High School classroom

Hi all,

I am a teacher at Dover Sherborn High School in Massachusetts and this past spring I wrote and to my surprise recieve a grant to get a 4x8 ShopBot. I have taken local training of approximately 5 hours of the ins and outs of basic use, and just finished assembling the machine. I am waiting for the electrician to wire me up and we should be good to go. As I am very green to the world of CNC (only used a carvewright) and the software I am looking for any advice you might be wiling to give. I am reading through the forum and am watching as many youtube videos as possible. If you know of a site for design ideas or anything else that might be helpful for me and my students this Fall, please feel free to share. I am very excited to use the machine in my engineer class and also in my woodworking class.

Thanks so much
Nick

Hey Nick,

Welcome to the forum and the world of ShopBotting!

Check out all the training videos from Vectric and ShopBot. Along with this forum, be sure to spend some time on the Vectric forum as well. If you get a chance to attend one of the CNC Seminars, while not machine specific, it is a good resource. See if there's a user in your area that would be willing to spend a few hours or a day with you to help you get going. If all else fails, I could really use a vacation! ;)

Dear Nick

Again welcome to the forum and good luck with your new shopbot, I remember the feeling well, very exciting (and nervous). Remember if in doubt make use of 'Preview Mode'.

As for design ideas one job I used to do with my 1st year joiners is a 'nailbox' you might refer to it as a caddy.

Attachment 30566

The attached file
NailboxCRV.ZIP - Zip containing Partworks Version 3.5 file
Nailbox.DXF - You can use this for rescaling the drawing
Nailbox.SKP - SketchUp V6
Nail_Box_3d_View.GIF
Nailbox.JPG

I used to get one of the more 'advanced' students to check the exact thickness of our 9mm birch plywood then resize the DXF in SketchUp before returning it to Partwork (Vcarve Shopbot Edition) for dog bones and toolpaths and tabs.

I had to delete the toolpath list in the CRV file to reduce the file size but the cutters used are;

3.4mm Router cutter to create a pocket (groove) for take the 4½mm MDF bottom.
5mm Round over bit to form the hand grip. Fluting toolpath with ramp at start and end.
90Degee Vee bit to vCarve the name. Personalise this for each student.
5mm Router cutter for the pockets and profile cuts.

We have a vacuum bed, but we still used to put masking tape around the outside edges to stop it moving.

Anyway it is there if you want to use it.

Sincerely and in good faith
Martin Reid

PS If you are interested you could eMail me I could send you the complete Nailbox.CRV with the toolpath information

I had what I referred to my mentor who helped me tremendously through email since there were no schools in my area. To me this is not something that you live and play with on occasion. To learn it you have to live and breath it daily. I cant tell you how many times while trying to go to sleep that an idea would pop in my head about how i was doing things wrong. I would and still do practice designing pieces that i have no intentions of cutting and still do just for the experiance. I watched videos in the beginning and even today go back and re-watch them and things make more and more sense. Any how welcome aboard. Which design software did you get with your package? What type of projects do you intend on teaching in your class?

Dear Nick

(This may turn out to be a duplicate post)

Again welcome to the forum and good luck with your new shopbot, I remember the feeling well, excited and nervous at the same time. Remember if in doubt use the Preview Mode.

As for design ideas. One project I did with my 1st year students was a nailbox (you might call it a caddy) out of 9mm Birch Ply.

In order to keep the joints tight, I would get one of the more advanced students to measure the exact thickness of the 9mm birch plywood and then using SketchUp resize the DXF to match.

The attachments
NailBoxCRV.zip - contains a Partworks 3.5 file
NailBoxSKP.zip - SketchUp V6 File
NailBox.DXF
PartworksScreenDump.PNG - shows the toolpaths
NailBox.JPG

The handle is in two 9mm pieces glued after machining to make 18mm

The CRV file is for Partworks 3.5 (vCarve Pro Shopbot edition). I had to remove the toolpaths to reduce the file size for posting, but the cutters used were;

3.4mm router cutter cuts the (pocket) groove for the 4.5mm thick MDF Bottom.
5mm roundover bit for the roundover handle grip - fluting toolpath with lead in and lead out.
Vee Cutter for vCarving the name - personalise this for each student
5mm router cutter cuts the pockets & profiles for the Handholes. housings, mortices, CutOuts.

We put tabs on all the pieces and although we have a vacuum bed we still use masking tape around the edges to stop the board moving.

Anyway it is there for you if you want it.

Yours sincerely and in good faith
Martin Reid

PS if you are interested you could email me and I'll send you the complete CRV file with all the toolpathing included.

Have you called and talked to shopbot? They used to have some lesson plans and other resources available for teachers. May still be on their site someplace - have not looked recently.

Dear Nick

I have tried a couple of times to reply to your request for project ideas for your students but something I've posted must have upset a moderator as replies are not getting published.

Anyway I'll try again without attaching any files.

One of the projects I used with my 1st year joiners was a 'personalised' nail box - you might call it a 'caddy'.

Attachment 30576

It is made out of 9mm Birch plywood, you can get more advanced students to modify the DXF to the exact thickness of the ply, create dog bones, create toolpaths (pocket and profile and VCarve) generate Tabs etc. Less advanced students can just change their name generate the vCarve toolpath and run the part files.

Anyway if you are interested please drop me an email and I'll send you the files that cannot be posted here.

Yours sincerely and in good faith
Martin Reid

ShopBot has a list of projects and also Vectric. Some of the Vectric projects may be specific to the model and version of their software, but maybe they will work for you...joe

Nick, when I was still teaching, I too, got my bot a little unexpectedly. Once I had the machine in place I spent quite a few hours with the design software (V-Carve) just learning how to use it. My suggestion is that you get yourself pretty well acquainted with the software before you get too carried away trying to get the kids on it. Because, I can guarantee that, they will come up with things that will frustrate you and make you look "dumb". I was lucky enough to have had a student that had built his own bot and had purchased V-Carve, but, at that time, didn't have much more experience with it than I (which was 0). But together we figured things out...heck I'm still figuring things out, as are most of the guys here. I'm assuming (we know what that does :) ) that you are a Woodworking and maybe Drafting teacher. If you have experience with a CAD program, then using V-Carve will be a easy learning curve.

Now that I am retired (starting my third year) I still get calls from the current teacher asking for help doing certain things. He said, yesterday, as I was there helping him design something, "Man you know a lot more about the designing software than I do." That's because I spent a lot of time with it the first six months, watching videos on Vetrix site, joining forums (here and vetrix) and just cutting a lot of scraps of wood (and some other materials). Dive in and experience.

You learn something just about every time you use it...

I learned just a few months ago that even a bad bicycle helmet makes the corners of the Bot quite a bit softer...

The best way to see what you will be cutting in Vectric is to turn off all the line-work layers and then turn on the toolpath layers one at a time...