The texas shaped one was pretty quick. Less than an hour. The one with the detailed seal was probably 1.5 hours, and the one with no design just the name was about an hour. The finish pass with the 1/16th endmill takes a while.
I don’t mean to be a jerk, but the your bases say “Roberton”, while some of the signs say “Robertson”
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There’s a reason for that. The one that says it both times the person didn’t want their title on the plaque itself, and when I asked them what they wanted on the base they said “French M. Robertson Unit”. 
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I charge $1 per minute, of machining time. Minimum 1 hr.
For the Granite, I would double that, just because it’s a specialty item, and expensive to replace.
I get over $200 an hour for some special items, that are hard to find.
Find a niche, special trades call for special over priced tools.
Thats what I look for. Things people in uncommon jobs need. You get a premium price for it, but takes days and nights to find it sometimes.
Otherwise $1 a minute is not unreasonable at all. And I live in Arkansas 
One Avenue, you might think about, is adding a drag knife, and Magnetic sheets. Seems like theres some room to grow in that area. I’ll leave that research to you
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No I mean i think you are missing an “S” in some of the Robertsons
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I learned a little something watching your video.
Usually if something happens, I start all over, because there is no “run from here” option.
I dont think about changing the program. There are a lot of times that doing that would be faster.
Thanks for the videos.
P.S. That looks like a long skinny bit. Cool pic. (bottom), you can even see the perfect example of tool deflection.
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OMG… you’re right. Guess what I will be doing today!!!
Damn I didn’t even catch that. Good eye. I feel like a goof now. 
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Just wanted to drop in here and say GREAT WORK!
Typos or not - those signs look really sharp.
-Edward
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Yeah I don’t want you to think I was just looking to nitpick; I really like your work. I want to do some similar projects for guys at my work, so I’m watching your vids closely.
But I didn’t want you to miss the typo and then present those in public only for you to be embarrassed. I was hoping to catch you before you glued them in place. And I agree, I think you should be charging more than $20 a piece, even for friends. Maybe closer to $40 or $50 since they are customized to the individual.
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Jerry, when you say you “start all over,” do you mean you toss the stock in the waste bin and start completely over with a new piece of stock? Or do you mean you start the job over from the beginning of the Gcode file on the same piece of stock and let the bit just “float” over the areas it cut on the first pass before the power went out and let it pick up where it started? If you’re doing the second, this would be a really nice time to have a button/dial that you could turn to speed up the feed rate while it’s cutting air. I’d like a second dial that you you make slight adjustments to z as it’s running, too.
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The second one 
And I concur.
Luckily, it doesn’t happen often.[quote=“Boothecus, post:16, topic:5766”]
I’d like a second dial that you you make slight adjustments to z as it’s running, too.
[/quote]
Thats a good idea, too. I hadn’t thought of that.
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I think the ease with which you can start a job over and have it go to exactly the same x0 y0 z0 after re-homing is one of the best features of the Shapeoko. I use that feature all the time, whether it is restarting a tracing I’m doing in uneven plywood to drop the Z down just a hair or to do the same part over and over.
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As much as I try to flatten my boards it seems like there is always a low or high spot. I plane in my planer, sometimes by hand. I measure, I cut, I measure, I cut, and there is always a low spot. It never really seems to matter unless I am doing a large pocket area, or some very detailed carving. Oh well such is life. I think I need a dial indicator, and a set of shims.
The funny thing is I showed the two people the same pics as above this morning, and they liked them. They didn’t notice. When I got home and saw this I called them, and told them they wouldn’t be getting them Wednesday as planned, but the one silver lining is I got to re-do the one with the seal, and get rid of the machine marks on the background by using a 2 flute end mill, and doing 3 passes rather than two as well as running my stepover to 30% rather than 40%. I also added a texture to hers, and I think it turned out a little better this time. The other one liked the State seal, and asked if I could add it to hers before I did the new one, so I learned a lesson, and everyone gets what they want. Thanks for noticing though it would have been quite embarrassing taking those to work and having someone notice.
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Regarding the power outage. Since these run on relatively low power (12V), is there any reason a PC battery backup unit (like an APC) couldn’t be used for the main power? That would probably run for 15+ minutes without power and give you plenty of time to pause the job to wait for power to return. If it is longer than the backups battery life, then you would have to start the job from the beginning again.
Plus, a system like that may even out any power spikes/surges that may accidentally restart the machine.
Just a thought.
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Actually we’ve found that using a UPS is a good way to insulate the EDITED: computer from EMI from the machine. (see @mbellon’s post below)
Will, that interests me. Do you have a link to the wiki page that describes this and contains minimum/recommended sizes of UPS devices?
It was mentioned on a couple of tech support e-mails (did I mention that one of the first things I did after getting hired to do tech support was to read through every previous e-mail?)
and here:
I’m not Will, but I’ve been using this:
So far it’s been pretty good. I run my desktop PC, 24" monitor, XXL, and the Dewalt with SuperPID and haven’t had any issues with disconnects. I power my vacuum separately though, it just draws too much with everything else combined. I’ve pulled the plug with everything running and everything kept going, although I didn’t time it and run it dead. I did some research before I started though for a work project. We bought the super duper big brother version of this to power a commercial grade large format 3D printer(meter by meter by 1/2 meter build envelope),…nice getting paid to research work stuff and learning home shop stuff at the same time. I’m not superoelectronico, but I recall that this UPS outputs a true sine wave, which is supposed to keep electronics more happier(smarter people please jump in here)? I can’t say it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but it works and I’ve been happy with it.
Dan
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Motors generate “hash” on power lines. The “hash” is particularly detrimental to computers and quite a few computer power supplies.
The ideal solution is to have a CNC machine motor on a separate “leg” than the rest of the equipment. By “leg” I mean a socket that goes back to the site distribution box and has its own circuit breaker. Completely isolate the motor power from the rest of the equipment.
Often, this is impractical or too expensive for hobbyists or those working at home. The best solution when one cannot have a separate leg is to isolate the computer equipment from the motor. This can be done with a high quality power conditioner or a UPS. A UPS is often the least expensive solution.
This solution assumes that the sockets are properly connected, no ground/neutral mistakes. If you don’t have one, get the AC power checker - they are cheap - and check the sockets. If they aren’t connected properly, get an electrician to fix the problem. Don’t mess with the wiring unless you are absolutely sure you know what you’re doing!
The UPS should power the computer equipment through the battery backed up sockets. Don’t use the filtered sockets if the UPS has them! The battery backed up sockets go through circuitry that provides excellent power conditioning.
NEVER plug a motor into a UPS - at least the ones that most of us can afford - as UPSen are just not designed for this.
In this application, the battery backup - allowing the computer to power down gently after the loss of AC power - is the minor choice.
If possible, chose a UPS that offers true sine wave output.
In the post that @WillAdams points to, I reference the power conditioners and UPSen that I use for my customers.
mark
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