What doesn't work with ShopBot

[ron_cleaver]

I'd like to start a discussion about what you have tried with the ShopBot and found doesn't work for whatever reason - not fast enough, easier to do another way, etc.

I got the idea for this because I've been thinking about whether it's a good idea to do edge routing (e.g., roundover, bevel) with the ShopBot. I think it could be done, but I wonder how easy it would be to set up for, say, dimensional lumber. It might be easier just to use a hand-held router and an appropriate bit with a bearing.

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Ron,

Where do you find straight "dimensional" lumber? The material I have seen for as long as I can remember is neither straight nor truly dimensional.


Ron Brown - rgbrown@itexas.net (mailto:rgbrown@itexas.net)

If Stupidity got us into this mess,
then why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers

[bruce_clark]

Ron B.,

A'men brother!

Yes, don't fall into the trap that the Shopbot is the ONLY way to do things. Sometimes (heck, a lot of the time) it is MUCH quicker to do things by hand. Beveling, chamfering, rounding over is 99% of the time faster to do with a hand router than it is to try to program the Shopbot, figure out where to put the clamps ect. Chuck up a bearing bit in a hand router and be done with it.

Again, there are always exceptions, but 99% of the time, doing simple things like this, the hand router is faster.

Bruce Clark

[gerald_d]

The futures of table saws, radial arm saws and thicknessers are not threatened by Shopbots.

But the bandsaws and jigsaws are warned to start cleaning up their act. . . . .

[ron_cleaver]

Ron B,

I make my own dimensional lumber when I need it and the results are very good. I was thinking of production work for roundover or chamfer, probably using a jig. I'm curious if anyone has tried this and what the results were.

I'm not advocating using the ShopBot for everything. But I use it for cutting plywood sheets because I don't have a panel saw. And to me it's much better and more precise than using a circular saw (but not faster).

So back to the original subject - what doesn't work well with the ShopBot?

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

CNC woodworking machines are best suited for work that is difficult to do by hand methods, repetitive or requires the accuracy. Other things the CAD/CAM methods excel at are pattern saving and making patterns for repetitive work.

Short runs of custom molding such as duplicating old molding in historic homes can be economically reproduced. When the amount needed becomes a large number, the economic advantage leaves but the speed of delivery a ShopBot owner can supply can be an advantage.

Many trades have tools customized for that craft. It would be foolish to think a ShopBot could compete with a panel saw or cut framing lumber. I can see where a difficult multi transition roof might be done more efficiently with a ShopBot than a normal framer and a skill saw. BUT, it would be the skill - or lack of skill of the saw man, competing with the CAD/CAM operator and the accuracy of CNC. In the same scenario I can see a skilled and knowledgeable saw man being superior due to adaptability on a project.

CAD/CAM work is limited by the tool and the imagination. One's imagination is normally a more limiting factor than the tool. Many 'traditional' methods could be changed for more efficient use of time and material with the proper use of CAD/CAM. Many won't change due to the fact it is change and the "Why fix what ain't broke?" attitude one gets when the methods the craft or industry has supplied an income for decade and the new method is unproven.

Ron Brown - rgbrown@itexas.net (mailto:rgbrown@itexas.net)

If Stupidity got us into this mess,
then why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers