2011 Florida Camp Shopbot !

[billp]

We will be holding our annual Florida Camp Shopbot at a new location this year. The scheduled date is Saturday Feb. 5th, and our host will be Dave Rosenbleeth. Dave's address, and contact info follow;
Professional Millwork Inc.
1910 NW 29th St.
Oakland Park, Florida 33311
Ph: 954-717-8430
Fax: 954-717-8431
Mob: 561-400-0604
e-mail: DaveR@professionalmillwork.com
For those traveling to the Camp from other areas, the Ft. Lauderdale airport would be the best bet. As usual we'd ask that you contact either Dave, or myself ( campshopbot "at" gmail.com) to confirm your plans to attend. This will help us with planning, supplies, etc.

We’re in the process of working on some ideas for the 2011 Camp season, and once we work out a few details we’ll be in touch with other hosts to lock in the Winter/Spring schedule…..

[bleeth]

For any coming in from out of town the nearest motel is just a couple of blocks and is the Days Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport North (This refers to the Executive Airport a couple of miles away and not the Ft. Lauderdale International). Best booking rates are on-line with Days Inn at least 20 days in advance.
For RV'ers you are welcome to hook up at the shop. Pretty commercial (strip warehouses) but functional. There is also a small travel park a couple of blocks away but right now I don't know if they do short term. It is mostly older mobile homes that have been in place a long time.
If I get enough response I will see about setting up a Friday Users Group for the day before the camp. Let me know if you are interested and what topics you want to share/and or learn more about.
Look forward to seeing friends old and new.

Dave

[cip]

I'll be there on Sat.

Mike
Custom Interior Products

[kurt_rose]

I'm really going to try to make this one. I have a friend with a place in W. Palm and he's way over due for a visit. Mapquest says it's only a 50 mile trip.

[bleeth]

Mike-Look forward to seeing you "neighbor".
Kurt-It's only a long way from Palm Beach to Oakland Park if you have to commute it daily in rush hour! Hope you can make it.

Dave

[Gary Campbell]

:( Sniff.. I wish I can make it. I have tried not to miss these! :cool:

[bleeth]

Happy New Year to all.

It's now only 5 weeks to the camp and we'd really like to hear some thoughts on possible topics for a users group the day before if there is enough interest and schedule allowance on attendees part.
If Gary can make it I would love to have him do a link presentation (hint hint), performance tweaking your bot may be a good one for all, brainstorming product diversification/marketing for the new (otherwise known as the sh---y) economy, fun stuff you do on the side, whatever!

Dave

[bleeth]

Well, now that the Holiday Festivities are over we are starting to work out an agenda for the camp and I have it on good authority that Shop Bot people will be represented by not only the two Bills but Ted is planning on being here as well. This is a great chance to get your questions answered straight from the source.
I'll be going on a bit about how I use the Bot as a Cabinet production tool for casework, custom desks, and Corian tops and a good friend and fellow botter from New York is in town who specializes in signs and may be prevailed on for some good info on signmaking.
We are running low on time now and as the season opener for the camps this year I really want this one to reflect what the people who are coming want to see, learn, and share.
The "Show and Tell" is always informative and if what you want to show is too big to bring then we will be set up to project pictures from PC to screen.
Let me know what's on your mind so we can plan this for you.

Dave

[don62]

Dave,

my inputs are very basic - interested in seeing the upgrades to your prt - i still operate with the orig prt config and need convincing to pry open the wallet for upgrades. also part hold downs, spindles v routers. any discussion on aspire would be good too. looking forward to the sign making. if there is to be events on friday, would appreciate more info - right now planning on driving down and back from orlando on saturday - if friday also, will need to make plans and prep.

a big thanks to you for hosting and for Ted and the two Bills for coming down
don

[billp]

Don,
Thanks for the input. We'll make sure that we cover sign making, and I know of at least two full time sign people coming to this Camp so You/we can pick their brains heavily.
If any other attendees have an interest in using their machine to make/build something specific please contact us so we can try to set something up for you. The purpose of ALL Camps is to try and give you ideas that will add to your personal tool box...

