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ShopBot’s Ted Hall reports, “This past Thursday Jan. 17 I participated in the Re-Opening of NextFab Studio … an amazing local maker-space in Philadelphia. It’s a large workshop with all the equipment you can imagine, great individual work spaces, an operating Cafe, and some amazing digital fab tools, including a large 5-Axis water-jet cutter. Looks … Continue reading >>> NextFab Studio has Grand Re-opening in Philadelphia
There are many times when our computer controlled machines seem to have been taken over by gremlins. Usually, these “gremlins” are erroneous settings that cause unexpected actions in the machine, or unexpected reactions to commonly used commands. Windows (all versions) has long been plagued by errors that occur when the OS is closed … Continue reading >>> The 5 Minute Software Fix
One of the tasks at which the ShopBot excels is processing sheet materials. I love that I can slide a sheet of melamine or plywood onto the table and a few minutes later pull off a small pile of parts, ready for edgebanding and assembly. If you have done your design and … Continue reading >>> Secondary Operations and Machine Calibration I was taught that most tools, when first taken out of the box, have only been started by the manufacturer; it’s up to the user to fine tune the instrument to enhance its qualities and the quality of its performance. My teacher was talking about hand planes but the concept is the same with more … Continue reading >>> ShopBot Mods 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 … Continue reading >>> The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly … Again Our quest began when our bit supplier mentioned a bit that would allow us to cut the coves for raised panels. We build 5 piece solid wood doors; until now the panels have been sized with a cross-cut saw and shaped by means of a Grizzly G7214z 7.5 horsepower spindle shaper. Then the … Continue reading >>> Making the Perfect Door, Part I: Concept and Programming This weekend the ShopBot Jamboree returns to Durham and we’re all looking forward to getting together with ShopBotters from around the country. We’ve enjoyed doing the Jamboree on the West Coast and then in Texas, but it’s good to be back home too. Our Jamboree is a lot of things, but most of all it’s … Continue reading >>> ShopBot Jamboree Coming This Week … I have been wanting to post some thoughts on two recent, heavily discussed, blog articles , Chris Anderson’s (of Wired Magazine) report on new kinds of small manufacturing operations and Joel Johnson’s (of gizmodo) spirited critique. Between the two, there’s been a lot of good discussion of the ways in which new technologies do and … Continue reading >>> Thoughts & Comments on Digital Fabrication and the New Industrial Revolution While puttering on various MAKEcation projects, I’ve continued to ponder the economy and how to relate to today’s conditions as a small business. Last week’s government report of continued job losses in December prompted me to get some of the thoughts down. These have grown to be a bit extensive, so for convenience I’ve broken … Continue reading >>> It's Still the Economy, of Course … [Part 1] Getting More Specific for Us at ShopBot The specific problem that confronts both ShopBot and ShopBotters is that it’s not possible to know exactly what form the new opportunities I’ve vaguely described will take — or the exact directions we should move or the projects we should undertake. But the issue has our attention. Here … Continue reading >>> Economy, continued … [Part 2] |
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