Why We Build Our CNC Tools the Way We Build ‘em

At ShopBot, we have been designing and building affordable CNC tools for almost 25 years. ShopBots were the first affordable CNC routers for small manufacturing. Our design choices have been based on our experience manufacturing and using low-cost robotic equipment that is optimized for small and medium production operations. Our leadership and innovation in mechanical …

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All Desktop CNCs Are Not Created Equal

The CNC below is frequently compared to our ShopBot Desktop and ShopBot Desktop MAX tools. This tool is imported from China by several different resellers in North America. It is also available directly from China from the internet. Prices for the tool vary from $2,800 to $6,500, depending on the reseller. From published specs, …

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Why We Build Our Tools Ourselves

You may know that ShopBot Tools sells CNC tools, serving small-to-medium sized manufacturing companies. What you may not know is that we build our digital fabrication tools ourselves – using digital fabrication. We design and build our own tools, the electronic controls for the tools, as well as the software that runs the tools, which …

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Manufacturing Heroes: Do We Need a New Type?

manufacturing in small shops

If we really want to return manufacturing to our communities, we are going to need to support a new kind of manufacturing hero …

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A New Design Resource for ShopBotters Doing Collaborative Work: Fusion 360

I’m always on the lookout for resources for small shops doing digital fabrication – resources that will help these shops operate profitably by improving communications with customers and improving collaborations with partners working on the same project. For small shops doing CNC, 3d-printing, laser cutting, and applying other digital fab technologies, I think of …

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Another Try at Digital Fab Art

Ted Hall (ShopBot CEO) had a chance to continue his art project that combines CNC carving with an interest in images of shoreline and sky as seen from from the water. It’s been several years since Ted’s last foray into painted carvings of seascapes and time was short, but an opportunity to spend 2 weeks …

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An Experiment in the Next Industrial Revolution

Digital fabrication joinery is used in producing Handibot “Smart Tools”.

 

You can think about Handibot as ShopBot’s experimental platform for exploring manufacturing strategies for the “next industrial revolution”. In a recent blog post responding to a customer challenge about open collaboration, I’ve tried to lay out why digital fabrication will be the catalyst …

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A Start at the “New Industrial Revolution”

I’ve just posted a new blog to 100kGarages that highlights the Kickstarter campaign of a design company called AtFAB. AtFAB (Anne Filson and Gary Rohrbacher) is all about digital fabrication and the way that digital fabrication enables a new kind of distributed manufacturing. It’s all about how to return competitive, small-shop manufacturing to communities with …

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Indexer Spinning for Autodesk University

I’m getting back into reporting here after too long a time spent deep in software. I thought I’d start with a report on an Indexer project. Reporting on this project lets me describe some things that have been going on at ShopBot as well as highlight a feature of the (new) ShopBot 3.8.x Version software.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly … Again

We’re just back from the IWF show in Atlanta. This show is the largest woodworking machinery show in the US. In the past, we’ve found it a good place to let a wide range of woodworkers see our tools, learn how they can address production needs of small shops and also suit manufacturing processes in …

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