[angus_hines]

@DaveR so you got Dirty Ernie's catering lunch for this or is drinks at Dirty Ernies afterwards ?

[bleeth]

Hey Angus: Ernies is a bit far for lunch but Deweys is only a few blocks.

[Bagan]

Hi Dave,

I enjoyed talking with you and am planning to come to the Florida event.

As I said i am in St Augustine.

Looking forward to meeting you

Dan Bagan
904-806-6967

[bleeth]

Great Dan-Look forward to having you join us.

[Bagan]

Dave,

Great to talk with you. Put me down for camp.

Dan Bagan
904-806-6967
Dan@bagan.me

[billp]

For those of you who would like to get away from the latest Winter onslaught we're offering a second day ( Friday Feb 4th) at the Florida Camp, during which Ted Hall will run an abbreviated version of the "official Shopbot training" which you would usually get in Durham, NC
“A Shortened Version of ShopBot’s Intro CNC Training”- 10:00 am to 3:00pm
- Training will use examples from ShopBot’s “Starter Projects” as run on a Desktop ShopBot
o Cutting your first project
o Understanding the Layout of your ShopBot (home and zeroing X,Y and Z axes)
o Intro to ShopBot PartWorks CAD/CAM Design software
o Part Files and Design/Model files (or, why it’s not quite “Click to Print”, yet…)
o Modifying/customizing one of the sample projects … and re-cutting it (with more details on zeroing/running the CNC)
o More design: how the project files would be created from scratch
o How the CNC tools works; and some thoughts tuning and maintenance
o … more advanced design or software issues depending on time and interests …
- If you have a laptop with ShopBot Partworks or V-CarvePro running, you may want to bring it along; but we will not orient the discussion to hands on duplication of each step of the instruction (too boring for those who do not bring computers)
All of the above will take place at Dave's shop, so this is a great chance for people who want to get a first look, OR a quick "review" of how the machines operate. If you can only make one day or the other that's fine, each day will cover separate material, but it's not necessary to attend both sessions.
Please contact either Dave, or myself to RSVP your seat(s). Thanks!

[bleeth]

For the Saturday session we have confirmed some great presentations.

Will Sampson, Editor for Cabinetmaking and FDM magazines will be doing a talk. He is highly knowledgeable as well as an entertaining speaker and as the one who handles the shop surveys he has a very good handle on the industry. He is very much a straight talker and we are very fortunate to have him coming.

My old friend and one of the most dynamic people in the industry I know, Jay Davis of Specialty Supplies will give a talk on Hardware trends. Jay not only is their top producer, but is a highly experienced cabinetmaker who still puts in many hours in the shop because he just can't stop.

Kit Hajczewski, who operates her own sign business in New York much of the year and has produced tons of gorgeous work on her Shop-bot with Artcam Software will do a presentation with a couple of sign samples that she has down here, where she spends much of the winter and contracts her services out to local sign companies.

I have been asked to go over my PRT upgrade program, which is still a work in progress. I will share a bit of the thought processes that went into the direction I decided to go and a few of the mis-steps and challenges along the way. It gave me a great appreciation for the development challenges that have faced Ted and all at Shop-bot over the years as they have so improved the tooling from the original PR to the so much more robust and commercially functional machine it is today.

There will be more on cabinet making, software, the Bot as a construction tool, and how to use your Bot for some fun things aside from day to day business.

Updates on the 100K garages program will be part of Bill Youngs talk.

For those of you who have never attended a camp before, they are typically a combination of pre-set agenda items and a free flow of subjects that can be unpredicatable and spontaneous but always entertaining and educational. Bring something for show and tell if you can. With so many different things being done with the Bots, what ever you do is bound to be new and interesting to someone else.

It's only a few weeks now so let Bill and/or I know, if you haven't already, if you plan on attending. If you are not sure until the last moment, don't worry about it though. All are always welcome.

