Learning Curve

[dimworks@juno.com]

I am just begining to research the shopbot. I am a business owner designing and building displays, props and models. I'm wondering if any of you have any insight on the set up process and what kind of learning curve is involved with the software and the unit itself. I'm already using corel draw and a little bit of turbo cad. Thanks

[SaintJohnBosco@yahoo.com]

Craig, If you already have a handle on turbo cad and corel draw then you have most of the learning curve down. The only addtional thing would be adjusting your drawings for the diameter of the cutter. You have to trace around your drawings with a double line 1/2 the cutting diameter apart.
Then explode the double line, select the cutting line and save this for converting into sbp files via the dxf converter.
Cutting order can be acomplished in turbocad with the "to front" and "to back" command. By selecting lines in your desired cut order and sending them to the back of the stack and repeating until you've gone through all the lines. If cutting direction is important to you, then make sure you trace the drawings with the double line in the correct direction for the cut. (Counter clockwise for outside cuts and clockwise for inside cuts.) Also when using the double line don't close the lines with the local menu, just select finish. When you close the lines it changes the direction of the cut.
Then of course give your self a few days to set things up. More if your building your own table.
If your doing basic cutting then you can be up and cutting fairly quickly. If your trying to cut tiny parts and do engraving on those on both sides well give yourself a lot more time. Of course all this also depends alot on how handy you are. If you have some common sense than things can go pretty quick. If you need to be scrupulously acurate then you'll want to add some switches to rezero the machine periodically.

[seaside@esva.net]

Craig,

I'm not sure I can add too much to what David's already said. You've got a good start; you're familiar with basic computer operations (working with files, running programs), and also have some experiece with graphics and CAD programs. The ShopBot software itself is easy to use, and you don't have to work with it for too long before you become comfortable with it.

David's instructions for working with TurboCAD will give you a good start in creating your cutting files. If you try to visualize what the tool is going to have to do to cut out your part, you'll pretty quickly learn to draw with that toolpath in mind.

He's right again on setup; it somewhat depends on what you want to do with the tool. No matter what you're planning on doing with it, you'll need to spend some time making sure that all the rails are parallel and square to each other and that the carriages are rolling freely, but the more intricate the work you're planning on doing, the fussier you have to be. It's a lot like buying a table saw; you can take it out of the box and have it cutting pretty quickly, but if you want to do more precise work you have to take a little more time to get it "just right"

Hope this helps,

Bill Young