Got my CAMaster in and running too!!

[Dan Hintz]

All I know is the wife blames Keith for starting me down the path of major purchases... if he had not partnered with Camaster and offered up the drawing, ending with me placing a new toy in my shop, I most likely would not have gone on my current shopping spree.

But hey, that's between Keith and my wife, and I've learned to steer clear of any battle involving her Maybe while she's scolding him I can slip in a few extra pieces of equipment...

[james mcgrew]

i paid to help prototype the first X3 camaster built we started the project in mar 08 and i got the machine in dec 08, mind you i had a machine during that time and several x3's were sold before i got mine.

i have run that machine like a dog 3-5 days a week hard, tore it up a couple of times, with joey on the other end of the phone (and yes i still talk to them 5-7 times a week) i never lost two days with downtime, yet all downtime was earned and not a result of machine failure. i made a good decision with this machine and many of you have seen it in my shop. probably in the list of moneymakers it would rank in the top three (35 woodworking machines in my shop)

i have known from the start that camaster was not the biggest nor the best, but the beauty for me is they are not second best to any in this class and i have been dealt with ethically on all issues, i was informed and agreed to every delay, i build custom products as the core of my trade have i missed a deadline yes do i have any unsatisfied customers

no

[james mcgrew]

Is mine finished?

dan, i just got off the phone w/ the god of sceduling, your machine is in line and will ship after being tested this week

[Nicholas Bukky]

dan, i just got off the phone w/ the god of sceduling, your machine is in line and will ship after being tested this week

Would that be Joey?

[Gene Crain]

All I know is the wife blames Keith for starting me down the path of major purchases... if he had not partnered with Camaster and offered up the drawing, ending with me placing a new toy in my shop, I most likely would not have gone on my current shopping spree.

But hey, that's between Keith and my wife, and I've learned to steer clear of any battle involving her Maybe while she's scolding him I can slip in a few extra pieces of equipment...

did your wife pick out your sig photo as well?

[Mike Heidrick]

For those waiting here are some good things to do now (things I would do if I was waiting):

• Get your cnc location spot cleared out and area around it
• Make sure you have electrical service where you want to place your machine
• Improve the cnc areas lighting
• Run your overhead duct work to the middle of the are where your machine will be
• In the case of the stinger get your base/table built for it
• Be thinking about where your computer will sit
• Pay attention to the finishing spot area in your shop get lighting improved there
• Get your sanding gear up to snuff
• Get some endmills, v bits and good spirals on order
• Look around your shop for things dust can settle on - its about to explode in there
• Get a dust shoe ordered if you are going to buy one otherwise research files to cut one yourself and get teh parts for it
• Download demo versions of Mach and Vcarve or aspire and start playing
• Learn about Mach and what all the settings are and how to tune it
• Learn about home switches and zero plates how to use outputs to control your dust collector and spindle
• Decide what pendant control you will add - having remote capability of moving the machine away from the keyboard is super nice - I did teh Xbox controller mod for Mach myself
• Get familiar with corel or adobe illustrator if you pan to use those to work with images
• Pick a CAD package and start playing
• Start milling some test stock
• Make sure you have wood storage and places to store sheet goods

For Dan:
My advice if you really do not have wood working equipment yet - here is how I would spend your money -
jointer and planer will be such an assett if you are going to cut wood projects for sale - you will want those savings from buying from a mill very quick - buy those before a lathe - get to know your machine and software before adding a lathe and 4th axis - if you did not plan a lathe as part of your cnc wait a bit as you might just want to do that!

So far all my cnc work has been across my jointer, planer, sliding compound miter saw and or table saw, and through my sanders and quite a few under teh RAS with a dado stack. All of those benefit from a NICE dust collector. Get that DC done now and get some ductwork in before that machine arrives.

I did the crazy workshop and then added a CNC router. Really find the cnc compliments the workshop but I would not want to be without the workshop - its just how my mind thinks about my projects I guess.

[Dan Hintz]

Mike,

Several items are upgrades. I'm running a Harbor Fright DC at the moment (she's a loud beast) for the laser, so the Penn State will be more powerful and quieter. I've always wanted a lathe, but now that I'm getting into some metalworking projects, I figure it can do some light double-duty work on smaller wood projects... less space to take up, and I don't have any (current) plans to turn bowls and such. The drillpress would be an upgrade, and the bandsaw, well, I've just needed one of those for quite some time.

[Keith Outten]

For those waiting here are some good things to do now (things I would do if I was waiting):
.
Look around your shop for things dust can settle on - its about to explode in there
.

Mike,

Are you really having that much of a dust problem?

