Rank Beginner Here

[Ron Sommers]

Ron,

Perhaps make a visit to Donek snowboards up the road a ways, quite a bit of Shopbot equipment up there I believe ...

https://www.donek.com/

That would be interesting. It's an hour and a half to the north from me.

Know anything closer to Colorado Springs?

[scottp55]

Ron,
Contact Shopbot Sales...There's a Demo program with people who have agreed to Demo their machines for people. Maybe somebody Demos closer to you?
Wish I had done it before starting from scratch...would have saved a LOT of anxiety and time!
scott

[Jerry Carney]

Ron,
Contact Shopbot Sales...There's a Demo program with people who have agreed to Demo their machines for people. Maybe somebody Demos closer to you?
Wish I had done it before starting from scratch...would have saved a LOT of anxiety and time!
scott

Hey, Scott very interesting info, Thanks Jerry

[scottp55]

It's not totally altruistic Jerry
IF your Demo results in a Shopbot sale(buyer HAS to mention the person who Demo'd), then you get a decent sized check from Shopbot depending on what machine they bought
I've Demo'd 6 times, and only got one check, BUT it was always a fun experience and info usually went both ways!
You HAVE to call Sales to put your name on the Demo list to get referrals to contact you though.
I HOPE the program is still in effect! Been 2 years since an official referral(but 4 people visited anyways
scott

[Ron Sommers]

I perused the VCarvePro videos.

Seems like these are cookie cutter designs. Must be a site that hosts all kinds of premade designs out there?

Do any of them have archtop guitar plates?

What is that you ask? Well, I'm interested in making an archtop guitar.


I've made one by hand already and it's a lot of work drilling to thickness, gouging, and scraping. The idea is to let the cnc hog out everything that doesn't look like a guitar top and then do the final touches by hand.



Here is a video of someone doing it with a cnc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WatC-mihuoA

[JimDav]

I doubt you will find very many CNC people using much pre-designed stuff. We all use the Bot in our own ways. Yes, the tutorials may seem to start with a premade design to show various tasks rather than taking the time to create one (since the audience will usually be beyond that first step).

When I bought my used machine and set it up, I could not figure out how to create a simple circle (and I have a computer programming background.) Per our purchase agreement , the cabinet maker from which I bought it sat down with me for an hour to make a circle and gave me a few tips. He came by only twice. Great guy. Knows so much but I haven't needed to call him since. I was off and running. There is MUCH I don't know but know what I need (usually.) You learn the basics - circles, squares, arcs, nodes, etc. and extrapolate all that to create the shapes that you want. It used to take me several hours to create what I needed - even a simple one - and more trials at cutting than I care to think about. Now I can do it fairly quickly and, usually, with only one or two test runs to tweak it. VCarve is rather easy to use and, within its limits, can do just about anything you can image. More complex stuff such as carvings my require Aspire (which I do not have.)

If you found a design online, I suspect it would be just a DXF file or something similar with the various line drawings required. You would need to take that and create the required tool paths It would NOT be here's a file, download it and execute like on a PC/Mac software.

A CNC machine is only a tool like a table saw, screw driver, or band saw. Got to start with the basics and grow. I suspect doing something like an arched top guitar is probably not the best project for your first attempt, or second, or third.

Good luck. Once you get over the initial hump it is fun. Not saying there won't be frustrating times.

[Tom Bachman]

Ron, I’m about 3 hours from CS in SW Kansas. I don’t have a new Shopbot, but a PRT machine 9648 that is about 17 years old, but you are more than welcome to come to my shop and see what it is all about.

[bleeth]

On the specific subject of guitars, I don't know of "ready to go" designs but with Aspire or Artcam Pro you can design or develop your own.
It's a fun job. Several years back there was a guy who did an Aspire "how to" video series on the body but he never finished the neck part as far as I know.

[Jerry Carney]

It's not totally altruistic Jerry
IF your Demo results in a Shopbot sale(buyer HAS to mention the person who Demo'd), then you get a decent sized check from Shopbot depending on what machine they bought
I've Demo'd 6 times, and only got one check, BUT it was always a fun experience and info usually went both ways!
You HAVE to call Sales to put your name on the Demo list to get referrals to contact you though.
I HOPE the program is still in effect! Been 2 years since an official referral(but 4 people visited anyways
scott

I think all Shopbot owners are proud of what they know, even if you are a newbie like me, and would be willing to show their machine.

[Ron Sommers]

Tom,
Thanks for the invite. I'll keep it in mind.