4th Annual Midwest Camp Shopbot

[jkforney]

Well it's about time for the Midwest Camp Shopbot. October 7th and 8th in beautiful downtown Edison, Ohio. The address is 132 1/2 High Street, Edison, Ohio. Please use either google map or map quest now to find us. I will post directions in the next day or so. Hotel info will also be posted soon.

We will have some great people here doing demos. John Murphy from All star will be here for gasket hold down. John has forgotten more about gaskets than most of us know.

Brad from ArtCam will be here so bring your questions about PartWizard, Insignia and ArtCam Pro. He will do demos and be available both days for single or small group question and answers.

We may have Tony McKenzie from the Uk here to demo Vcarve Wizard. They are also giving a copy away in a drawing.

Courmatt International will be sending bits for us to try and also to give away.

Bill Polumbo is going to try to make the show. Those of you around shopbot know what a treasure trove of information he is. It will be a plus if he can make it.

As alway lunch, coffee and snacks are free as is the camp but please email me directly to let me know you are coming. This year may be especially crowded and it is important to get a count as soon as possible.

More info will be posted in the coming days.

John Forney

[jhicks]

John, will you be exposing any 3d "project Wizard" items and plans?

[jkforney]

Yes

[jkforney]

Courmatt International who bill themselves as "cnc solution specialist" will be sending bits to be used as door prizes as well as bits to use in demos. One demo will be a solid surface horse inlayed into solid surface using one of their bits. The owner said that they sell an "inexpensive bit that is better"; so we will see.

James Booth may be here to demo the 3d files he has done for the mega art people. Those that know James realize what a person to ask questions and get a really good answer he is. (Just ate lunch and feel to fat and lazy to change the above sentence too make more sense).

We may have to limit people since my shop is not the largest in the world so don't put off letting me know you are coming.

John

[jkforney]

The camp is being help at my shop on October 7and 8 (Friday and Saturday). The camp will start a 8:00 a.m. and run to about 5:00 p.m.

The address is:
132 ½ High Street (State Route 95)
Edison, Ohio 43302
419 947-8186

The motels in the Marion area are:

Comfort Inn
256 James Way
1 740-389.5552

Country Inn & Suits
2091 Marion-Mt Gilead Rd.
1 740 386-5451

Fairfield Inn
227 James Way
1 740 389-6636

Super 8 Motel
2117 Marion- Mt Gilead Rd.
1 740 389-1998

Travelodge
1952 Marion-Mt Gilead Rd.
1 740 389-4671

Motel close to Mt. Gilead

Best Western
Rts. 95 & I-71
Exit 151 off I-71
1 419 768-2378

Knights Inn
West of I-71 at Exit 151
1 419 946-6010

Directions are:



Edison is approximately 40 miles North of Columbus, Ohio

If you come in on Interstate 70 you will want to go towards Cleveland on Interstate 270 and then go North on St. Rt. 23 if coming from the West and north on Interstate 71 if coming from the East

From the North or South on State Route 23

Exit on St. Rt. 95 which is the Marion Exit and go east (left from the North and right from the South.) approximately 12 miles. When you come into the town of Edison you will go over the RR Tracks and past the School with is at the first and only light. One half mile on the South (right) side will be the Pins & Cues Bowling Alley. Turn into the parking lot and you are at my shop. There will be signs indicating where to park. We share the parking lot and my shop is on the west side.

There is only one bowling alley in Edison (which only has 65 registered voters) and Edison is adjacent to Mt. Gilead for those that are going to use a mapping site.

From the North or South on Interstate 71

Exit at the Mt. Gilead exit and go West (left from the South and right from the North) approximately 15 miles. Go through Mt. Gilead and turn into the Pins & Cues Bowling Alley. Turn into the parking lot and you are at my shop. There will be signs indicating where to park. We share the parking lot and my shop is on the west side.


As you can see I am right in the middle of State Route 23 and Interstate 71 on State Route 95. In Edison St. Rt. 95 is also High Street, so if you are looking up directions on a mapping site use the High Street address.

John

[jkforney]

The camp is soon, so if you haven't let me know your coming please do so now.

Here is a partial list of who will cover what.

Brad from Delcam will cover Art Cam Pro 8 and Insignia. We will be cutting a solid surface inlay into solid surface. He will do the drawing and toolpath part and we will cut it and finish it.

John Murphy of All Star will be going over
gasket and hold down products. We will be using the new paint mask and we will do a drop bevel edge using solid surface and maybe wood. This will allow glueing up edge treatment with 45 degree cutting on the shopbot.

James Booth is coming and will do a demo on the V carve wizard, the face wizard in Art Cam and show us some of his designs that are sold by the mega art collections.

Greg Barnhart will discuss and show some probing items he has done.

Bill Jarvis will demonstate and cut a 3d carving file as well as mold making.

Harold Weber is doing a presentation of plastic cutting. We will have a head to head test of bits from Onsrud, Belin, Courmatt and Vortex. All present will vote on the best edge and we will publish the results on the forum. Anyone who knows Harold knows that the test will be as exact and well planned as can be. He will also show designing in Rhino.

Another John Murphy, he of KCDW, is trying to make the camp to show the new Shopbot, Artcam and KCDW cabinet solution. If he can't make it Brad and I will show the software off.

Bill Polumbo is going to show the slicing feature of art cam which allows building up very thick models by slicing your design and cutting it one part at a time.