Neither of the CNC Routers that I run are a dust problem, the majority of the dust is removed at the dust shoe. At CNU I have to keep the shop spotless because I work in a shop that is attached to the Architects Office and my boss won't tolerate any dust that might find its way into his conference room

I often run the ShopBot all day long and the bosses golf cart is parked right next to the router without any sign of dust on his cart. I often will get a few chips on top of the material I am cutting but I don't have any air-born dust from the ShopBot. Cutting Corian produces a very fine dust along with chips but the dust shoe catches the fine particles really well. I have the cheapo HF 2 hp dust pump at CNU, it doesn't have near the CFM of my old 1.5 hp Grizzly DC that I use in my shop at home.

Maybe the performance of my chip box system is better than I thought. I remember that whenever I use to start up my Dust Collector with the bags installed there would be a cloud of dust when the bags inflated. I also hated to have to stop working to empty the stupid bags, and I can't imagine having to interrupt a long CNC run just to dump the bags.
.

[Scott Shepherd]

"good, fast, or cheap, pick two".

I wouldn't call 4 months "fast" Again, as someone with a router, shopping for a new one, if you tell me it's a 4 month wait, I'm probably going to look at your competitor and probably look up, not down. If it's 4 months, it's 4 months. I'm not really looking for a January install on a machine I order today.

[Mike Heidrick]

My dust issues are my creation at this point. I need a skirt on my shoe and I am using a quick change Xtreme Xtension and love the quick change for bits so much I have not taken it off so my dist hose is a 1 1/4" more away than it was.

[james mcgrew]

I wouldn't call 4 months "fast" Again, as someone with a router, shopping for a new one, if you tell me it's a 4 month wait, I'm probably going to look at your competitor and probably look up, not down. If it's 4 months, it's 4 months. I'm not really looking for a January install on a machine I order today.

like i said scott this machine is not for everybody!! good luck on your purchase!! you seem to be stuck on a point

what is it?

i guess i should go a bit further, there are many satisfied customers here on the creek and many who never post here, yet very few unsatisfied customers.

camasters lead time is normally 90 days and less (much less in some cases) yet they introduced a new product which just happened to be a GREAT deal far above many competitors in both Quality and price!! add in the IWF show (to which Kieths machine was shown) which only comes every two years and produced a great demand for the machines and delays will happen, to thier credit they hustled to ramp up production to meet demand and will be caught up very soon. most all of the machines they build have various custom features, i do know thier goal was to eventually have the stinger available off the shelf yet the excellent quality of the product has created a demand,

i can show you where the table top routers are in the market, i sawm most all of them at iwf, the camaster is still worth the waith when the comparisons are made!

[Scott Shepherd]

like i said scott this machine is not for everybody!! good luck on your purchase!! you seem to be stuck on a point

what is it?

My point is 4 months is a long time to wait for a machine. I say that from a perspective of someone shopping for a router. There's no hidden agenda, no hidden meaning, just a simple comment that is "Wow, 4 months is a long time for a machine". If you're reading anything into that other than 4 months is a long time, then you're reading deeper than you need to.

No need to pull out all the "I know people that are happy and I'm happy" comments and I can name any brand of CNC router and have people lined up to say great things about any model.

I never said a single word about whether the machine was quality or not. I just said 4 months is a long time to wait for a capital expenditure.

Funny how so much was read into that. So now you've told me to go somewhere else already. Wow....that's a defensive posture for sure. I also asked "How long is the wait for a 4' x 8' machine?".

[Dan Hintz]

I'm hoping the $2500 Powermatic planer I just ordered from Rockler for $199.99 comes in A man can dream, can't he?

Though I'm not sure how I'm going to move nearly 900 pounds of solid steel from my driveway down the hill to get it in the basement. A few pieces like that and I'll need to repour the slab with extra rebar!

[Nicholas Bukky]

I wouldn't call 4 months "fast" Again, as someone with a router, shopping for a new one, if you tell me it's a 4 month wait, I'm probably going to look at your competitor and probably look up, not down. If it's 4 months, it's 4 months. I'm not really looking for a January install on a machine I order today.

You said your self you were going to look at their competitor........

???????

And Jim said good luck on your purchase this machine is not for everyone.....

[Scott Shepherd]

Wow, you guys are sensitive about this topic. I said "If you tell me 4 months, I'm probably going to look at your competitor".

Is that such a wrong statement to make on anything we buy? I mean the machines are made to produce product I can sell. If I can't get the machine on my floor for 4 months and I have demand for product, what else can I do but to look at other machines? If I find out other machines won't work for what we need, but this one will, then I guess I'd have to get in line and wait 4 months.

Guy came on and said I could pick good, fast, or cheap, I just said "I don't think 4 months is fast", then that got James fired up, saying their machines are not for everyone. Now, you're suggesting I have other motives.

Wow.....some of you need to cut back on the coffee. You have WAYYYYYY over read my comments.

Let me see if I can be clear for about the 5th time now.

I think 4 months in a long time. It might be the lowest amount of time you can get a CNC machine in. If it is, it is. However, 4 months is a long time to me. 4 months may not be that long to you.

How that gets read into anything other than that is on you, not me.