Thoughts on my New Purchase

[Chazz]

I have finally received my Shopbot Desktop and have a few things to point out.

First of all, the vacuum hose clamp and vacuum connection don't line up. I didn't try to tighten the clamp; but the Z travel was straining the vacuum hose. I wound up just removing the clamp.

Next, it seems that the way the router was put in makes some things hard. There seem to be three things that we need access to: The power switch, the speed control and the spindle locking pin for changing the bits. On mine, the power switch was the only one that was easy to access. While important, the power switch extends from the top when in the on position. Even if it were in the back, you could quickly slap downward and turn it off. The speed control is not really viewable from the front at all. I missed the locking pin on the first few attempt to figure out how to change the bit (further confused as the guide showed that I should have had two wrenches of which I could only find one). In future, consider possibly turning perhaps 90 degrees clockwise as looking down. I have not investigated turning my router around yet as it is too new for me to consider such a move yet.

I didn't know that the software was going to turn the router on (apply power to it) so I chased a phantom power issue (router wouldn't turn on when I switched it on at the router) for a while.

Once cutting (I did this while doing an air cut) I paused the run. The software turned the router off and paused the run -- worked fine. I decided to try to resume the run -- and it did -- but it did not turn the router back on. It left it off. Had this not been an air cut, that might have damaged something.

I am mostly impressed with the construction of the shopbot. The software is pretty good. But the documentation -- for a beginner -- is lacking.

[steve_g]

Chazz...
Welcome! At least something in the world is consistent... Documentation was also poor in 2006! I think the issue is that documentation never keeps up with improvements. In short order you'll have forgotten about your anxious beginning, and if all else fails, there are plenty of friendly faces here!

SG

[scottp55]

Welcome Chazz, Only had my Desktop/spindle a few months now and had a couple issues out of the box that Frank at Shopbot and the people here got quickly straightened out. Don't have the router but call tech support and get the resume/power straightened out. I know they say not to get in the habit of pausing, but I'm so new to it I use it a lot for nudging. Ask questions. I for one would be glad to answer a question I actually know the answer to, to start paying back all the help I have received here. I think you'll love it,but I still keep my finger near the pause button for operator malfunctions.

[garyr6]

You can usually judge the quality of a machine if you find a long list of issues on a forum or lots of them for sale. Not so with the desktop or bots in general. The only reason I think I have ever seen a desktop for sale is that they wanted a bigger bot. Most of us love ours bots (a few go yellow, go figure) and you will find the vectric software up to almost any task. Make sure you go through all the bot videos and the vectric videos, there is not much not covered and if all else fails and I mean all, re-read the manual, or hey call tec support and they will sort you out with info and a smile.

[Chazz]

It is true that someone devoid of any knowledge in at least woodworking OR computers would find it hard to trip over a shopbot let alone decide to put the money out for one. However, even having background in BOTH woodworking and computers I found gaps in the documentation. At some point, I will likely try to put something together for those initial days. For now, it seems that other life drama is keeping me from my pursuits with the shopbot. I do have a question which I will post in another thread.