Quote from Anthony Langley on 1st March 2025, 2:02 am

Thank you, Grer!  I'll check them out.  I appreciate the info.

Quote from Pat GASCHE on 12th March 2025, 9:29 pm

Hello all

I am Pat Gasche from central Iowa USA.  I am an electrical contractor, OEM UL panel shop and we use a 5'x10' cnc router to make our control boxes.  I also use it for my hobby of woodworking.  I use Fusion 360 and get along most of the time with it but there are times not so good.  I look forward to the cnc class so I can finish some (150) small paddles I am making for a church camp for awards.  It seems that I am always hacking my way through Fusion and watching a video every time I'm stuck.  Hope this will take care of that.

Quote from J G Treble on 25th April 2025, 10:50 am

 I'm John Treble. I've been an academic economist and economic historian until retirement 15 years ago. However, I have also built and flown model aeroplanes since I was 11. Just before I retired I started to compete in a class called F3F, which involves going to the top of a hill with an expensive glider in (preferably) a very strong wind and seeing how long it takes to traverse a 100m course 10 times; i.e. 9 180degree turns. (My personal best is a respectable 31.67 secs.) Of course, I started this at far too advanced an age to be really competitive, but I had a good time until 3 or 4 years ago, when my knees gave up under the strain.  

I already had a plan to fill the empty hours, though. I decided I was going to build and fly scale watergliders. I thought perhaps this would be easier if I could use CAD/CAM methods, which is why I'm here. I have been a computer user since 1970, but I've usually written my own programs in Fortran, Mathematica or GAUSS. Modern visual interfaces are a bit of a mystery to me still!

I have got a Stepcraft M-700 CNC machine with 565x850 workspace, which has just produced my first set of parts. These are in 1/8" liteply and 1/8" balsa, designed in Fusion 360 and  I'm very pleased with them. They will build into a pair of floats for a 72" wingspan electric watertug - maybe.

Quote from J G Treble on 25th April 2025, 12:20 pm

Quote from Anthony Langley on 27th February 2025, 12:09 am

Thank you so much, Dan!  You have some amazing work, too!!  I'm certainly not set on the X-Carve Pro machine, if there are better options for my somewhat "light duty" needs.  As a small builder, I like to buy well-built, quality tools, but can't get into some of the commercial machine price ranges for my needs on this.  I'd love to hear suggestions on 2' x 4' machines that are solidly built, but not overbuilt for modest needs. 

I'm enjoying the VCarve section, but the graphics look more like Windows 98 than Windows 11!  They really skimped on the graphics, compared to Fusion!

I have a Stepcraft machine, which I bought recently to replace my 10-year old X-Carve. I have been using it now for around six months, and I think it meets your description of 'solidly built, but not overbuilt for modest needs'. Mine is an M-700 with a 479 x 743 x 194 workspace, but they do a larger M-1000 model which is 679 x 1044 x 194 mm and M-1400 (979 x 1444 x 194). I had a really horrible time with the Stepcraft delivery from Germany, but since you are in Arkansas, you would deal with their US subsidiary in Connecticut, who probably take a more responsible approach to deliveries and customer service. Parts for their machines are all manufactured  in Germany. For the US market, parts are shipped to CT, where the machines are built. M1000 is $5100, M1400 $8500.

Apart from the build quality, one thing I really like about my machine is its flexibility. It can be used for milling, 3D printing, vinyl cutting etc. by changing the tool on the CNC gantry. You can also engrave a picture of yourself on your dining table with one should you ever want to.

Quote from Abraham Ahmed on 1st May 2025, 4:39 pm

Hi folks—Abe Ahmed here, I manage a workshop for a busy regional producing theatre in the North of England. I manage a couple of teams  and we’ve been involved in producing scenery for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (UK Tour), Here You Come Again (UK Tour) and the Olivier-nominated Animal Farm (3 way co-production).

Bought the CNC Woodworker course to try and formalise an induction for newbies, sharpen my own CAD-to-CAM chops (AutoCAD + Fusion, still on VCarve 8.5) and give the team a clear step up. Shop runs an 8 × 4 single-tool, 3-axis Mantech router that’s eight years old—any hacks for squeezing accuracy out of vintage Chinese iron are very welcome. Keen to swap tips and war stories. Cheers!

Quote from Mark Pingel on 18th November 2025, 4:03 pm

Hello all!

Mark from the YouTube channel Money Pit Boating here...

I purchased Dan's CNC course awhile ago and it literally changed my life. No joke!

Looking forward to creating tons of fun projects with the knowledge gained.

 

Cheers,

 

-Mark