After looking for a few years we finally got a Shopbotter in Pennsylvania to host a Camp!
John Haggerty used to come to the Toms River,NJ Camps, and since we aren’t scheduling that one any longer he volunteered to host one at his great shop.
Sometimes when we schedule a Camp we have to deal with last minute, “unforseen” developments…Hurricanes, power outages, etc. In this case I got to John’s shop about 7AM Saturday AM to help set up the coffee/donuts. As I rounded the last turn before pulling into his driveway I saw that that his entire street was blocked off with sawhorses and signs saying “road closed”. Turns out that our first PA. Camp coincided with the PA. regional finals of the soap box derby, and John’s shop is located at the top of the “race course”….. The street was filled with tents, and race cars, and kids& “pit crew parents”… We scrambled to get signs out which could be read by people driving up to the sawhorses, and somehow everybody found us…
John built a 40’by 60’shop (25 ft. ceilings) out of steel trusses and SIPS panels ( R-40 in the walls, R-60 in the roof…) with the help of a few of the players on his high school hockey team…Plenty of room, a full basement, and a bunch of different projects going on in the shop ranging from furniture, to foundry work…!
It’s obvious from John’s “customized” PRT Shopbot table that he covers a pretty wide range of ground.
He’s installed a fulled sized aluminium “end plate/dove tail jig/millwork jig/clamp, etc.”at one end of his table. And he also outfitted the other end of his table with a home brewed indexer.
John started off the day by explaining how he uses his machine to make furniture, as well as “masters” which result in molds/foundry casting. He also showed a few silicone molds he’s made for repeat products, and some brass castings for machinery.
Ed Coleman spoke about how he melds the Shopbot and a desk top laser to produce high end custom craft work. His Celtic cross shows how the two tools can work together to create a very nicely detailed final product ( see above…)
Jim Zaccaro gave a great talk about running a sign making business, including “real case studies” of what you can expect if you decide to go into the trade. He also explained the process of cutting some unique materials as well as finishing exterior signage.
Bryson Wagner brought in a bunch of signs, and inlaid pieces hes been making out of solid surface materials, etc. He’s been trying a few different products for the inlays, and they are nice and crisp!
Jeanette DiMeo explained how she has learned to design her beautiful patented,electric violins in “Rhino”software, and then she uses “Rhino Cam”to cut them. She also spoke about the issues of learning design software. She brought along a few unfinished instruments, as well as a completed one, and they look great!
Then we heard from Russ Todd about some of his accessories which turn the Shopbot into a plotter, or engraver. He’s also helping Shopbotters find Trupan if they can’t get it locally.
A bunch of new ‘Botters, a couple of “veterans”, some first time visitors, as well as some owners of other machines who wanted to hear about the PRS and Buddy models…..
And John is truly a man of his word. When we scheduled this Camp months ago he told me that he’d be installing “full plumbing facilities”in the shop by the time we had the Camp. Sure enough I walked into the shop on Friday PM and he was working on it. By 7AM the next morning we had a completely functional” facility”…
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