Hello all - Newbie Alert!

[Woodypk]

Hi All,

I'd just like to introduce myself and say hello.

I thought it would be right to register here after reading a few threads I'd picked up from searches from Google so here I am....

As for a little bit of a background from me - I'm a hobbyist/trying-to-turn-pro woodworker currently waiting for my DCM (don't come Monday) from work.

In the not too distant past, the company I work for announced that It will be closing it's doors on us at some time towards the end of next year and we will all be out of a job (approx 500 employees at the time of the announcement) and so I decided I would try and turn my passion of woodworking into a full time job and leave my Engineering job behind.

They've set aside a training budget for everyone and although I have no idea what I'd like to train on, I do feel like this is a decent opportunity to finally be my own boss - something I've known I've wanted to do for a LOOOOONG time.

This gives me another year (and a bit) while I'm still employed to try and make it on my own, get some training in whatever I feel will be value added to my woodworking career (if I can ever decide what training I'd like to do...) and realise my goal of becoming me own boss.

The business I'm wanting to break into is designing and creating furniture and textiles primarily aimed at the toddler/children's market. It's a joint venture with the (to be) wife where she does the soft furnishings and I take care of the woodworking.

I've already starting designing and creating some stuff - the materials I use are almost exclusively hardwoods - Oak and Ash being the primary two materials but I do use others along with smaller amounts of Birch Plywood.

I've got the feeling that when we can finally afford a CNC, it will open new doors for us and help us grow as a business and allow our ideas to become more creative.

I'm not totally sold on the idea of buying an off she shelf machine such as one from the likes of the Ooznest, Shapoko or one of the Inventables X-Carve machines that the Youtube woodworkers of the US seem to rave about. And on the other hand, I'm not sure spending the time to learn how to build one myself would be the best use of my time and/or money. All of this is subject to change though, should you (hopefully) friendly bunch end up steering me one way or the other.

Anyway, this post has probably gone on for long enough. I'll end the rambling here... Thanks for reading if you got this far.

All the best,
Tom

[ktm530]

HI Tom I am new on here to I hope all goes well for you and you finally get to be your own boss I been self employed for nearly 30 years and I can say it has been best move I done. But I am really struggling to find how I introduce myself on this forum any idea I just can't seem to find anywhere to get this boss up for me to introduce myself on here and what I am lookingf for in cnc machines any help would be appreciated all the best.

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Tom and welcome, This made me chuckle, never heard redundancy said like that before...Lol


As for a little bit of a background from me - I'm a hobbyist/trying-to-turn-pro woodworker currently waiting for my DCM (don't come Monday) from work.




I've got the feeling that when we can finally afford a CNC, it will open new doors for us and help us grow as a business and allow our ideas to become more creative.

I'm not totally sold on the idea of buying an off she shelf machine such as one from the likes of the Ooznest, Shapoko or one of the Inventables X-Carve machines that the Youtube woodworkers of the US seem to rave about. And on the other hand, I'm not sure spending the time to learn how to build one myself would be the best use of my time and/or money. All of this is subject to change though, should you (hopefully) friendly bunch end up steering me one way or the other.

I don't often blow my own trumpet and prefer to leave that to others to do for me but in your case, I'm going to make an exception and jump in first before you get lead down the wrong path.?

I build CNC routers for Hobby users and small startup users just like you. If you look around the forum you'll also see I encourage and help lots of people to "grow their own" and whenever possible steer them away from building or buying the wrong tool for the job and in your case that's exactly what I'm going to do.!

Like I say I deal with a lot of small one-man-band businesses or husband and wife teams and it's very common for them to start on the wrong footing by trying to save startup costs. They tend to go about this in one of two ways.

#1 They try to DIY build in a rush with very little research or clue to what is really required or the amount of time it takes to build a suitable machine that is reliable or accurate enough for a business.
#2 They rush out and buy one of the cheap eBay machines like the work bee's Shepoko's, X Carves, etc. While these types of machines are great for learning they are a disaster waiting to happen for a new startup business. Simply put they cannot handle the workload of a business and very quickly become unreliable and worn out which causes accuracy issues and a lot more trouble a business just doesn't need as it's trying to get established and grow.

So my advice is to forget DIY building unless you are prepared to start researching now and building very soon so that by the time DCM arrives you might have half a chance building a suitable machine. The time it takes and effort involved to build a machine good enough for a business to rely on should not be underestimated, it's a considerable undertaking even for someone with experience and not something I would recommend to anyone with no experience looking to build the first machine to run there business from.

The next piece of advice is to steer clear of work-bee's, shapoko's, etc no matter what you may see on youtube or how much the crazy yank's rave about them because they have either never used a proper machine or as is often the case they are full of shit or trying to sell something.

The truth is they simply cannot withstand and maintain the reliability and accuracy a business running 8-12hrs per day puts on them and very quickly they become a liability and nightmare as they wear and let you down when they are needed most. A growing startup cannot afford to let customers down with either poor quality or unmet lead times because the machine broke down again or you had to make 5 parts to get one good one.!

