Not Sure What To Buy after IWF

[Ken Sully]

I just got back from the IWF with the intent to purchase my first CNC.
Looked at Shopbot,Legacy and Laguna. After talking to all of the manufactures the first question is what do you want to do with it? Best answer not sure I am retired and have a shop with all of the basics and enjoy working with wood.
I have made everything from kitchen cabinets to tables and lots of small stuff.
Legacy offers what they call a 5th axis for turning which looks interesting but their support appears to be lacking. I joined this forum hoping it would be a big help for someone with no CNC experience. The unit I have been looking at is 18 x56 which would fit my shop and I think it would do what I need (what ever that might be) Any suggestions would be a great help. I live in Eastern Iowa along the Mississippi and would love to visit someone using a unit.

[Brady Watson]

I didn't know what I was going to do with the tool either when I 1st got into it. Now I do it ALL. Call ShopBot and ask who in your area is setup to do a demo for you.

-B

[rcnewcomb]

axis for turning which looks interesting
Have you looked at what you can do with an indexer?
http://humblesticks.com/uploads/2/8/7/2/2872212/3606326.jpghttp://www.vectric.com/forum/download/file.php?id=16444&t=1http://www.vectric.com/forum/download/file.php?id=27767&t=1
http://www.222artisans.com/Rotary/images/Flutedcolumns_wood_cl8d.jpg
Here is a tutorial about how to use an indexer with Vectric software: ->Link (http://humblesticks.com/cnc-rotary-tutorial.html)

[crash5050]

I think the indexer will be purchased before the alpha and spindle upgrades. It is cool, and you can make quite a business in replicating antique parts for your antique dealers. With my little home built 2x4 I have done several jobs where an antique piece was missing a panel with intricate designs.

Of course, they were for friend and I did not get paid :( but one day, one day. Bessie will start paying off.

David

[myxpykalix]

Kenneth,
I have had experience with both the Legacy and the Shopbot. The first thing you need to do is go to the legacy forum:
http://legacycncforum.com/ they have maybe 500 posts since they started it. We get that in a week or two.

I started with a manual legacy ornamental mill, bought all the attachments, was a good customer but their tech support SUCKS!:mad:

They are a horrible company to do business with. They don't support you AT ALL and I don't think their product is as good as a Shopbot by a long stretch. They just got into CNC in the last 3-4 years and Shopbot has been doing this a long time.

After having dealt with Legacy for years and been unhappy it was like a breath of fresh air to have all these friendly people at Shopbot to help you and didn't act like they were doing you a favor, or acting like you are bothering them with your problems like i got with Legacy.

Now on top of that you get this very active forum with tons of "EXPERTS":rolleyes: who are willing to share their knowledge. If we didn't like the machine or had problems with it 1)people would be pissing and moaning here all the time and 2)wouldn't be willing to help. It's because we have a good machine, good support and a good forum.

Call Shopbot and ask for someone on their demo list to go visit or put a post in the "Looking for shopbotter" to see if their is someone close to you.

Whatever you do DON'T BUY A LEGACY:eek:

[mark_stief]

Kenneth
I'm in n.w. Iowa if you want to come look and see one in action

[gene]

Kenneth,
I was in your shoes years ago . i had no experience with cnc and the support from this forum is the reason i purchased a shopbot. I have purchased hundreds of items if not thousands and the support i recieved from Scott, Ryan and all the gang at shopbot has never been equaled by anyone else. When i first bought mine i had Scott on speed dial. He never did anything to make me feel like i was a bother for calling so much and he did all he could possibly do to help me resolve my issues. This means the world when you are new and learning . I have NO regrets for my purchase.

[Ken Sully]

Thanks to all for the responses. This helps me a lot!
I am going to Cedar Rapids to visit a user and "maybe" get a little smarter.
As a side note I have had a call into Legacy now for 2 days with no call back.
Maybe a message?

[gene]

Get used to that . I have a legacy ornimental lathe that came with instructions but no support . They may call you back when they feel like it if they feel like it .

[myxpykalix]

Kenneth, let me put it to you this way...if you buy a Legacy we will come up to where you live and kick your BUTT!:D You will be BANNED from this forum, and when you have a problem we'll just tell you like my granddaughter says: "Too bad, So Sad!":eek:
Just kidding, but you won't regret getting a Shopbot....:)

[kubotaman]

Kenneth, I have had both machines including their Legacy's CNC machine. As far as support my answer is "What support!". I am still waiting after 5 years. Don't feel bad after just two day's. Needless to say I got rid of my Legacy and bought my Shopbot. I have never looked back and never will. Support is great including getting return calls on Sunday's! Spend your money on a Shopbot and you won't be let down!!

[Ken Sully]

Kenneth, let me put it to you this way...if you buy a Legacy we will come up to where you live and kick your BUTT!:D You will be BANNED from this forum, and when you have a problem we'll just tell you like my granddaughter says: "Too bad, So Sad!":eek:
Just kidding, but you won't regret getting a Shopbot....:)

Jack,
It's now 3 days on Legcy with out a call back and it's bye bye to them. Visited a shop bot in Cedar Rapids today and getting smarter. Now which one to buy maybe PRS 48 X 48 with the spindle and purchasing a indexer in the future. All it takes is $$.
And not getting kicked in the pants!!

