beacon14
09-11-2004, 02:47 AM
As some of you know, I had the pleasure of spending much of the recent IWF show "helping out" at the ShopBot booth. Thanks to some advance planning on my part, I am now the proud owner of the PRTAlpha machine that was on display in Atlanta. I thought I would post a few impressions and thoughts about the show and my experiences there, and invite any other ShopBotters who may have been there to do the same.
First off, the tool: "Wow" is all I can say. The new machine is head and shoulders above my old PR machine in speed, substance and style. I finally have everything hooked up (power, computer, dust collection, etc.) and have overcome my awe of just watching it move (fly?), and cut my first usable parts tonight.
It's been over a year since I sold my old machine, and I've missed it badly at times, but I have to say this was worth the wait (and the money). Everyone who has seen it run has been amazed as well. Maybe if I had upgraded to the PRT machine in between, the difference wouldn't have been quite so shocking, but what a difference 5 years has made.
Next, the ShopBot experience in general: It was a pleasure seeing some old friends from ShopBot, and meeting the faces behind the voices I've spoken with over the years. One thing I'm impressed with is how little turnover they seem to have - I think most everyone I've spoken to from ShopBot over the years since I bought my first machine was either at the show or back at the office. That says alot about a company (and it's management) in my book. I also enjoyed meeting more than a few current ShopBot owners, some of whom I "recognized" from this forum. I also spoke with quite a few prospective ShopBot owners, many of whom indicated that they had had their eye on a ShopBot for a while, and after seeing the new machine they are typically quite impressed. With the speeds now acheivable, the ShopBot's perfomance rivals many of the much larger and much more costly machines, and as one guy remarked: "now it looks a lot more like a real machine". I have a hunch that ShopBot will be selling many more machines to small and medium sized cabinet shops, now that they can process whole sheets at speeds that make it competitive with cutting parts by hand.
Lastly, the rest of the show. I wish I had had more time to really see all there was to offer, but as anyone who has been there knows, you can't possibly see the whole thing and live to tell about it. It was nice running into some old friends, Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia (http://www.woodworkersguildofga.org/index.shtml) members, and even a few folks I've sort of known for years but had never met. (Hi James!)
As for new ideas pertinent to ShopBotting, one that stood out was sheet gasket material from Allstar Adhesives (http://www.allstaradhesives.com/). I saw it mentioned as being represented at an upcoming camp, but this was the first I had seen it. Instead of making a generic vaccuum gasket with a thin strip of self-adhesive foam, you can lay down this self-adhesive sheet over the entire area of the part to be cut, run the file with a slightly oversized bit to establish the perimeter, then use an offset toolpath and a veining bit to incise the gasket material just inside of the perimeter of the part, then weed out the interior, leaving a perfectly shaped gasket as wide or narrow as you like, allowing maximum hold-down power for smaller parts and more support closer to the edge.
There were a few other ideas worth looking at, but I've gone on too long already, and I know there was plenty that I missed as well. Anyone else who was there care to share their finds or thoughts?
By the way, just as a disclaimer, I dont work for ShopBot or Allstar adhesives, and no one paid me or even asked me to post this, so this is all just my opinions.
Anyway, it's good to be back in the game after a year and a half on the sidelines. If any one in the Atlanta area wants to see a new Alpha machine in action, drop me an e-mail.
Regards,
David B.
First off, the tool: "Wow" is all I can say. The new machine is head and shoulders above my old PR machine in speed, substance and style. I finally have everything hooked up (power, computer, dust collection, etc.) and have overcome my awe of just watching it move (fly?), and cut my first usable parts tonight.
It's been over a year since I sold my old machine, and I've missed it badly at times, but I have to say this was worth the wait (and the money). Everyone who has seen it run has been amazed as well. Maybe if I had upgraded to the PRT machine in between, the difference wouldn't have been quite so shocking, but what a difference 5 years has made.
Next, the ShopBot experience in general: It was a pleasure seeing some old friends from ShopBot, and meeting the faces behind the voices I've spoken with over the years. One thing I'm impressed with is how little turnover they seem to have - I think most everyone I've spoken to from ShopBot over the years since I bought my first machine was either at the show or back at the office. That says alot about a company (and it's management) in my book. I also enjoyed meeting more than a few current ShopBot owners, some of whom I "recognized" from this forum. I also spoke with quite a few prospective ShopBot owners, many of whom indicated that they had had their eye on a ShopBot for a while, and after seeing the new machine they are typically quite impressed. With the speeds now acheivable, the ShopBot's perfomance rivals many of the much larger and much more costly machines, and as one guy remarked: "now it looks a lot more like a real machine". I have a hunch that ShopBot will be selling many more machines to small and medium sized cabinet shops, now that they can process whole sheets at speeds that make it competitive with cutting parts by hand.
Lastly, the rest of the show. I wish I had had more time to really see all there was to offer, but as anyone who has been there knows, you can't possibly see the whole thing and live to tell about it. It was nice running into some old friends, Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia (http://www.woodworkersguildofga.org/index.shtml) members, and even a few folks I've sort of known for years but had never met. (Hi James!)
As for new ideas pertinent to ShopBotting, one that stood out was sheet gasket material from Allstar Adhesives (http://www.allstaradhesives.com/). I saw it mentioned as being represented at an upcoming camp, but this was the first I had seen it. Instead of making a generic vaccuum gasket with a thin strip of self-adhesive foam, you can lay down this self-adhesive sheet over the entire area of the part to be cut, run the file with a slightly oversized bit to establish the perimeter, then use an offset toolpath and a veining bit to incise the gasket material just inside of the perimeter of the part, then weed out the interior, leaving a perfectly shaped gasket as wide or narrow as you like, allowing maximum hold-down power for smaller parts and more support closer to the edge.
There were a few other ideas worth looking at, but I've gone on too long already, and I know there was plenty that I missed as well. Anyone else who was there care to share their finds or thoughts?
By the way, just as a disclaimer, I dont work for ShopBot or Allstar adhesives, and no one paid me or even asked me to post this, so this is all just my opinions.
Anyway, it's good to be back in the game after a year and a half on the sidelines. If any one in the Atlanta area wants to see a new Alpha machine in action, drop me an e-mail.
Regards,
David B.