Byrne,
At one time there were a couple manufacturers that were making it 1/4" thick where the counter top manufacturer would laminate it to particle board. But they were having too many warranty claims so they stopped making 1/4" about 25 years ago. I have run it through a drum sander but not to remove 3/4 of the material. I don’t think that will work. Remember, its a form of plastic (acrylic) so running the right feed is critical. I have done projects where I have used the CNC to bring it down to 1/4" and i suspect you could get it to 1/8" if you can find a way to hold it. Just remember it is easy to break, whether due to dropping it or I have seen it crack due to thermal stress. Being that thin might aggravate this possibility.
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Hi, my name is Mark and I live in the Cincinnati OH metro area (just inside 275 on the Northeast side). I am mid-50s and have had several hobbies over the years. I had a Bambu Lab x1C, an XTool Laser (forget which model), and actually had a Shapeoko 4 (17x17) along with router table, table saw, and several other “toys” in mid-spring 2023. I never got into my Shapeoko then because of too many hobbies and still a full time job (I’m a 30 year IT guy but haven’t “touched the keyboard” in well over 15 years, been in IT Leadership). Then in early August 2023 we had a devastating fire (over $700k damage in structure and contents, structure was not a total loss but was gutted to studs and over half roof replaced). The fire gave us a “clean” start with basically nothing to our name. We also moved from Kansas City metro where the fire happened to Cincinnati OH. Up until last month I had resisted the urge to get into a hobby but after a conversation with my wife of almost 24 years, we agreed I need to pick one hobby and get going again. And so now I have a Shapeoko 5 Pro 4x2 with every bell and whistle possible. Just put it together last Thursday and added my spindle yesterday (came separately) and my gas strut today. Have already started playing and really enjoying having this hobby again. And 2 closing bits if I may: First, I chose to go back into CNC vs other choices because of the customer service I got in 2023. Second, this weekend when I used a Makita temporarily and made mistakes, Carbide 3d honored their 60 days on us policy and overnighted multiple pieces that I messed up for the machine. Lastly, this time I went with an adjustable height workbench from big box hardware store and love having my machine at standing height versus constantly leaning over. That’s enough for now, mv
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Brand New to this CNC World. Pretty excited but intimidated as well. Gosh there’s a lot of engineers and fabricating history here on the intros. But I’m a creative and excited to learn a new skill. Will be watching the community for ideas and help as I go along. Looking forward to it.
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Welcome to the Shapeoko community! You have joined a great group of people here who love what they do with their machines and get just as much enjoyment from helping others.
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Hi I’m Ed Aguilar from El Paso, Tx. I just bought the shapeoko 5 pro 4x4.I have used a laser engraver and started to sell at markets. I’m having trouble getting it set up. I have some issues because my brain does not work efficiently due to a stroke. this is my therapy to rewire my brain and to keep me going. Its nice being part of this community.
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In addition to the official documentation at:
and Kevin and Winston’s nifty videos:
I wrote up some basic documentation which may be helpful at:
If you have some specific question, please ask and we will do our best to assist.
Note that there are various tutorials at:
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Hi everyone been lurking here for awhile I got my 5 pro about a year ago.
Isaac
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