Thinking of jumping into CNC with a buddy...

[kevin]

You mention you want to do kitchens you need a 4 by 8 we can do 35 to 40 sheets a day
Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone .The only thing about trying to staying in the garage after you grow out of the garage .You attract a client that's looking for bargains
Guy mention they lift the sheet there heavy. I put the sheets in front of the bot and slide it on and use a table to slide off

In kitchens the bot pays for itself its that simple .

[Tom Bachman]

Not sure that I'm qualified to jump in here and give any advice, but that's never stopped me before.

I, too, am a high school teacher, near the end of my (teaching) career, who just jumped into the CNC arena. I was thinking we needed, at least, a 4 x 4 router. We ran across our BT32 used (Never been used) at a great price and the school board was willing to invest that amount of money.

I have been very surprised at the work the Buddy can do. It's size is generally large enough to do what we need it to do. After using the router for about 45 minutes, I was thinking that I need one of these at home, as I do custom woodworking to augment my meager salary. I am within a few years of retirement (from teaching) and, like you, I don't want to be handling big heavy sheets of materials. I truly believe that the Buddy would be a peerfect fit into your plan. The only suggestion I would make is to go ahead and buy the BT48, as it gives you the little bit larger capacity and with the powerstick can expand the size. This is what I am looking at for myself.

The software is easy to learn, we were up and cutting within 4 hours of wheeling the machine into the shop. Go ahead and download the trial version and watch the videos.

[donnie]

I want to position the material on spoil board say at x 6 inches y 6 inches.
Would i then do a move command to x-6 y-6 inches.
How would you zero that new position with the z axis.
Would you do a z2 command. and would that be the new starting position for that piece of material
Thank you! Donnie
New to CNC

[cowboy1296]

Everyone has their preference on how they zero and every method is good, it just a matter of what you get use to.

The c-3 command is a constant, which on my table is down at the bottom left. I position my work piece anywhere I want on the table and clamp it down. Some people will work from the bottom left of their work piece, but I choose the center of my work piece. Once I know that exact center of the work piece, I mark it with a pencil and then I do a c-3 command which will zero your x and y. I then position my laser beam (that's another story or you could use a v-bit) back over the center mark on my work piece. I then make a note of the x and y values. I then do a z2 command which zeros out the x and y back over the center of your work piece. This way if you have a power failure or a lost comm, you can go back to your c3 zero position, and then using your notes on the x and y location of the center of the work piece move back to the precise center of your work piece and do another z2.. Now some people do a z-zero on the surface of the table, I choose to do it on the top/surface of the work piece. Use you zero plate and do a c-2 command. The bit will move to the surface of the plate and this should give you the precise location of the surface of your work piece. Now that said in job set up as shown In the picture the zero has be set for the top of the work piece.

I hope all of that made sense. I just finished my cardio and my heart is jumping out of my chest. Have you ever seen a fat old man do cardio at 8700 feet elevation. Trust me when I say it is not a pretty picture, plus I don't stop jiggling for 20 minutes.

[Joe Porter]

Donnie, as Rick has said, we all have our ways. When I decide I want to make a part and use the ShopBot, I have to understand the size of my machine and choose my material accordingly. As you can see in Rick's screen shot of Aspire/V-Carve Pro, the first thing I have to enter is the aforementioned material size and this must be accurate. I usually make my material a little bigger in each direction to give me room for clamps, etc. I also have to decide from what corner (of the material) or the center to make my XY start point. I also have to decide whether the Z will start from the table top or top of material. From there I make the drawing and then the toolpath and do not alter these basic settings in the design software. When I go to the machine, I take that piece of material and lay in on my table bed where it will fit within the limits of my table and in the orientation that I had in my design software. The material must be parallel to both the X and Y axis, but can be any where I want it to be. After I secure the material, I use the (K)(from the Settings drop down list) key and get the key pad command up and move my router bit to the corner of the material (or center) that I chose in the design software. Then I use the Zero drop down list and Z2(X and Y). Then I use the Cuts drop down list and do a C2 with my zero plate and zero my Z axis, just like I said in the design software. With my XY and Z zeroed according to my design software, I load my sbp part file (toolpath) and go thru the check list and hit the "Go" button. I hope this may be of some help to you...joe