Saturday March 13th was our second Camp in Utah. This time we held it at the shop of Noel Fields in the town of Magna. Noel has a business which runs the gamut from carved Shopbot pieces to numerous works of laser art and engraved objects.
It had been about 4 years since our last Utah Camp, and you could tell that some of the “Campers” have been doing their homework…! When I asked people to bring in any samples they had brought for Show and Tell just about everyone went out to their cars, and vans and started to carry in pieces which ranged from hand held, to those needing multiple sets of arms…
Lee Cheney brought in some great mahogany ply carved “screen doors” he made after getting some ideas at the Camp 4 years ago. He even figured a way to “Winter proof” them so they could be used year round.
Roy Jones described how he’s been building roller coasters for years, by hand, and now he’s saving countless hours (and dollars) using the Shobbot to “slice” large pieces for full sized assembly.
Richard Price showed us one of the “Vaccu clamp”setups for those people needing vacuum for occasional jobs, and didn’t want to totally re-build their tables to accommodate those jobs.
George Kelley explained how he’s using his new Buddy machine to do a variety of carvings, plaques, etc., and he’s certainly a fast learner !
Jim Ludi drove over from Denver and brought along a few samples he uses to SHOW people just how accurately the Shopbot can create pieces and parts with exacting tolerances.
Robert Cheal brought in some excellent examples of how he is incorporating copper panels into his work by building “press molds”with his Shopbot. ( See one of his panels above).He also brought along a jig he built for thermo forming small parts which he built out of simple plywood.
Mike Richards showed all of us some of his extensive electronic research by explaining why/how people might use opto isolators, shielded cables, geared motor setups etc. And he did it in such a way that I think most of us were able to understand it all!
And our host Noel showed us a variety of materials he has been experimenting with ranging from mirrored plastics, to bamboo and stone, and even an Emu egg ! He also described how he’s been able to use the “1ookgarages.com.” project to get work, and more future “leads”.
The entire Camp was a great example of just how many different ways people have found to use their machines for everything from personal satisfaction, to full time occupations.
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