Bessie the Blue Bot Lives

[crash5050]

Gratitude and appreciation go out to Dana and his lovley wife Bev. We had a few minor issues to work through, but at the end of the day, the bot was responding as expected and has thus been saved.

Dana and Bev are wonderful folks, I just hope I can repay someone else with my knowledge that I obtain from them some day.

David

Also Want to express my gratitute to those who have endured my endless yammering and whinining on here.

[jerry_stanek]

I'm glad that you got it up and running. Now is when the fun starts. I know your frustration as I have had some problems along the way. With all the small problems that you encountered you now have a grasp on helping others that will ask for help. The best way to show your gratitude is help someone else when they have a similar problem. Enjoy playing with your new toy.

[kurt_rose]

Way to go Dana!!!! Glad to hear your up and running David. A good mentor really shortens the learning curve!!! Right Brady?:D

[Ajcoholic]

MAke sure and disconnect the explosives :D

Congrats on getting the machine up and running.:)

AJC

[Brady Watson]

Yes - glad it all worked out. CNC looks easy. That isn't always the case - and some of us need to learn to be patient with ourselves while we learn. Before you know it, things will become second nature.

-B

[gc3]

...so what were the problems?

[curtiss]

Congrats, you are now set to move on to the next steps... which are not written up. They may include...

Using the wrong bit, using correct bit with the wrong toolpath, hold down failure, forgetting to tighten the bit in the collet, stating program without starting router, workpiece mounted 90 degrees the wrong way. being one decimal point off on the z....:)

forgetting to z-zero after a bit change...

[gerryv]

Wow, isn't it impressive how Curtis can think of all those things even without ever, ever having done any of them himself... :rolleyes:

[MogulTx]

Kudos to Dana. Awfully nice of you to step up and help! Shows what a fine character you have... my hat is off to you, sir.

Congrats to David. It is good of you not to quit on yourself! Sometimes it gets tempting when venturing into something bewilderingly new and foreign to us!

I hope you make less mistakes than I have made. MANY less!

MGM

[kurt_rose]

Congrats, you are now set to move on to the next steps... which are not written up. They may include...

Using the wrong bit, using correct bit with the wrong toolpath, hold down failure, forgetting to tighten the bit in the collet, stating program without starting router, workpiece mounted 90 degrees the wrong way. being one decimal point off on the z....:)

forgetting to z-zero after a bit change...

I resemble those remarks and quite a few more!!!!!:cool:

[gene]

owning a shopbot is like playing golf, when you hit one good shot life is great , when you dont you get out the shape charges:rolleyes:

[crash5050]

Ok, the det cord and C-4 have been removed to a safe locatation for use at a later date.

Dana is the best guys, he showed me things in Aspire that I never would have thought to do, he even set the shopbot up so that it would cut and countersink the bolts to hold down the birch table bed. The bot ran great.

Now I just gotta remember to take that little alligator clip off before I hit OK.

There is someone else out there that I must thank too, but I can't mention a name. You know who you are, a big Thank You!!

David

[myxpykalix]

Now I just gotta remember to take that little alligator clip off before I hit OK.
They put a popup reminder in the software so if you do screw it up be prepared for a lot of grief from us!:eek:
We want to see your first project to come off the bot. Make sure to taake a picture and then in a year see how far you've come......good luck!:D

[crash5050]

My 1st project will be a venecian grape clock for my wife. One of Michael Tylers ready made projects. My lovley bride wants one. Give me a week to glue and cut the plenum and figure out how to set up the vacume.

Gary Expect a call from me tomorrow.

David

[rcnewcomb]

Now I just gotta remember to take that little alligator clip off before I hit OK.
That was one of my favorites. I'd remember to put the plate back but I'd forget about the alligator clip. :eek:

[myxpykalix]

To be honest, I have never clipped my alligator clip to the bit. When i got my bot they didn't have the popup warning in the program and i would read about others who had to send their plate in for repairs so in an effort not to replicate their mistakes i have always clipped it to the nut on one of the Z axis roller bearings and in 6 years i've never had a problem.

I don't advise anyone else to do that, especially now that you have that warning on the screen and if you leave it on then, you really are a boob!:D

A good practice might be to make yourself a written checklist of things to do before starting a file like

Do a C3 find 0,0
Do a C2 after moving to your starting point
Z Zero
remove plate and clip
stick tongue to spinnig bit to make sure it is going in the proper rotation :eek:(just kidding with that one to see if you are paying attention)
ect ,ect

I started out writing my steps down, then i went to a mental checklist, now it's almost automatic and second nature.:)

[jerry_stanek]

Now I just gotta remember to take that little alligator clip off before I hit OK.
They put a popup reminder in the software so if you do screw it up be prepared for a lot of grief from us!:eek:
We want to see your first project to come off the bot. Make sure to taake a picture and then in a year see how far you've come......good luck!:D


Yeah the do put that there but you have to read it . I get going so fast that I just start without pay it any mind.. Though I haven't left it on yet knock on wood.

[MogulTx]

I have left it on. Just recently. It is embarrassing.

I was doing a lot of reconfiguring on my machine while working a special project for a sign- with a series of bit changes... and forgot where I was in the process. OOOOPS.

I hated buying that alligator clip- but I wanted to pay to get an original so that it would remind me every time I used it to be sure to store it again and not go through the ordering process again.

One thing: For most everything I did during the week that the clip was MIA, I was able to zero by eye. Of COURSE it took me 6-8 trips from bit to keyboard to get it right- but what the heck! (More reinforcement not to make errors!)

[dana_swift]

Back home- and a delightful weekend!

It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, go lend a hand. Bev and I both enjoyed the trip and made friends in the process.

The biggest lesson for shopbotters is to look for new people in your area and offer to come by then they are setting up their machine. We have been through it all before, know what to expect, and when things need correction, the new owner is just overwhelmed.

Likewise to those who just got a machine- post a note and ask if there is someone in your area. While the manuals are as good as they have been able to make them, there is nothing like a little reassurance. A shopbot is a big outlay for any of us. And the fear of messing it up, or anything going wrong at the very beginning makes us question our decision.

And to those of us who have attempted to help others through the forum, my suggestion is to not respond when we first read a post. Think about it a while. Clarity really matters to someone who is drowning in the details. Give a while to simmer, then post. I have replied too quickly, and am the first to realize after I hit "Submit reply" that I was off the original question, when the person I am trying to help cant tell the difference.

As to the Bot- it was assembled per book. Nothing was really "wrong", yet there was a lot of setup details that needed tweaking. Hard limits, prox bolt locations, table squareness, grounding, control computer setup, and just being unfamiliar with all the alphabet soup commands.

One of the prox switches was malfunctioning, which just guaranteed that the confusion wouldn't go away.

David's 48x96 standard is really smooth! Quieter than other standards I have experienced. It "sings" like it should when things are moving.

We had it up and making reliable test cuts within a couple hours of my arrival, and before I left it cut its first full sheet, flawlessly, in spite of being sent into the one good prox switch (my bad!) during the cut. It worked just like it should.

More setup to do, I regret not having another day or so, there was more setup to do. It would have been nice to have been able to get the table built and surfaced.

Also I must thank David and his wife for their hospitality! This all happened with very little notice..

Happy Holidays to all!

D&B