Brian here from Minnesota. I am recently retired and I have had my Shapeoko 4 XXL for just over a year now. I am getting much better at a lot of things with help from all of you but I have a ways to go yet.
I am looking to see if there is anyone in my general area on this forum. Someone that is experienced or learning as well. Yes this forum is really great and all but, well you know what I mean.
I am about 25 miles west of the Twin Cities in Buffalo.
Welcome, hope your 5 Pro fulfills your (forced) retirement.
Itās Mike from Tennessee, Eastern part by the foothills of the Smokies. Retired Air Force and Air National Guard. Iāve been playing around with my new Shapeoco pro for a few months. Long time wood worker and knife maker but first time CNC user. Itās been a pretty steep learning curve but Carbide 3d folks are very helpful and this forum has been great. Glad to be here and thankful for the knowledgeable experts providing information on the forum.
I was just in Pigeon Forge on vacation a couple of weeks ago. We rented a cabin and it struck me that there is a a huge opportunity for making signs for all those rental properties. The one we stayed at had a nice sign but it was outside and done in MDF.
Hook up with a couple of the companies that handle the rentals up there and drum up some business.
Hi, I am Jason living in Eastern Tennessee for the past 2 years and was in Phoenix before that. I was a forensic Structural Engineer until I retired 2 years ago and moved to live on the lake. Just got my Pro 5 a couple of months ago and am still learning (I have yet to make anything that I feel is good, and as such, I have filled a lot of trash bags with my failures). I have not found a niche yet, so I am trying all sorts of different things to see what I enjoy. Someday I will hopefully be able to post something that I have created.
Pigeon Forge is only 45 mins from me. I imagine sign making with bears and mountains on the sign are big there. I see plenty of them in my area. Good advice.
As they say"I am making beautiful firewood". And I made my share of it.
Have fun, and make chips, not dust.
Hello. I am new to the group. I am an amateur machinist and I teach cam and cnc machine-side training at the Dallas Makerspace, a member-owned community workshop with over 30,000 square feet of workshop space . We have a full manual manual machine shop and 7 cnc machines ranging from our Nomad and 2 Shapeokos to our Tormach 8l, our Haas vf2 and vf3 and our 5āx10ā multicam cnc router .I teach carbide create, v-carve pro, meshcam and Freecad at the Makerspace and do the machine -side safety checkouts for several of these cnc machines. I am Looking forward to learning and contributing where I can.
James logan here
Just got a pro 5 4x4
Machinist by trade cnc and manual since 1986
Woodworking is a hobby
Howdy!
Andrew from Montana. Waiting for my shop to heat up so I thought Iād introduce myself. I bought a slightly used SO3 (not nisso sulfan) XXL and have become addicted to the affordability and fun of CNC routing/engraving/carving. This Carbide Forum is great! Everyone is so helpful, knowledgeable, and respectful. One of the most robust forums I have had the pleasure of searching/reading. I hope to be able to contribute in some way. Thanks, and I look forward to learning from everyone!
Mike here from Pennsylvania, ordered a 5-pro with the spindle/vfd. Spindle/vfd is to be delivered tomorrow and the 5-pro shipped today. I have been watching the videos and reading this form for a couple week waiting for everything to come. excited to get started and someday work this into a little side hustle.
So many trained/skilled folks here I cringe to say anything about myself. My work career was essentially split between a family woodworking business, then several years of agriculture and then 18 years of aircraft maintenance and finally a small business owner that overlapped my aviation journey. Iām guilty of being a college educated mechanic. Like some folks are addicted to sports, Iām addicted to shop. I restored two small certified airplanes and built one experimental from scratch, no kits for me.
Might say Iām semi-retired heading towards a late in life woodworking business. I could pursue more aviation work and pick up my TIG torch and sheet metal tools but I like being home now in my garage/shop.
