We held our second Pennsylvania Camp at John Haggerty’s shop on Sat. Sept. 19th.
John has a pretty eclectic business, and the Campers attending also came from a wide variety of
backgrounds.
The day started off with a discussion about the difficulties of doing business in today’s economy. And we had a good discussion about the idea of using the “100kgarages” concept to help increase business. There were also a number of suggestions regarding web page builders, and web pages designed to help small businesses.
As you will see from some of the pictures on our Flickr page John has highly “customized” his machine to fully utilize all of it’s functions. This includes a number of strategically placed pneumatic clamping jigs, as well as some “home brewed” mounting/cutting setups.
One setup which everyone was interested in was his “hub” which allows him to use the Shopbot for turning large bowls ( much larger than most people’s shop lathes will allow…). He had a variety of these on hand to show us. He also explained how he uses ‘shop scraps’ and turns them into marketable products such as trivets, cheese boards, etc.
John also gave a great demonstration of the software he uses for all of his projects. It is called “PYTHA” and it is an incredibly powerful program that had everyone drooling by the end of the demo. John also showed the group how he is working with other shops to help draw up files that could be used with a 3D printing machine.
One of the most ingenious projects he had on hand was his “eye glass holder” ( see above) for those of us who can never find where we left them last….
Steve Schmucker had a project which he was trying to tool path and he brought it in for the group to discuss. We came up with more than a few viable solutions ( most of which suggested that Steve needs Aspire software…).
Charles Knopp showed off one of the first pieces he did using Aspire, as well as a clever “whale” carving that combined Aspire, and some ingenuity on his part.
Dave Lentz brought in a piece he carved with Photo V Carve and we discussed some alternative products to use when cutting photos.
Russ Todd had some of his after market products there and we got into the nuances of cutting vinyl and glass products as possible projects. Don Niland works primarily in glass so he was able to add a lot to this discussion.
Jeff Bissert brought in a flash drive full of images of some work he has been doing for a sports bar in NJ, and he showed some great examples of how he’s been able to integrate 3D clip art into large projects.
During lunch we cut out a “Linker Log” deer so everyone could see the concept behind the Linker Log process. I would suspect that the “herd”will grow larger as people headed back to their own shops with new ideas….
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