Hi there - current Nomad owner here, looking at possibly upgrading to a Shapeoko 5 Pro. While I see the software updates on the 8 beta seem to be happening, the rest of the news + engagement from the company seems… stagnant. Just looking for signs of life from the company (not necessarily from the community) that new products are in development, and this wouldn’t be a sunk investment?
Cheers,
Andy
The Shapeoko 5 was a big lift:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/introducing-shapeoko-5-pro/
but since then we’ve …
added features to Carbide Motion:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/carbide-motion-bounds-checking/
dealt with some supplier issues:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/cold-solder-joints/
done a bunch of updates to Carbide Create v7:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/create-big-file-update/
changed some internal policies:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/better-support-reply-times/
made changes in Carbide Motion:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/bitsetter-changes-carbide-motion/
put in place a mechanism to get error reports:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/bugsplat/
and started in on a new beta of Carbide Create:
Not discussed, but a thing I’ve been concerned about are the recent fires in So. Cal. which are all around where the company is located — when I’ve asked of this on team chat, everyone has been okay, but I’m sure that has required a certain measure of attention.
There have been a couple of new products alluded to in various discussions here (but I’m not involved in product development and not authorized to speak of such), and of course there’re things such as tariffs (which are off-topic here).
That said, our position has always been that folks should buy based on what is in the shop (and how it is described there), and the policies of the company:
As was noted on the SO5 announcement:
We want this to be the flagship Shapeoko for a long time, so it has to be the best machine possible.
If anyone has any concerns, I’d suggest checking in with the folks in Sales.
I feel compelled to weigh in on this topic. I am brand new to the CNC world. I did a tremendous amount of research before choosing where to spend my hard earned money. I chose Carbide 3D and Shapeoko 5 Pro 2x4 based on my perception of the quality build and features as well as the total ecosystem Carbide 3D has created. After having my machine for a few months I can say without a shred of doubt that I made the correct choice. The responsiveness of forum members to my questions has been timely and helped accelerate my learning curve. I had a minor issue with my Z axis in the beginning and reached out to Carbide 3D support for assistance. They were extremely helpful and responsive helping me solve my issue quickly.
That being said, if I had a friend or family member looking to purchase a CNC machine, I would not hesitate recommend Carbide 3D and the Shapeoko 5 Pro.
At this point, I think I need to bow out of this discussion — I’m not involved in product development (except when I get a product early for testing) and it’s not my place to break street date with any information beyond what has been provided above.
If you contact the folks in Sales, they will work with you to determine what Carbide 3D product best meets your needs based on available information — I do not know if that available information includes upcoming products.
No offense, but your calendar math seems to be off.
Jul 22, 2023
a bit over 18 months ago
Sep 12, 2023 and Sep 25, 2023
scarcely 16 months ago
Oct 9, 2023 and Oct 12, 2023
less than 16 months ago
Feb 7, 2024
scarcely a year ago
Mar 6, 2024
less than a year ago
Aug 1, 2024
roughly half a year
Sep 9, 2024
less than half a year
I was asked to re-open this, and am doing so against my better judgement — probably that will be over-ruled, which will be a relief (I need this job, and I would like for the forums which are a part of it to be a pleasant place, and not thinly veiled accusations, or discussions which have me researching images only to determine that a file which assistance was sought for was actually available as a vector for purchase).
A further update, Carbide Create v8 is now stable:
See:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/create-v8/
which presumably will allow us to get going onto the next thing — whatever that is…
Hey Will… Completely agree with your comments!
“I would like for the forums which are a part of it to be a pleasant place, and not thinly veiled accusations, or discussions which have me researching images only to determine that a file which assistance was sought for was actually available as a vector for purchase).”
Keep up the awesome support on here. I dont know how many hours a day you put in on the forum but I’m amazed at how much time and effort you put into all the posts and your ability to problem solve across a huge gammit of issues that people bring here. Even with some of the disgruntled type post you always handle them with tact…
I always tell myself there’s one in every crowd 
Will, we appreciate your wisdom and experience you have helped us with to resolve issues. Most of which are our own doing!
C3D Team continues to support this forum as well as its members. Again, one of the main reasons I chose this system over others as a personnel choice.
Will - I appreciate your efforts here. My initial question was a sincere one, since from the outside, things from the company did appear to be stalling out. There was a period of time you guys were pouring out YouTube tutorials, interviews, etc and those seemed to not be as frequent. I understand that takes a tremendous amount of effort and investment, but that was a part of what I was asking. Thanks to your well-articulated response, I decided to pull the trigger and get the Shapeoko 5 Pro - again, appreciate what you do for the community, and happy to keep on keeping on with Carbide3D.
There’s a lot of behind the scenes work going on as we rethink and distill the kind of content we think will be most helpful. Things like the Jumpstart course: (https://carbide3d.com/hub/courses/jumpstart/) took a lot of time and work, and doesn’t have the same visibility of other content because it doesn’t pop up in your YouTube feed. But it is still indicative of some of our recent and ongoing efforts behind the scenes to try to help our customer base. Eventually, we’ll get around to making more flashy or “cool” stuff, but just because there’s less of that now doesn’t mean we’re not pushing forward and staying busy in other ways.
They have also been investing heavily into
Question - why don’t you guys toot your own horn more often? Winston, the Jumpstart course is great content… but I’d love for you to meet me where I’m at - maybe post promo shorts on YouTube directing me back. I honestly forget about these forums, unless it’s top-of-mind (like now!)… but I will mindlessly view other creators doing stuff with their CNC machines. Just some feedback - y’all are doing great work, please keep going!
Certainly valid feedback. The resources we have are more effective if people know about them. It’s something we’ll definitely give some thought to.
It’s very true that if you don’t utilize a service/resource regularly you tend to forget about it.
I used to wonder why web-based subscription services would tout features both new/old/lame/great/etc. so much. But now I realize that with all the information & options we are bombarded with in the virtual space these days, if you don’t ‘shout’ your own product out enough, it gets forgotten about or lost.
And then because of the increased push of everyone ‘marketing’ online, if you don’t keep up with the noise then people wonder if you’re even still there.