have some questions before buying

Hi folks. I'm really excited about the handibot tool and how it can be used in my fence business.

I would be using the bot to cut custom picket tops on cedar and treated pine fence boards. It seems like this will be a pretty straight forward process but the other intent for the bot will be to cut custom designs on 4x4 and 6x6 fence post. this may be a stretch for the bot but I think that i can make it work on the dimensional materials by flipping the material side to side.

the BIG question that I have is how to get the bot to travel the length of the post (usually 8') and cut multiple dado's along the way.
I have watched the video that explains how to divide the work space into work areas BUT the video of THE CREEPER makes the bot a slam dunk for just about every task that I desire to use the machine for. can someone provide some information about THE CREEPER because I can't find anything besides two teaser videos on the handibot website.


thanks in advance for your thought.

Forrest
- south Louisiana Fence guy.
www.forrestscottfenicng.com

Forrest,

One of the guys in the office used the handibot along with the accessory base to machine some mortises in 4x4 fence posts a while back: [www.youtube.com]
The 6x6 posts would be a bit too big to fit through the accessory base but you could create a simple jig with a couple extra chunks of 6x6 and a few clamps.
We're still thinking of the "creeper" as being in development. Based on what we've been learning from communications with users and from working with the tools ourselves--we've realized that the best solution usually involves moving that material rather than trying to move the handibot between each cut. Based on this insight we've been re-designing the "creeper"...
In the meantime, there's always the large material indexing jig which is less convenient but still pretty simple to use. You'd need to attach the rail for the jig to one of your 6x6 blocks to move the handibot down the line. Alternately you could use a tape measure to make marks at 6 or 8 inch increments along your post and line the post up by eye.

Forrest,
Just to augment what Brian had to say, for the jobs you described, at commercial quantities, I'd propose purpose built jigs.
With pins or notches for stops, you can cut one surface of a 4x4 or 6x6, 8 inches at a time. How long each tile will take is dependent on the complexity of the carving.

Cutting picket tops with a quick change jig would be almost as fast as you can feed them as isn't most of it 1/2 inch or less? That would be two passes. You can write a custom script that will start the next picket with a single click of the mouse or tapping enter.