There are many other reasons not to buy as well like, they are slow and weak so the cycle times are longer than a properly built machine, they break and wear tools more often than a stiffly built machine which as less vibrations, the surface finish is also better on a stiff machine so less cleanup time is required.
All these little details add up to more time and money and a growing business needs to keep overheads to a minimum and productivity to its maximum if it's to survive and succeed.

So here's where I come in and blow my own trumpet for a change in the hope you don't take either of the paths above.

When you are ready I suggest you get in touch and I will do my very best to give you the best machine you will find for the money you have to spend. ( I will put my email below, if you email me here I'll send you my telephone number in case you would like to chat or need advise on anything related to CNC)

They won't be cheap like the Workbee's etc, but I guarantee they will happily allow you to run a business working 12hr days, 7 days a week with minimal fuss, high reliability, and accuracy with peace of mind that support is just a phone call away should you hit any issues.

I know this because we have many customers and users who do just that with our machines so I'm proud and pleased to say I've helped many new small businesses succeed and grow into very profitable company's which have created new jobs. Luckily for me, many of whom have gone on to buy more or larger machines from us as they have grown.

I also know all of the fore-mentioned issues with Work-bee's, shapoko's, etc from helping those businesses or hobby users unlucky enough to take that path before finding me on this or other forums which is exactly why I wrote this long blow my own trumpet reply so I can hopefully help you avoid the same pitfalls.

[email protected]

[routerdriver]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your plans for the future.The advice in the previous post should be taken to heart as there are differences between machines that will allow you to learn the processes involved in producing parts on a CNC machine and those that will actually produce at a rate that will earn you a living.

[dazp1976]

They won't be cheap like the Workbee's etc, but I guarantee they will happily allow you to run a business working 12hr days, 7 days a week with minimal fuss, high reliability, and accuracy with peace of mind that support is just a phone call away should you hit any issues.

I know this because we have many customers and users who do just that with our machines so I'm proud and pleased to say I've helped many new small businesses succeed and grow into very profitable company's which have created new jobs. Luckily for me, many of whom have gone on to buy more or larger machines from us as they have grown.

I also know all of the fore-mentioned issues with Work-bee's, shapoko's, etc from helping those businesses or hobby users unlucky enough to take that path before finding me on this or other forums which is exactly why I wrote this long blow my own trumpet reply so I can hopefully help you avoid the same pitfalls.

[email protected]

Hi Tom.

Buy the Jazz.
It might cost 3, 4 or even 5 times as much but, if it lasts way more than 10 times longer and works right out of the box... it's a no-brainer.

I haven't got one myself but... reputation, word of mouth, and good feedback, go a long way.

[Kitwn]

Welcome to the forum Tom and good luck with your plans.

I have a 600 x 900 DIY CNC router in my workshop and my wife has a total of 4 looms (or is it 5?) in her studio as well as being a knitwear designer and a lace-maker, so I'm interested in your combined wood/fabric venture.

The following threads are from satisfied JAZZCNC customers (Dean is too humble to link these himself).

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/14357-My-new-machine-Guess-the-make%21?highlight=pilsbury
http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/14702-Guitar-Building-with-my-JazzCNC-machine


Just a thought, but would your current employer's training budget run to helping you make the most critical parts for a DIY machine? You said you are in engineering.
If you decide to explore that route the build-logs on this forum are a good source of possible designs and you should critically examine every photograph and video of a JAZZCNC made machine you can find. Remember, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.

Kit

[Woodypk]

Thanks all for the messages.

I've had a quick run through the forum and it seems that there are nothing but good reviews for Dean's Machines and the more I think about it, it seems the best way to go about it.

I've sent you an Email Dean as it seems I'm unable to PM you for some reason.

Tom

[RnD]

Hi Tom,
I had my DCM last year 37 years service, My plan was to start my own business and having purchased two CNC machines ( With some of the DCM ££££) Then on the Wednesday I had a job offer too good to say no to. 12 months later I have settled into my new job and have started to look at using my machines as a "Side Hustle"
at 55yo I had to look that up. I would look at local makerspaces and pop down they seem to have open evenings for newbies to see what's on offer.
Fab Labs are good for Fusion Training 121 training.
Good luck with your dream and go for it.
Dave

[Clive S]

Thanks all for the messages.

I've had a quick run through the forum and it seems that there are nothing but good reviews for Dean's Machines and the more I think about it, it seems the best way to go about it.

I've sent you an Email Dean as it seems I'm unable to PM you for some reason.

Tom
Here you go
[email protected]

[Kitwn]

Thanks all for the messages.

I've had a quick run through the forum and it seems that there are nothing but good reviews for Dean's Machines and the more I think about it, it seems the best way to go about it.

I've sent you an Email Dean as it seems I'm unable to PM you for some reason.

Tom

Tom,
There are some forum features, including uploading pictures and probably sending a PM, which you cannot access until you have made 10 posts. It helps prevent spammers making a mess of things. Find a few posts you want to say complimentary things about (some of mine for example ��) and you'll be good to go.

Kit

[Woodypk]

Thanks for sharing, RnD.

And thanks for the heads up about the PM info, Kit.