When I went through trade training, to use a screwdriver as a chisel or prybar would be a painful experience, with the instructor’s straight edge across the knuckles!
“The right tool for the job, sonny!”
Oh, how I remember those words!
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At last something I can be a part of at 76 without being told I am too old🤗
I’d prefer not to be on the committee which I am sure will be needed.
I was sure I was CEO material once when told that our GM and I had “the same career prospects” until it was followed up with “neither of you are likely to advance further in your career”.
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Hmmm, like-“oh my giddy aunt”?
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What type of projects are this ‘illustrious’ group working on?
Nerve wrackingly difficult or just banging a couple rocks together ?
I just completed a fixture that will let me use my Shapeoko XL as a plotter. An alternative to using a laser.
Now back to the normal programming - such as it is 
Bill
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The most interesting tools I’ve used of late have been some nifty things from Bridge City Tool Works (yes, I’m going to come off sounding like a complete corporate shill):
Started w/ a Chopstick Master v2 — bought it in advance of a family vacation and it afforded the chance to share my passion for woodworking w/ other folks in the beach house.
Most useful/used is a BR-6 triangular hook rule which has a centering scale:
though I just picked up an MMS-1:
though I wonder if I shouldn’t’ve gotten:
https://martineztools.com/product/martinez-micro-square-metric-version/
instead.
I also couldn’t resist the HP-8X Celebration Edition block plane, which I need to work out some sort of storage/placement for.
Anyone who is curious about these tools and this company and the designer should read:
A similar toolmaker (which company has recently been sold to the Woodpeckers folks) is Dave Jeske, the founder of Blue Spruce Toolworks, whose ultimate coping saw I was pleased to purchase before the sale — still regretting not getting a full set of his chisels, and really kicking myself for not getting a marking knife from the recent run.
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You’ve got a beach house 
I’m still ‘tweaking’ the enclosure, dust extraction and electrical workings! Oh, and fixing a leak in my shed roof - if I can find it!
And I’m researching the Pi to replace my MacBook Air!
I haven’t even started on a project, yet!
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It’s not “got a beach house”, it’s a family member is well-off enough that before the current global health crisis it was a family tradition for him to host the family at a rented beach house. After a couple of years it became traditional to rent the same one, hence the familiar reference. You can see some images from that at:
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Yeah, a “beach house” is a hole in the atmosphere where you dump your money for repairs! 
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Oh, I thought that hole was boats and Motorhomes. Neither of which I have.
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Peter:
I was a bit more impatient. My first ‘project’ was to flatten the spoilboard but that used a file created by BenMeyers so it went smoothly.
My first attempt to make something was a wooden holddown from Cutrocket.com I was able to mess this one up by not paying attention to the values entered in the Tool Paths. I changed the feed rate from 30 to 50 ipm but did not notice that instead of overwriting the value I added to it. The result was not pretty when I tried to cut out the profile at the leisurely pace of 3,050 ipm.
I learned the value of an Emergency Stop which I did not have at that time.
Jump in. The waters cold but can be refeshing
Bill
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Oh, horror 
I spent some time manually cutting a window out in one of the self-built enclosure bifold doors and, because I’d used 18mm ply as the panel and 65x45mm CLS as the frame, getting the circular saw in there was a giggle, but I got there in the end. Then I remembered I’ve got a Shapeoko!
The window for the second door will/should be a breeze!
Jeff:
I have purchased V-Carve Desktop but am still able to accomplish my modest goals with Carbide Create. I am probably closer to ‘banging the rocks together’ on the spectrum of CNC work
Thanks for picking up on the thread.
Bill
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Me too - primarily!
I do have a Surface Pro I use for work, but the price tag of Vectric software is a significant factor, too!
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Me too (again!)
I wasn’t too keen on their Serif software - it seemed a little dated, even then - but this ‘redsigned’ stuff is really good.
I’ve had Photo for a while, but Designer is new to me (which I blame you for, of course!) and I’ve no need for Publisher, and I like what I see. There is no way I could justify Adobe’s prohibitive (and rediculous) pricing mechanism - and even Elements is £70!
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You will find many folks here on the forum, myself included, who had this exact same question, took the plunge, and in hindsight find it a reasonable price for the value. If you do a lot of intricate V-carving (or other complex projects), it’s unrivaled I think, and the layer mechanism (among a few other productivity features) is what justifies the cost for my personal usecase. I could not afford Aspire, I went with VCarve Desktop.
My arsenal is Carbide Create Pro (for 3D relief and simple projects) + VCarve Desktop (for V-carving and complex parts) + Fusion360 (for the fancy 3D parts with adaptive clearing) and I find them to be quite complementary.
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Well, this is exactly where I am at the moment. Having used Carbide Create for a year now I have been looking at what else is out there. I was toying with Carveco until I asked them a couple of questions, one of which was the price in £s, as it is not shown on their site. The answer, in my opinion is ridiculous.
Carveco is a UK based company, I am in the UK, yet they want me to pay in dollars! and incur the bank charges that go with the payment in a foreign currency. At least with Vectric I will be able to pay in my own currency.
One deciding factor is whether the HDZ, Bit Setter & Bit Zero are catered for with the Vectric post processor conversion for the Shapeoko. The Bit Setter has been a real game changer in what I cut and I now couldn’t do without it.
I am awaiting their reply, but would be interested in whether users of Vectric on here have had any problems with these.
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Yes:
- the BitZero and HDZ do not impact the G-code generation process
- there is a VCarve post-processor for the Shapeoko that supports the BitSetter by inserting the tool changes command. @neilferreri wrote it, I can find the link for you if needed
(to be more specific: I am using VCarve-generated files and I have a HDZ, probe, and BitSetter, and it all works fine)
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“As far as I can tell”; “If I had heard”
Well, perhaps before passing judgement on software that you know just a little about, you should walk that mile. There are completely free and fully functional trial versions of all of their software. With just a little effort, you might just find something useful. Oh, sorry, you don’t even have the hardware to run it, sorry. 
The purchase price of anything depends on one’s perceived value of that item. In my case, the shoe fits very well. I have walked many a mile with the Vectric product.
I watch others on this forum spending extra time on drawing things in CC, where I know it would only take two clicks to perform a built-in function in a Vectric product. Unless I see a specific need, I try not to comment on the differences, because this is a CC forum.
Hey, this thread is for “Senior Citizens”. Doesn’t bother us one bit to be cranky and opinionated!
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Well, I honestly don’t believe that! 
Sorry…just lightening the air a little…
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