We have been given resin inlay kits from ACS and will be using them in wood and solid surface. This material is great.

I will be going over partwizard and showing layout for cabinets and how to cut solid surface.

All of the presenters will be available for small group discussions so bring all your questions.

The number of door prizes is even greater than last year when everyone got at least one. A partial list includes:

3 copies of the mega art collection
1 copy of V Carve Wizard
Courmatt bits
3d carving files
1 hour of custom design time
Hats, knives--- you name it. Maybe not a reason to come but sure is a reason not to miss it.

For the people (not politically correct to say women) who are just coming for someone else, Renee' has organized a trip to Amish country for eating and shopping.

There is, of course, no charge for the camp and you get a free lunch and snacks. If you have a shopbot and want to know how to use it better, or you are thinking of cnc, these camps are for you.

[billp]

The Mid West Camp Shopbot ended a few hours ago. It was a VERY full two days of software demos,cutting of files, and exchanging of ideas. Our host John Forney did a great job in organizing the presentations, and
I think all of the people who attended will agree that there wasn't a wasted minute during the two days.
We even had a Camp "first"; John and his wife Reneé contacted the local Amish community and some of the women brought in a huge selection of baked goodies (which everyone wound up bringing home with them...)
I have posted some pictures on the blog site we have set up for the Camps this year. If you'd like to see them please go to;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/campshopbot/sets/1098146/
It was a great weekend, and John deserves a lot of credit for his efforts...
Next week- Camp Shopbot Maine

[rookie432]

Hats off to John and Renee for another excellent camp. I don't think there was a wasted minute. I have been a Shopbotter for 6 years now and and have been to every one of John's camps and Shopbot's Jamborees in that time.
Just to show that it was still worthwhile here are a few new things that I learned.
1) If I were a full time cabinet shop my first investment after my shopbot would be KCDW software. What an amazing product.
2) maximizing the use of my Bot with simple and inexpensive vac pumps and the proper gasketing. We actually cut a 3" letter A on a 4" vac pod with All Star sheet gasketing and an inexpensive $80 vac pump and the letter didn't budge.
3) Artcam pro still is only limited by my imagination. I learned how easy it is to create textures in the software.WOW
4) On a router bit "Cut-Off" I learned that Onsrud still makes a superior cutter for milling acrylic plastic.
5) I learned how Bill Palumbo makes short work out of his full 3D mock ups. Not to mention there isn't much you can ask Bill that he doesn't have 3 solutions for. A great resource.
6) I learned that John Murphy from All Star Adhesives really cares wheather or not his products are the quality and solution we Shopbotter's need.
7) I learned how to make a mitre fold in solid surface material with my bot wich could have saved me about 4-6 hours on my last solid surface top job.

That is just a few of the new things I learned for a 'botter who has been around for a while.

I truly reccomend these camps. Not only are they an incredible resource of information but the contact with other 'botters doing different things is priceless. At the 2004 Jamboree one botter gave me one tip that put an extra $4000 in my pocket for that year.
Definitely worth the price of admission.

Thanks again to John and Renee Forney for all of their hard work to make these things happen.Thanks to all of the presenters for giving up their weekends to share thier knowledge. Thanks to all the 'botters who show up and share their successes and abilities.

Bill

[mysargesfc@aol.com]

John and Renee:

Thanks for your hospitality and for hosting a
great camp. This was my first journey down to
Edison, Ohio from Saginaw, Michigan. Thanks to all the presenters, too, for pouring out their hearts and souls to the ShopBot cause. Every
minute was informative and I highly recommend
this camp to other "Botters" in the area. Looking
forward to next year's camp. Next year, I'll bring a little bigger power inverter just in case too.

Jim Schanck

[hippo]

I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing. It was a really exciting trip, and the first of this type of event that I've ever been to. I can't wait for the next one.

I really enjoyed meeting more folks like me, (now I know I'm not the only crazy one.) And, no two folks were using their 'bot in exactly the same way. It was really eye opening. I haven't worked wood since Middle School, I came at this from the computer end of things, so I learned a lot about that, and heard a lot of wisdom from folks with years of woodworking experience.

Thanks again John, and everbody. Hopefully next time I'll have even more neat stuff to show off with what I learned.

-Dan

[jlawren6]

I'd like to also throw in a big thanks to John and all the presenters for an outstanding camp. The amount of effort put forth by everyone was amazing and I've never met a group of nicer or more helpful people.

This is the first camp that I've attended in my 4 short months of Shopbot ownership, but it certainly won't be the last. The vast amount of information presented there and the exposure to all the possibilities of the bot are simply priceless. I hope to put what I've learned to good use and be able to contribute something in the future. It was a great experience.

[mziegler]

I also like to give a big thanks to everybody at John's camp. Just wish I could have attended both days.
Dan, your model foam airplanes are really neat. Got to get myself a foam plane right away. Mark

[harold_weber]

Thanks for putting up with us again John!!

If anyone knows who won the Vortex router bit at John's camp, could you please let me know? I'm trying to document the bits that were used in the plastic cutting test, and I'd like to know the cutting length of this bit.

[dirk]

I would like to thank John for his hospitality in hosting the camp. I have been to several camps this past year and I always pick up something that makes the trip very worthwhile. I especially like to meet other botters and exchange ideas and talk about how they use their machines. I liked seeing the KCDw presentation and how it tied into Cabinetmaker. Thanks again

Dirk