And again, if there is something you wish to learn about or share, be sure to let us know so we can do our best to make it part of the day.

Dave

[don62]

Dave,

sounds great - are you planning an 8 or 9 am start time? thanks Don

[billp]

Don,
We try to start off all of the Camps with an 8-9AM "coffee/donut session".
The actual Saturday "agenda"starts about 9AM and runs until roughly 4PM ( depending on number of attendees, etc.) with a Shopbot sponsored lunch around mid day.
The Friday CNC training will have their coffee/donut session at 9AM, and the training runs from 10-3

[kurt_rose]

Well it looks like I'll be coming. The plan is to leave NJ early Wednesday and drive straight through to Orlando to pick up my Bot from Jorge. Then head to West Palm for the night. See you guys Friday morn.

[bleeth]

Sounds great Kurt.
I know the machine you are getting and it has been well cared for.

[bleeth]

Hey Folks:

It's only a couple of weeks away and our attendance reservations are really high. This should be an excellant camp.

I just got an e-mail from Ted and he tells me that the Desktop Bot he is bringing down for the camp is a brand new machine and some lucky person will have the opportunity to buy it here and save some money. It will include a new bit set and have the 1HP HSD spindle with VFD. The buyer will get to take it home with them after having received the training day, and since it is already here there will be no shipping costs. The bit set will also be included at no extra charge.

[billp]

Don't forget to bring something you have made on your Shopbot for the Show and Tell session! We always ask that you do a very short explanation of your project, and we've had some great results at prior Camps.....

[billp]

Many thanks to everyone who attended, and contributed to the Florida Camp.
We had a good turnout, and some interesting topics were covered. Ted, and Bill Young spent Friday going over some of the nuances of CNC design, and cutting, and they used a new Desktop machine for creating examples.
On Saturday our host Dave Rosenbleeth showed everyone his "highly upgraded/modified" machine.
Will Sampson spoke about "going green in your business"and was followed up by Jeff from Dixie Ply who covered the latest in "green" materials for cutting.
Kit H. then ave a good presentation on ways to make signs, including some tips and tricks.
The afternoon was spent covering questions from the "campers" about a variety of topics they were interested in, and the weather was in the upper 70's....!
I'll try to get the blog/pix posted sometime today...

[billp]

I've posted a quick Blog entry and some pictures here:
http://www.shopbotblog.com/index.php/2011/02/2011-oakland-pk-fl-camp-shopbot/

[bleeth]

It was a good camp and watching the desktop in action was very interesting. This is a really nice tight machine and for those who need a machine like that I believe it is a very good one.
On another note I received a package of sample bits from Toolco Inc who in the past has only sold through distributors. They also sent me their price list which I will be glad to send to those interested and their catalog can be seen on their website:

http://www.toolcobits.com/toolco-cat.pdf (http://www.toolcobits.com/toolco-cat.pdf)


These are all American made bits and they will now sell directly to Shopbotters with a minimum order of $100.00 (but he may well wave that upon request). Since according to James Braswell, their president, this is distributor pricing it could be a good opportunity. I do use their bits and have no gripe at all. For those into V bits one sample is a 3 flute V that looks like it would do a great job on lettering. To place an order drop James an e-mail: jamesb@toolcobits.com


Anyone who did not sign up on Bill's "User Group" sheet or couldn't make the camp (not the sign in sheet) but would like to participate in a South Florida Users Group with occasional brainstorming/idea/problem solving get-togethers let me or Bill P know directly through e-mail or PM.

Dave

[billp]

Sorry for the confusion, but it looks like the new Blog/picture page we're trying out has an "issue" with pictures at the moment, so we''ve taken it down and will try to install a plug in to allow everyone to see the pix and captions. I'll post a note when we think we've solved it...

[billp]

The page/link should both be operational now;
http://www.shopbotblog.com/index.php/2011/02/2011-oakland-pk-fl-camp-shopbot/