Michael,
Welcome to the forum, you ask some good questions. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge below.
MichaelCo Wrote:
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> I am trying to determine if the Handibot is a good
> tool for me to buy. I'm still at the beginning
> point of evaluating, so with each thing I learn, I
> seem to "collect" more questions. I am definitely
> in the pre-newbie stage :~)
>
Yes, unless you are looking for something that does everything, and that doesn't exist, it is a good tool for you to buy. > I can see the Handibot will handle thin material
> (2 x material), but looks like thicker materials
> (timbers) like 4 x, or 6 x may be an issue. With
> the Handibot's 3.25" travel limit can it be used
> to add profiles to the end of large beams for
> project like pergolas, arbors, gazebos?
>
you know the limits, question is, are you creative enough to do some good within those limits?
> Cutting halfway thru the beam from one side, and
> flipping the Handibot to the other side could
> work, but does it bring on any issues? Does the
> VCarve software make it easy to do this, or would
> I need to treat this as a separate file? Are
> there any other tricks/strategies people use to
> cut material thicker than the Handibot is designed
> to handle?
>
Properly jiged, you could flip materials. Vcarve pro doesn't think that way so you will need to either flip some vectors manually or use something like Aspire that does. When cutting really thick stuff I would think you would be pushing any router, perhaps a better solution would be to use the handibot to make a jig to cut timber on a bandsaw? > I have seen videos on the creeper
> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWAAoqkpuBg) -
> does this exist as a product, or just something an
> individual has created for their own use. If it
> exists as a product, does it integrate with
> VCarve?
>
the creeper was a demo of what people can do with the handibot and is not available but yes if you want to build one the handibot supports the extra axis. It would not integrate with Vcarve pro directly. Would require a bit of gcode magic. > I have used the free version of Sketch Up (version
> 13), and wonder if I would need to buy the Pro
> version in order to export to VCarve.
> Is there a good source for tips and good practices
> for using the Handibot? Things like setting a
> proper toolpath, initializing and setting up the
> Handibot.
>
With Vcarve pro 7.5 there is a beautiful important feature so yes, straight from sketchup to Vcarve pro. I speak of this some in another thread. As far as tips and tricks, not much yet as still a very young platform. But you have here, the ShopBot forum, and the vetric forum. Also I hope to start dropping stuff at instrutables soon. > Thanks is advance,
> Michael