In Transit

[wegner81]

Well the comfirmation came yesterday my "Shopbot has left the building". Lead time was right on at 6 weeks as I was told. So when its delivered does someone hand out cigars HA HA. Just kidding. Seams like a long journey but I'm sure well worth it. I have been on the forum reading post for the last 2 months . Just wondering if anyone has any last minute advice. Thanks to all who have giving me advice already. As it has been very helpful. Ready to start the adventure. Kevin

[harryball]

Congrats! Take your time and enjoy the process. Hopefully you're not one of those guys that lined up $10k in work and expect to have all the orders filled the first week it arrives.

/RB

[scottcox]

Very important..... stock up on coffee!

You may also want to have a sheet of foam for your first few cuts. Then you can practice different cuts like v-carving and profile cutouts without worrying too much about feeds and speeds.

Let us know how things go.

[myxpykalix]

The best advice I can give (assuming you bought one) is for the first week, keep the EMERGENCY STOP in your hand because i GUARANTEE you will use it before the first day is done.

[harryball]

You know, I've never used my emergency stop button (he's lying) I've always created my file perfect the first time (he's still lying) and I've never made a mistake like zeroing to the table top instead of the material surface. (he's deluded) And... one thing I've never ever done is stick myself to the bot using vacuum pressure on a vac mask while placing the board. (hey, if no one saw it, then it never happened right?)

Be careful, search this forum and ask questions. Cutting foam is a great start.

/RB

[beacon14]

Keep a spiral or looseleaf notebook and make notes of everything that you do, include settings like move speeds, feed speeds, ramp values, any changes that you make during the session and why, what bits were used etc; you'll be amazed to look back over it after a few months and see what all you've done, you'll also be amazed how fast you'll forget the details like how did I cut this gismo last time?

[scott_smith]

And where did I save that Gismo.spb or Gismo.crv file.

I really like the little USB memory stick drive things to get my files from the design computer to the bot. They’re cheep these days. A 512MB will last until you can’t find files on it anymore.

[bill]

Might I suggest...if you don't already have one... get a digital level. They are a few $$$ but I found worth every penny during alignment and set up.
As a reminder to myself to go SLOW and think....I carry around a 30 degree router bit in my pocket at alltimes. It's the one I BENT THE SHANK to the tune of 30 degrees!!!! Trust what Jack says about the EMERGENCY STOP! :-) All-in-all ... yer gonna love it!

[myxpykalix]

One thing I do after i have everything set up for a cut is to go thru a mental checklist (memorized from a paper one in the beginning) of all the steps you have to go thru before you start. For me its:
1. place material on table
2. do a C3 to get your router to 0,0 on the table
3. Move router to your 0,0 point on material (either lower left or center or wherever you made it) Then take those numbers and WRITE THEM DOWN
4. Re 0,0 your X,Y (some do a offset in the dropdown menu).
5. Then do a C2 to either the material top or table top (I zero to material but there are reasons to do it to the table for certain projects)

Then I go thru the checklist to make sure i didn't forget something (like i might have here)
then i'm ready to commit to a cut.

If i'm not sure after that, and before i commit to a cut I will take a piece of mdf on top of my material and re C2 to give it a false height to try a "air cut" first.

[john_l]

"I will take a piece of mdf on top of my material and re C2 to give it a false height to try a "air cut" first."

Good idea... I'll borrow that Jack