I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into but just ordered a Shapeoko 20 minutes ago. I have a small wood shop that I tinker around with small projects and always thought about getting a small cnc machine to expand my wood working capabilities. I have absolutely no prior experience with CAD but figured, screw it I’m, I’m gonna do it. I”m getting myself a Christmas present. Wish me luck and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I have about 50 years of woodworking experience. I got a Shapeoko 3 XXL to supplement my traditional woodworking. For a while the Shapeoko took over my woodworking. So I have made a lot of things for both gifts and for the shop. You are right it is a steep learning curve but if you are already a woodworker the basics are already in your head. The prep of material, the finishing and so on are already figured out. So enjoy and dont worry too much about the learning it will come. As with all things great things are never achieved without sacrifice and work.
This is the last thing that I built. It was an entry table for my Grandson. The top is an epoxy river table top and the base has a vcarve on the drawer front. Above the table is a mirror with another vcarve epoxy filled inlay.
Sitting on the table is a votive candle holder I turned. So the mix of traditional woodworking and the CNC are a good combination.
One more thing I just created was for some Bridge City Tools I recently purchased. The original boxes are great but did not hold all of the tools together.
I also made some turned pens and bottle stoppers. The one bottle stopper was vcarved on my Shapeoko . Look closely at the gear pattern.
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Congrats! It really opens up your mind on what’s possible, woodworking-wise. A lot of things become trivial, that traditional approaches would prove challenging, or near impossible. I bought my S3 XXL to supplement my furniture building. It’s an awesome tool to have at your disposal.
Wrapping your head around 2D3D software will make sense once you get the basics down. There are a lot of resources out there for learning, this forum included. CC is a great place to start and you’ll have a license for a year (pretty sure that’s still the case). I cut my teeth on CC for a couple months then purchased Vcarve Pro. Whatever software you go with, take it slow and learn all you can.
Cut some work holding files for practice. You’ll need them anyway. Practice makes progress.
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