying vcarving designs and script into the tops of the bedside stands. It looks like we could make a dedicated jog specifically for this purpose, (as well as table tops, signs, small parts, etc.)

that's the LONG winded way of asking the question: are any of you teacher types out there using the handibot, and what's your impressions?

thanks

Karl Hoyt

[Kyle Stapleton]

Get the desktop or go bigger:D.
We make great big signs and cut full sheet good, as of now we are saving for a desktop top clear space on the big bot.

[markevans]

I'm not teaching but I am a owner and if I was setting up a class with a $10k budget I'd seriously consider the handibot simply because with 10k I could get 3 handibots and some tooling or one desktop.
Making jigs can be part of the syllabus.

[bleeth]

I guess it depends on what your actual goal is. Are you trying to teach your students what they can do with cnc machines and software and how it may apply to the genuine world of getting a job in industry that uses such machines or buy the most units for the least money?
Handibot is a cool tool. IMHO though, no one is going to hire a recent grad because he knows how to use one. That may change down the road, but at this point for general business use in companies that use cnc equipment it is a non-starter.
If one takes a class of average students you may have one or two inspired, motivated, and clever enough to figure out a way to make it work for their own startup business, but for most of your students learning how to use tools that are more generally used in the business world would be a greater benefit.
A desktop is simply, for the sake of discussion regarding the business world, a mini cnc that uses the same software systems and operational mechanics of a larger machine. That is practical knowledge that may translate to helping your students get a job.
As far as stair stringers go, a well trained carpenter with a framing square can layout and cut a set of stringers with a circular saw in half the time it takes to go through the cnc design and cutting system.

[chiloquinruss]

"A desktop is simply, for the sake of discussion regarding the business world, a mini cnc that uses the same software systems and operational mechanics of a larger machine. That is practical knowledge that may translate to helping your students get a job."

FYI, the HandiBot ALSO is a mini cnc that use the same software (Vectric/SB3) and operational mechanics (X,Y,Z) of a larger machine. With Bill Youngs new jigs they are really quite powerful in what they can accomplish. It does require some 'thinking outside the box' though! :D If it was a schools budget decision between NO CNC's or a HandiBot or two, I think the answer is HandiBot(s). Russ

[markevans]

What Russ said.

[Kyle Stapleton]

I could see it for a first cnc but not a seconded, unless all you want to do with it is carve on things student have all ready made.

[chiloquinruss]

"unless all you want to do with it is carve on things" The HandiBot is so much than a miniature CNC machine. I have seen it cutting out corbels out of 2x8's and popping them out pretty quickly. Yes it can do carvings but with the all of the really cool jigs and templates the folks are coming up with it is so much more. I think for a school that has a limited budget (don't they all) a HandiBot is a great intro into the world of computer controlled machines that produce useful products. It uses exactly the same software that a bigger Bot does. It accompishes the same sorts of tasks as the bigger machines. Lastly I think that another consideration could be the cost of maintenance and or repair, as it uses a regular router for its power source. Anyhow I have a regular Bot but have spent hours with the handiBot and if its a schools choice between NO CNC or a HandiBot, well then I think a HandiBot is a great alternative. Just my 2 cents worth. Russ

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/l_12132155.jpg

[markevans]

It is always a shame when something is so new and innovative that people that should be able to see its usefulness can't.
Through tilling the handibot can cut anything a full size ShopBot can and a lot of places it cannot. The limit is only in that tilling becomes tedious at at point.
A lot of this can be eliminated by adjusting your paradigm. For instance, a good size table top you would cut out the basic shape on a table saw and then apply the handibot to places needing cnc cutting. The corners and where pockets for the legs will go.... I'm getting pretty good at it, need to get a little better then do an instructable on it. Also long straight lines get skipped and connected with a circular saw.

[Bob Eustace]

Game set and match to Russ!

[Kyle Stapleton]

Ok they could would with a lot of extra effort.
Making jigs as part of the class?, it would be the whole class (I had the same idea it does not work) I had 7 kids 90 minutes a day for 45 days and each kid did 4 projects (see my other posts) with the time it takes to teach the cam/cad software and designing projects time runs out fast and if you had to tile everything bigger then a shoe box the kids would get nothing done.
As for the thinking any flat surface would work well, you run out of flat surfaces fast in a shop that has to be cleaned every 60-90 min.
How long would it take to cut a sheet of ply into cab parts with a handy bot and tiling? If it is over that 60-90 min if would not have the kids do it unless they have a free class after woods, and even with that they will be taking up space that the next class will need.
I'm not tring to be a downer on the handy bot but if I brought two into my classroom instead of one desktop my kid would look at me like I was crazy.

Soooo, save you money, wright some grants, reach out to your industrially park, keep your eye on the forum and buy the biggest bot you can afford.

[Hoytbasses]

Thanks for all the feedback: especially Russ for that incredible visual: if you don't teach then perhaps you should :cool:

And thanks to Kyle for the educator's input. What grades are you working with? I'm in full agreement that jig making wouldn't be a class project: it might be a good project for a hot-shot kid with an independent study and CNC experience. Frankly, jigging up jobs, at least in my shop, is the instructors' responsibility.

As I said in the opening paragraph: we have a desktop and it's getting use every single block of the day. I want to add to my CNC capabilities since we're already seeing backlogs of kids waiting to use the machine with flash-drives in hand: I can probably find the money for another desktop and will probably go that way, but I was thinking that IF the handibots are as flexible as they appear to be, having two for the cost of one desktop might allow me to have three machines humming at the same time.

And No.... the plan is NOT to cut stringers, but that was an apt illustration of perhaps the potential of the little machine with dedicated jigging.

Anybody in New England area have a handibot that I can see in action?

Thanks again: I'm probably going with a second desktop but I'm leaving the options open until I can see one of the little guys in action.

Have a great week, all

Karl Hoyt.

[sallye_c]

Hello All. I have been working with the Handibot a lot, and have created jigs for multiple uses. If you check out the March blogs and forum posts on the Handibot website (Handibot.com)j or the 100kSchools.org website, you'll find pictures of a jig that allows you to machine boards longer than the cutting area of the Handibot. A video of it in action is found in the Handibot forum posts.

I used the plans for the Handibot to create the jig that it sits in.

One thing I learned is that, if you are creating a jig that surrounds the Handibot, use material that is no thicker than half inch. The clearance as the Handibot moves to the front is only .5", and .75" material will cause it to stall out.

I set a solid core door on top of a resin table as my base for the Handibot, used with or without its jig(s). It's flat and heavy and can be replaced without too much effort. And, I can put a thick vinyl table cloth on it and still use my space for a table for doing glass work.

Whatever you do with the Desktop and Handibot, I'd love to see it posted on 100kSchools. Let me know how I can help you do that...(Sallye@shopbottools.com works well for that.)

[Hoytbasses]

thanks for that feedback, Sallye... I will definitely check out the handibot site... I'd still like to see one 'up close and personal' and since Summer is early upon us, I might be up for a road trip to do so if anyone knows someone using a handibot in the greater new England, upstate NY area.....

thanks

Karl

[Brett Dickinson]

Just got one. Currently we have a full size machine and Desktop ShopBots.

I had a big problem last year with doing a plaque project with a backlog of projects waiting to be flipped so we can cut a keyhole slot.

If that is all I do with the HandiBot, that is money well spent. I have a lot of other plans as well.

kEEP IN touch

Brett Dickinson
956-455-6153