With No experience, the Shapeoko is your best avenue to learn and get results. The Machine is extremely well thought out in its current iteration, and the software that comes with it is very useable, but something you will likely outgrow as your grasp of the capability of the machine improves.
The biggest challenge is actually putting the machine together, as the instructions are a work in progress-but the more complicated assemblies are shipped already assembled!..The instructions are some what challenged, but .the secret is upon frustration, search the forum-contact Support and post on the forum when something is not clear-in most cases the progression of assembly makes sense-even if the instructions are lacking. You will have a learning curve, but it is neither insurmountable nor long!
Your ace in the hole is the Carbide3D Customer support, between this forum, and Technical Support, you Willl be suprised at your success rate!. Explore this forum, the proof in in every post by a Newbie… Frustration is not rampant here, it is solved! Everyone helps…Everyone, WillAdams can fully answer most questions off the top of his head, as can several others. Everyone speaks from personal experience, in english from Carbide3D facilities,
I have had my XXL since January, and I have never in my 53 years been treated as a more valued customer. The only dumb question is the one you are too dumb to ask…I have never posted a Standing Ovation for any other companies idea of support…except in a thread in this forum
Carbide Create and Carbide Motion will get you in and teach you, but as your understanding and confidence grow it is likely you will want more capable and flexible software as the Shapeoko is 3D capable, but Carbide Create and Carbide Motion are not. Still, they are very capable and limited only to make them easier to use, There is nothing here that is actually hard, some of it is detailed, and some of it is completely unfamiliar, but so was Reading, and Writing and you mastered both of those when? Look how much more capable you are now!
I looked at everything out there, from Plasma cutting tables with hidden pricing and support forums to Inventables, to Imported kits, and I chose Shapeoko. Before I bought they sent me a free CNC overview, and were completely transparent about what they would provide, where their business came from and where it was going, and to beat it a ll they are USA made. That transparency is all over the web…They aren’t ashamed of their growing pains(instructions) and don’t hide their challenges they simply meet them head on and do better… There is no better way to learn than to have a company that is as interested in your success as they are with selling you a machine- That has been my Carbide3D experience. I don’t believe you will be more quickly successful with any other company or any other machine.
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