After a few weeks of obsessive research, comparison, watching every single thing that youtube has to offer regarding the Shapeoko variants, Instagram, etc I had decided that adding a Shapeoko Pro XXL to my wood shop was the right move and would be a nice addition to my side business.
Looking at the footprint dimensions of the XXL and thinking about the size of my work bench that it would sit on I was ready to do it. I go to buy it and it’s out of stock, I click the ‘email me when ready’ button and wait. I get the email and I go to buy it and it’s gone! My shop mate emails C3D and they say March. Not a huge concern (other than my immense impatience when I want stuff, but that’s on me) but I do see that the XL is in stock. I go down to my shop, get a piece of plywood roughly the size of the capacity of the XXL and realize that had I bought the XXL that I wouldn’t have been able to feed it because of the orientation I’d need to put it in for it to fit on the bench! Then I took a hard look at the 20 item list of first items I plan on making and none of them are bigger than the capacity of the XL.
Long story wrapped up I ordered the XL yesterday and I am super excited!
We have a very small industrial furniture company and metal fabrication shop that has a fair bit of space (and I really wish I had opted for the bigger plasma table than I have) but my wood shop is in my basement and is approaching capacity already because of my Jay Bates style drawer/cabinet setup (affectionately known as ‘Castle Mordrawer’) and my almost too big table saw. Because of the size of our CNC plasma I’ve gotten pretty good at indexing parts to run multiple operations on things that exceed the working envelope of the machine and I think anything I need to make that is bigger than the 17.5" working space of the XL I should be able to split into multiple jobs.
So, super glad to be here and to anxiously wait for my new machine to show up and to soak up all the wisdom of those who have asked before.
@Samcraft this might sound a bit stalkerish but your videos are what put me over the edge on buying the Pro (I’m TheRockabillyArts on Youtube). You are making crazy good content and I think C3D should throw you some commission or referral discounts
Awesome! No worries over sounding stalkerish until you ask my dress size and make dinner plans. Hahaha!!! I’m happy to help inform others and share my journey as I learn & use my CNC.
I’ve asked Carbide 3D about some links and coupons for viewers but don’t guess it’s their style – no replies received yet on that front. It’s a big bummer since nearly every other company does this especially for those making regular content. Maybe I can break through to them on the coupon portion at least.
