ShopBot Tools ShopBot Desktop Review: 2 Years In!
Founded by Ted Hall (see video of Ted @ TedX), ShopBot Tools out of North Carolina is the manufacturer of my amazing ShopBot Desktop which I picked-up in the USA and drove across the Canadian border almost 2 years ago now. I got my new digital camcorder for this trip so here’s what I saw.
It’s amazing how fast time goes and here is a video going through every aspect of the machine in case you aren’t familiar with this CNC table router.
https://vimeo.com/204711894
During that time, I’ve designed, redesigned and cut well over 50 CNC table router projects – you might say it isn’t a big deal until you consider these are multi-sheet projects and especially at the beginning as I was getting the hang of it, we often cut two or three times!
Be sure to read my 6 month review. Here’s one of the more complex ones… my Mangonel B Siege Weapon! I miss the beard!
https://vimeo.com/204704730
During the past two years, the ShopBot Desktop was working in an unheated Canadian garage that dipped below 0 degrees Celsius, I know this isn’t good for equipment so I’d run the warm-up routine twice and you know what… it powered through board without any issues.
What was especially nice is that I never had to worry about overheating (shows how little I knew, read below). I had several days where I’d cut for 8 hours straight.
After about 6 months, I drove it back down to ShopBot HQ and had it crated and sent Australia – Adelaide first then I drove it in a van for three days straight to Perth – it was a great camping companion in the outback.
I must be up there with one of the most traveled ShopBots in history! Here, I’d be cutting through board, not when it was below freezing but over 40 degrees Celsius! I hate air conditioning so maybe it was more like 35 in the shed. I went from one extreme to another and guess what… NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!! Overheating? What’s that?
During this time, I filmed a lot more videos including this ones comparing different CNC machine types which you can see on CNCKing.com‘s homepage.
https://vimeo.com/204703236
So, after two years of traveling half way around the world by ship, minivan, car and plane what problems have I had with this machine? ABSOLUTELY NONE!
Yeah… this is a very boring review but in this case, boring is great when it related to CNC equipment!
If you are looking for a high quality CNC table router, you really want to check-out ShopBot Tools at ShopBotTools.com and get your hands on one. As for me, I look forward to getting a full-sheet CNC table router once things are a bit more settled for me here and you guessed it, it will 100% be a ShopBot!
If this little guy can handle anything I throw at it, I can’t wait to see how well their large format machines do. I tell all my friends how much I love this machine and when you get one, you’ll be the same!
