We will be bringing a new x-carve device on-line over the next few weeks. It is what you would learn and become proficent on. The large CNC is a production device and isn’t well suited for beginners. Think beginning of November, best to get started on the current learning path. Shapeoko 2, Shapeoko XXL, then move onto the wood x-carve when it is released. There is a good chance that existing Shapeoko XXL users will receive priority for training and testing for the new machine. The machine is stock, so please visit their website for any questions you might have. You could also search Google. Again, we are getting the package listed below.
Later we will integrate Vcarve Pro as an upgraded authorization and this will become the path to the Multicam. We expect the new machine will reduce the need to ever learn the Multicam by the vast majority of members.
Now this made me laugh out loud. I assume by members you include those who never set foot in the Woodshop. Back in the day not so long ago, woodshop members routinely dragged sheet goods in to cut all kinds of interesting things on the Multicam. There was even a Woodshop Chair trying to stir up excitement for holiday yard ornaments. But if you essentially shut the machine down for over two years and then restrict your view to that time period… well look at that: the vast majority of members have not used a CNC to cut anything over 29" in a couple of years. Must not need more!
It’s called a self fulfilling prophecy and doesn’t say the quiet part out loud: DMS Woodshop can’t figure out how to teach the Multicam even though Metal & Machining can teach the plasma cutter, the HAAS, and the metal lathe, all of which would qualify as “production” tools. I don’t understand why DMS leadership would spend for a redundant small format tool in lieu of going after the real problem.
FWIW: For a few years now I have bent over backwards to help DMS folks who need, but can’t access, a large format CNC. I will continue to do that (heat wave excluded) as long as my personal workload allows time to fit the tasks in. But to be clear, I’d rather see folk gaining access to the Multicam for a host of reasons including liability.
Nobody, so good point if it was donated and did not come out of any funds under DMS control. That’s just not the way committees typically gets tools.
But as a BOD member, doesn’t it seem odd to you that one committee chooses to let a valuable piece of equipment remain so under utilized for literally years? Not so very long ago a major complaint was so many members were using it that it was hard to get access. Today, access is no easier, but it sits idle most of the time.
What I find odd is that I have not seen you in any of the woodshop committee meetings offering to help teach any of the classes. Out of all the classes that have been thought they only had about 14-15 members even sign up for the classes, and out of those people none have finished the table side check off. Also we have a lot of people who already are trained on it. The training is there for people to take the training and use it. If they chose not to that’s on them and not the woodshop.
You just might want to check your facts … or fix the events calendar because they don’t come close to agreeing. Woodshop inserted training on other devices as a prerequisite to Multicam training. By using the calendar view combined with selecting either Shapeoko or the Multicam, you can page back thru the months. There were Shapeoko 2 classes in the 1st Quarter and a few more frequent Shapeoko XXL classes. There are exactly zero Multicam classes YTD.
As for numbers taking the classes, what I hear along the grapevine is that members are turned off by the requirement to take two Shapeoko classes before ever getting started on Multicam training. Inserting a third step will make it better?
To describe this two step, now going to three step prerequisite regime for Multicam training access “training is there” is … well, nice words fail me.
Just ask yourself if it is reasonable to require a member who wants to cut holiday yard ornaments to train on three machines that can’t do that in order to eventually train on the machine that can actually do the project. Do realize each of these small format machines use different lingo and have meaningful differences between techniques. As a very experienced large format CNC owner/user, I had my fair share of challenges when I set up a Shapeoko for my grandson. Could I figure it out? Yes. Did the fact that I am running a CNC 7 days a week almost every week make that possible? Probably yes.
DMS has an entirely different situation. You are expecting a member who maybe uses a CNC once a month or once a quarter to remember a bunch a small, but significant details. Now fill their head with training on 3 different small devices and expect them to not get confused when they finally work on the Multicam. Good luck.
I do not see an issue with the trainings on the other machines before moving on other committees do that currently so why would this be any different? I’d do the other two before moving on to the multicam. I’m actually waiting on the next training now
Do recognize that I was there, basically rebuilt the Multicam to get it functional again, saw users make mistakes, saw how easily they can forget key details when it is not a frequent task, and that was all without any confusion due to one software calling something a contour cut and another calling it a profile cut, etc.
My experience says it is much better to really drive home the key details concerning exactly how and why you do things on the Multicam and avoid any points of confusion caused by machine differences, example: train on a smaller machine with X & Y reversed from the Multicam. The occasional user is going to mess that up when they get to the big machine … guaranteed.
Since you are on the training path … you will discover the disconnects when you get there. And remember you are taking this path so you won’t make mistakes on the Multicam. That is laughable … you will just make different mistakes because you will have too many do’s and don’ts floating around in the grey matter. I predict when all is said and done, you will look back and say you learned alot, but you could have gotten to where you were going with less confusion if you had just had a decent training program on the machine you intend to use … no matter which of the 4 machines that may be.
FWIW, I do this every day. However, since I have two machines with different controllers I have to be very careful to not do some something on machine A using a machine B approach. I know this bone deep. I get it right almost all the time. Almost. Your occasional user is not going to be as fortunate.
I take it you skipped right over the part about working 7 days a week. I would rather the funds being used for the new gadget went to hiring a CNC expert to develop a training program. Someone who understands that Day 1 they are preparing for the training of folks who are infrequent users and need a really hard to forget training program. And no, absolutely not me. If it would be helpful, I would be willing to meet with whoever you found to give my 2 cents on the scope.
