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Thread: Any schools using the Handi bot yet?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Cape Cod MA
    Posts
    75

    Default Any schools using the Handi bot yet?

    We've had our desktop for about a year and we're loving it! We can use a second machine and the principal is all for it. We're making signs, electric guitars, small jewelry boxes, ...pretty much anything our little brains can conjure up. (and my 61 year rookie bot programming brain can handle:-)

    So I saw the blurbs about the Handibot and pretty much dismissed it as too small to be used in our setting:THEN I saw the video where the handibot was cutting out 12' long stair risers and doing all sorts of cool stuff on bigger jobs.

    ...which got me to thinking: for the price of one desktop, we could get two handibots, and make dedicated jigs for some of the stuff we're using the shopbot for. a great example is that we make lots of bedside stands in the 14"x16" x 32" (roughly ) size and kids are enjoying vcarving designs and script into the tops of the bedside stands. It looks like we could make a dedicated jog specifically for this purpose, (as well as table tops, signs, small parts, etc.)

    that's the LONG winded way of asking the question: are any of you teacher types out there using the handibot, and what's your impressions?

    thanks

    Karl Hoyt

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    River Fall WI
    Posts
    796

    Default

    Get the desktop or go bigger.
    We make great big signs and cut full sheet good, as of now we are saving for a desktop top clear space on the big bot.
    Kyle Stapleton
    River Falls Renaissance Academy
    Math/Technology Education Teacher


    PRS Alpha 96x60 2.2 hp spindle, Double Air drills, 6" indexer, Fein 5 zone vac table
    Desktop w/spindle
    Potter Pen
    Aspire 8.5, Creo 3.0

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Dothan AL
    Posts
    57

    Cool

    I'm not teaching but I am a owner and if I was setting up a class with a $10k budget I'd seriously consider the handibot simply because with 10k I could get 3 handibots and some tooling or one desktop.
    Making jigs can be part of the syllabus.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Delray Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,708

    Default

    I guess it depends on what your actual goal is. Are you trying to teach your students what they can do with cnc machines and software and how it may apply to the genuine world of getting a job in industry that uses such machines or buy the most units for the least money?
    Handibot is a cool tool. IMHO though, no one is going to hire a recent grad because he knows how to use one. That may change down the road, but at this point for general business use in companies that use cnc equipment it is a non-starter.
    If one takes a class of average students you may have one or two inspired, motivated, and clever enough to figure out a way to make it work for their own startup business, but for most of your students learning how to use tools that are more generally used in the business world would be a greater benefit.
    A desktop is simply, for the sake of discussion regarding the business world, a mini cnc that uses the same software systems and operational mechanics of a larger machine. That is practical knowledge that may translate to helping your students get a job.
    As far as stair stringers go, a well trained carpenter with a framing square can layout and cut a set of stringers with a circular saw in half the time it takes to go through the cnc design and cutting system.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Hobby-Tronics, Chiloquin Oregon
    Posts
    1,356

    Default

    "A desktop is simply, for the sake of discussion regarding the business world, a mini cnc that uses the same software systems and operational mechanics of a larger machine. That is practical knowledge that may translate to helping your students get a job."

    FYI, the HandiBot ALSO is a mini cnc that use the same software (Vectric/SB3) and operational mechanics (X,Y,Z) of a larger machine. With Bill Youngs new jigs they are really quite powerful in what they can accomplish. It does require some 'thinking outside the box' though! If it was a schools budget decision between NO CNC's or a HandiBot or two, I think the answer is HandiBot(s). Russ
    AKA: Da Train Guy

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Dothan AL
    Posts
    57

    Thumbs up

    What Russ said.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    River Fall WI
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    796

    Default

    I could see it for a first cnc but not a seconded, unless all you want to do with it is carve on things student have all ready made.
    Kyle Stapleton
    River Falls Renaissance Academy
    Math/Technology Education Teacher


    PRS Alpha 96x60 2.2 hp spindle, Double Air drills, 6" indexer, Fein 5 zone vac table
    Desktop w/spindle
    Potter Pen
    Aspire 8.5, Creo 3.0

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Hobby-Tronics, Chiloquin Oregon
    Posts
    1,356

    Default

    "unless all you want to do with it is carve on things" The HandiBot is so much than a miniature CNC machine. I have seen it cutting out corbels out of 2x8's and popping them out pretty quickly. Yes it can do carvings but with the all of the really cool jigs and templates the folks are coming up with it is so much more. I think for a school that has a limited budget (don't they all) a HandiBot is a great intro into the world of computer controlled machines that produce useful products. It uses exactly the same software that a bigger Bot does. It accompishes the same sorts of tasks as the bigger machines. Lastly I think that another consideration could be the cost of maintenance and or repair, as it uses a regular router for its power source. Anyhow I have a regular Bot but have spent hours with the handiBot and if its a schools choice between NO CNC or a HandiBot, well then I think a HandiBot is a great alternative. Just my 2 cents worth. Russ

    AKA: Da Train Guy

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Dothan AL
    Posts
    57

    Smile

    It is always a shame when something is so new and innovative that people that should be able to see its usefulness can't.
    Through tilling the handibot can cut anything a full size ShopBot can and a lot of places it cannot. The limit is only in that tilling becomes tedious at at point.
    A lot of this can be eliminated by adjusting your paradigm. For instance, a good size table top you would cut out the basic shape on a table saw and then apply the handibot to places needing cnc cutting. The corners and where pockets for the legs will go.... I'm getting pretty good at it, need to get a little better then do an instructable on it. Also long straight lines get skipped and connected with a circular saw.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,010

    Default

    Game set and match to Russ!
    Buddy BT48 with 6' power stick
    2.2 HSD Spindle
    Aspire 9.5
    6" ShopBot Indexer

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