New user with some questions

So I pulled the trigger and am impatiently waiting for my Shapeoko 3 to ship and arrive (It’s been a week already I just might explode with anticipation). Just wondering if I could solicit some advice from the community.

  1. I’ve decided to build an enclosure mainly for sound and dust concerns. Wondering if 30"x30"x24" is enough room on the inside for the machine to sit and run comfortably?

  2. I have some Whiteside spiral bits already that I love to use and wondering if these are good for CNC work or if I should buy some from the Carbide shop instead?

  3. I also sprung for a suckit dustboot and was looking for a good dust hose recommendations? I have some nice ones from Rockler that I like but didn’t know if it would be too heavy or not.

  4. Any youtubers or other content creators you would recommend as great learning resources?

Thanks so much. I’m looking forward to this CNC adventure and being a part of the community here which as a lurker has already been super informative!

If you were to choose Fusion 360 as your CAD/CAM, I would heartily recommend Lars Christensen’s YouTube channel. He should be hitting his 100th F360 video post this week. I find he answers lot of questions I have and makes things basic and simple.

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Thanks for the recommendation I have been working on learning Fusion lately these videos will keep me busy for a while!

  1. per http://carbide3d.com/shapeoko/ Footprint: 28-1/2”W x 24”L x 16”H — 30 inches side to side is kind of tight — but on an XL w/ the electronics enclosure on the back of the gantry ought to be okay, but you’ll want to provide room for the USB and power cables to exit from the gantry and move front to back
  2. Yes, router bits work so long as they have appropriate geometry and you set up the toolpaths and feed and speeds appropriately and they don’t have bearings. I’d suggest starting off w/ at least 3 1/4" straight and 3 more ball-nosed endmills, but they don’t have to be from shop.carbide3d.com
  3. big feature to look for in dust hoses is anti-static
  4. well, there’re the official docs: http://docs.carbide3d.com/ and a wiki: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki
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For youtube videos, I learned a lot initially by watching Winston Moy’s videos: (here on the forum he is @wmoy).

If you want to do more advanced stuff with Fusion 360, besides Lars Christenson, I really like watching the videos by NYC CNC. They are a professional machine shop, but many of their Fusion vids are applicable to us.

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