Iāve been around many CNC lathes and milling machines that had manual modes that allowed me to accomplish small projects. Always wanted to learn and become proficient at CNC work. Assembled a 3d printer couple years ago and that forced me to learn drawing things in Fusion 360 (many hours on youtube with Lars Christenson and Brad Tallis). But havenāt learned the CAM mode as yet.
Dear friend loaned me his Shapeoko 3xl. Sat in my shop for not quite a year before I loaded Carbide Motion on my laptop and made the machine home and jog. No joke, I turned power off and put a tarp on it again for at least a month. Then a loaded Create and started learning. Iāve progressed to carving up wood signs and recently cutting out curved parts for chairs.
Need a slightly bigger machine now (at least 2x4). Iāve considered the Sienci Labs Longmill and the Onefinity. The Longmill seems sturdy enough and the Onefinity as well. Easy to get lost in the manucia of the hardware and the big picture of the different software/s that put it all together. No one holds your hand in the jungle of CNC and Iām constantly reminding/asking myself why and what I want out of driving a carbide cutting tool around with a computer.
Ordering a 5 Pro next week and going to stay with Create for my cutting files. Iām ok with Motion and not having to transition to gSender or what ever it is that drives the Onefinity. At the end of the day all of us have to make friends with the current culture/structure of tools mfgāers and step up to read all we can and in many situations be our own physician. Gone are the days of someone answering the phone. We have to maximize the email/message process and be pretty darn handy at fixing to a degree our own stuff.
Wish all of us a fun and productive CNC journeyā¦
New user here in Lubbock Tx. Recently āsemiā retired from owning a lighting business. Some landscape but primarily Christmas lighting, itās kind of a big deal here. As a friend once told me, āA guy can make a living at damn near anything if heāll just get up in the morning and get after it
Been pretty much a woodworking hobbyist for decades with some side jobs. My degree is in journalism and I also worked in the computer industry for most of the 90s. Iāve worn a lot of hats over the years; some fit better than others. Hardcore Texas Rangers fan.
Some experience with CNC using a Shaper Origin. I just got my Pro 5 setup completed this past weekend, Took me about a week but a lot of that was new electricity, building a table, plumbing dust collection etc.
Hereās a pic of my rig. Itās actually in a converted porch/sunroom. I was out of room in my garage, especially if I wanted to get my pickup in when a West Texas hailstorm is predicted.
I plumbed ducting for the dust collector through the wall. The garage is behind that wall. Lot of hose but it works a lot better than I expected. I use Appleās Home Kit and the dust collector is plugged into a smart plug I can turn off and on with my Apple Watch. Yes, I am an Apple fanboy.
My helper is Hobo the GSD.
Mike
Welcome. Looks like Hobo is looking for some play time.
Welcome! Hobo looks a lot like my son-in-laws working partner. Is Hobo a Belgian Malinois?
Nope, 100% German Shepherd. Heāll be 6 this June,
Hello,
I am Will and I am relatively new to CNC. I started with a Spider laser engraver that should have been able to cut thin woods but it didnāt so now I am here. Hoping to learn from each of you and possibly turn a hobby into a side hustle.
Welcome Will. Hope you have fun with your new machine.
Questions, just ask.
Welcome to the forums, Will. This is a great place when it comes to all things cnc. The wealth of knowledge here is incredible and the people are here definitely enjoy sharing it. No matter how simple or complex your questions you will get a great answer.
Hi folks. Iām also new around these parts. Ordered a 5 Pro a couple weeks ago ā just waiting on the VFD spindle (which FedEx should be bringing tomorrow), then I can start making a mess. Iāve been all kinds of excited ā doing a lot of reading, watching a lot of videos, and succeeding mostly in completely confusing myself. But, hey, thatās part of the fun.
I just got into woodworking a few years ago, but Iāve been (casually) into 3D printing for at least a decade. Between those hobbies and the fun Iāve had with the xTool D1 Pro and a little Cricut machine, a CNC router seemed like the logical progression.
Anyway, howdy to everyone. Itās great that thereās such a friendly, supportive community around this. Iāve already started a bullet list of questions, but Iāll try not to be too annoying. 
