Potential new user questions

[natalie]

I am considering a ShopBot purchase. I would mostly be doing 2D wood and acrylic (.5"). I'd like to run my machine 2-4 hours, 5 days a week. I'd love some opinions as to whether this is feasable or not. Most folks I talk to love their machines, but I have talked to a couple of full-blown CNC naysayers who are trying to talk me out of the purchase. It seems like a good move, but I don't want to suffer buyer's remorse.

[harryball]

I felt much the same way you did, I went to the IWF in 2006 and walked the floor looking at every CNC there and bought a shopbot. For the price it is a very capable machine and should be able to accomplish your needs with plenty of capacity left over. My best advice would be to locate a shopbot owner near you and go visit.

Robert

[myxpykalix]

Call shopbot, ask for their list of owners who will demo units. If you have one close make contact and go visit. Where are you located? post in the "looking for shopbot owner" section.
Check other mfg's forums and ask for advice and see the difference. We are like a family here (sometimes a bit disfunctional) but you won't find users more willing to help on and off this forum.

[harryball]

I second Jack's observation about getting help and advice. I've never felt abandoned or at a loss for information or help with the Shopbot, I can't say that about ANY other tool in my shop.

Robert

[phil_o]

Natalie,
I'm curious, what are the "CNC naysayers" opposed to. There are many good reasons to own a CNC machine, just look at the pictures of work on this website and on the vectric.com site. What are the reasons against CNC being given by the people opposed?

[elcruisr]

If they are running "big iron" there is a lot of prejudice in that community against Shopbots. Most of it is a holdover from their first machines which were really hobby grade. I compete against guys like this for parts contracts and usually win. It can really get their goat when a company with half or less money in a machine is getting work from them in a competitive environment.

In the world of plastics cutting you need to carefully define just what you want to achieve in edge quality. The machines that will deliver perfect, silky smooth edges are out there but they are not cheap. I cut a fair amount of acrylic and polycarbonate but for applications that do not require perfect polished edges. If I had to I could sand and flame polish but avoid work like that.

Selecting a cnc machine is really about defining exactly what you need it to achieve in volume, material and at what tolerances and finding a software/machine combination that will do that for you at the best cost. ALWAYS try to see the machine you want doing exactly what you want before thumping down the cash. Shopbot will be more than glad to provide you with users in you area for their machines.

Also make sure that end users tend to be very happy with factory support and parts availability. Being down for a day or so beats being down for three months which I've seen happen to one shop near me!

[natalie]

Thanks for the input guys. I do believe the prejudice is a holdover from the old days. A couple of folks I've talked to question stability and ability to handle the workload. I'm just not finding that their concerns are playing out with the Shopbotter crowd.