CNCKing.com: Changes and Updates

There has been a gradual change going on since I merged WoodMarvels.com and 3DMarvels.com late last year that’s finally coming to a close. I’ve now unified the pricing structure so it makes more sense across the board as before, I had round numbers for 3DMarvels.com products and .95$ intervals for WoodMarvels.com. I like round numbers so that has won-out across the site. Also makes calculating royalties way easier at my end!

Another change I’m starting to work on is video – I really want to fill the site up with more videos not just in a general sense for products as I’ve done in the past but educational ones as well. The homepage now features a video showcasing the differences between the three main CNC machine types I sell files for and I will be doing the same for each sub-category, 3D Printer section already has a video explaining my issues with support material for instance.

This helps solve two ongoing issues I have with the site, the first, people honestly not knowing what machine they buy and what files they need to make a project happen – yes, people buy 3D printer files and ask me why their laser won’t cut it. This is one reason why I made that video on the homepage showcasing the which machine is which.

The second issue this will help is to help educate people as to the kind of work that’s involved with the designs they buy… for instance, a Zulu Main Battle Tank is great fun but a massive project to take and for some reason, some customers buy this as their FIRST DESIGN on the laser and wonder why they have so much trouble. Buying a file is the easy part, optimizing it for your bed, laser power etc… that’s where there hard work is and even harder… assembly! I always tell customer to buy the SIMPLES PROJECT POSSIBLE (usually a dinosaur) so they learn how their machine functions and get some experience under their belt as far as assembly is involved.

I’ll also be releasing a new Vector category to the site in the coming days, this will include line art and STL file formats – which can be done with any of the main CNC machine types I have on my site so they don’t fit in any specific category.  I can test this using both my ShopBot Desktop by ShopBot Tools and 3D Systems Cube.

I fully realize that the site is starting to look a little raw, it’s functional but increasingly unpretty. Once all these changes are implemented, I’ll begin taking a look at the design and updating that, until then, as always, CNCKing.com is a puzzle with less and less pieces to workout.