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woodguy60
02-12-2006, 04:13 PM
i am about to purchase a shopbot I am realy no good at cad so i think the best way for me to go is to find someone to do that part of the job for me. and i can just stick to running the equipment is there anyone out there into this? lets chat
woodguy

pete
02-12-2006, 08:43 PM
Woodguy
The ShopBot comes with a rudimentary CAD program - Part Wizard II - that you could learn fairly quickly I think. It is a pretty good product actually. You will need to learn PW to make the full use of your machine and for efficiency. You don't want to go back to your designer every time there is a little tweak to make on your project. Download the PW demo and work with it for awhile as you wait for your machine to arrive. Just my two cents.
Pete

billp
02-12-2006, 09:45 PM
Woodguy,
Along with your copy of Part Wizard 2 you will be getting a 4.5 hour video that will coach you through the use of the program. Don't try to learn the entire program in one session. Break it up into small projects, and work on individual segments until you are comfortable.
Contracting out your CAD work in the early stages is not a bad idea, but you will soon get to the point where you want to make a design change in a hurry, and you'll need some understanding of the program to do so...
By the way, many of us never used CAD before owning our Shopbot...

wemme
02-13-2006, 04:49 PM
I'm not sure about in the US but here you can go to night classes at the polytechnic to learn cad etc.
It's Cheap and doesn't effect your working day time.

jsfrost
02-14-2006, 08:44 AM
Woodguy,
Once Shopbot has your payment in hand, you might ask them to send PW2 and the video in advance of your machine. When I asked for this, it was not a problem. The demo works as well as the final program, but having the ability to save your work is a big bonus. And the video may help also. (I'm too cheap to buy the video, so I can't be sure.)

drodda
02-15-2006, 12:15 AM
I am pretty sure that Shopbot ships your software in advance of the machine as a common practice these days. I had mine well before I received my machine. I even had an upgrade loaded before I ever touched my bot.

phil_o
02-15-2006, 03:50 PM
Unless you have some very specific requirements I think you'll find that PW will handle most of the CAD you'll have to do. The instructional video will go a long way in getting you up to speed with using PW.
You should also look at V-Carve Wizard to expand you CNC capabilities.