[rcnewcomb]

If your shop has room go for the 48x96.

I had a 48x48 for years and it would have been much handier to to cut full sheets of material on the bot. It always hurt when we'd have to pass on jobs because we couldn't do full sheets.

[myxpykalix]

Kenneth,
Let me relate my way of thinking...when i bought mine i bought the biggest one 120x60(?) along with an indexer because I wanted to be able to mount my indexer in the X axis and not have to move it to lay a sheet of plywood down to cut. At the time i spent around 15K including having a custom table made.
I don't know what the prices are now. My reasoning was that there won't be anything i can't cut if needed. I will tell you that probably 75% of what i've done could have been done on a smaller table but there have been occassions where i could not have done the job without having the bigger table.

Keep in mind...you can always cut small stuff on a big table, but can not cut big stuff on a small table.:rolleyes::eek:

[bobmoore]

There is an upper midwest shopbot camp coming up in Mercer WI at the end of Sept. I am sure Dave can fit you in if you get on the camp section of the forum. We are having a cookout Fri PM and an all day learning camp Sat 9-30. Hope to see you there.
Bob

[myxpykalix]

Kenneth,
If it was me, if you had to pick between a spindle or an indexer i'd go with the indexer. A spindle is quieter but if you have a dust collector that is louder then the router so if your motivation is to have it quiet, you kind of defeat the purpose.

The indexer on the other hand opens up a whole other avenue of creativity. Go back to the picture Randall posted earlier and the hollow spiral on the left side is something i made on my indexer and is one of the main reasons i wanted a shopbot in the first place.:D

[dhunt]

Input from a small Caribbean island, kinda far from any real civilization.. ;)


Having messed with this-here PRT-96 for 11.5 yrs
and needed SB Support now and then
you'd be doing yourself a distinct dis-service to buy anything other than a ShopBot!

Hate to think just how up-the-creek we would have been on several occasions
if we'd had a Legacy or Whatever.. :cool:
.

[Ken Sully]

There is an upper midwest shopbot camp coming up in Mercer WI at the end of Sept. I am sure Dave can fit you in if you get on the camp section of the forum. We are having a cookout Fri PM and an all day learning camp Sat 9-30. Hope to see you there.
Bob

Bob
I would love to attend that!
Could you provide me any more information?
Ken

[zeykr]

Mercer Camp Shopbot:


http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15330

[fsrdoug]

I was retired and didn't knowwhat I wanted yo do so I got a legacy wood mill and have had a great time with it. But then I got my bot and that was almost the end of the Woodmill. I am now in the process of hot roddin the bot and when I am finished I will have the left overs that I will use on the Legacy to make a Shopbot CNCed woodmill. From what I've seen of Legacy save your money and go with ShopBot and if you still want to turn on a 5th axis buitd your own on the bot. It's cheaper and faster and a lot more fun.

Doug

[shilala]

Ken, I shopped them all this past Fall/Winter and ended up buying Shopbot this Spring.
I'm just retired to my shop and same as you, I don't really know what I want to do. When people ask me what I do with "that machine", I tell them "whatever I want". :)
I stayed away from the spindle because I don't need the speed, and I don't want to lay out a fortune for a spindle when it breaks. The way my luck goes, it'd be very soon.
I ended up getting a Buddy, only because I really hadn't become familiar with an indexer or what it could do. I had limited space, as well. It'd be nice to have the indexer option available, and it'd be extra nice to have a machine that would accept a simple vacuum holddown setup.
I can also vouch for shopbot being the King of Support. Not to mention the guys here.
If you really, really do your homework, Shopbot is the hands down, obvious choice. If you want to save time, just set your mind to going with Shopbot right now.
Once you've done that, you can figure out what will fit in your shop, and how versatile you want to be. That's the easy part that I kinda screwed up. I'm happy, but I may have made different choices had I been a bit more informed.

[bobmoore]

Ken; Did you find the camp shopbot section of the forum. Upper midwest camp in Mercer WI. Call shopbot and I am sure Nancy will help you get in touch with Bill P. or Dave M.
Bob

[billp]

Ken's already signed up for the Camp. We've got a pretty good turnout so far, and it's still a month away...

[Ken Sully]

To all of the Botter's
I have signed up to camp and am excited to attend. Can't begin to thank all who have responded to my post for help.
Sooo, heigh- ho, heigh- ho it's off to camp I go.

Ken

[jsmth]

4x8 ShopBot. vintage 1998 cable drive (recent cables), 4th channel, spare Z. wooden bolt holddown system drilled & tapped into mdf table. willing to train novices to create your own projects & save years of learning curve. great starter package. $3,510. hour west of Chicago. bring a car trailer. call for: info/demo/to see/buy: (630)365-9488. bring your project.

[myxpykalix]

Jeff you'd be better off posting this in:
For Sale/Wanted - ShopBot-related items only:)