Computer advice for my new ShopBot Buddy 32

[mirion]

I have recently acquired a new to me 2013 ShopBot Buddy 32. I bought it from a government liquidation auction and it has never been used. I need some advice on the computer for it, I am thinking of a mini computer by Intel. It is an I5 dual core with 8 gb of ram and a 128 Gb solid state drive. It has a very small footprint (4.5" x 4.4" x 2") and would actually fit inside the Shopbot control box if I decided to go that way. This is primarily a hobby for me at this point as I approach retirement. I have Vectrics V-Carve Pro software and a nice I7 with dual SSD's in Raid 0 for running the design software. Thanks in advance.......Mike in Michigan

30952

[Brady Watson]

Mike,
The NUC should be fine for running the machine. Make sure the USB cable is at least 6' long between the computer and control card or you could have timing issues. A few of us did this years ago and discovered the length issue. It's an exotic thing but worth mentioning.

Also keep in mind that you'll do most of your CAD and toolpath generation in the house/office. Loading VCP on the shop computer is fine & good for editing/tweaking files you don't feel like running all the way in the house/office to redo.

-B

[steve_g]

I run my system with a NUC… I like how fast it boots up on its SSD and how tolerant it is of temperature extremes… Originally, I bought it because I thought it was fanless, turns out it has a small CPU fan that I occasionally blow out with compressed air. It didn’t like the lightning strike that took out half the appliances and HVAC in my house/shop, Intel covered it under warranty because there were no obvious scorch marks…
SG