Steve, G2 (the motion control system that underlies fabmo) uses "S-Shaped Ramping" when changing speeds. This means that on a 3D terrain carving, the when the Z Axis reverses from plunging to lifting up, the speed change (-0.7ips to 0.7ips) is governed by this "ramping" strategy. Typically I keep my Z axis ramping set to 25 inches/s^3 -- that is inches per second per sby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
What does the preview in vcarve look like? If you’re doing 0.02” passes, you should see a bunch of blue lines tracing out each pass, going down into your material. Good to confirm that you’ve got something that looks right in preview. Also—how do you have your aluminum mounted? Sometimes when I am cutting aluminum, I’ll use a small vise. I’ll zero the tool off to one side and it will be able toby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Hey Steve -- That was a nice carving and I'm really sad that it got ruined...do you have any idea what occurred when the position shifted? What were your feed rates?by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Well there’s still the matter of sourcing the aluminum parts and the electronics. I’ll be trying to get drawings up for the metal to help this guy out. However, while the schematics for the electronics can be made available—it is much harder to get a one-off circuit board made than it is to cut a few aluminum components. We’ve been working with the new raspberry pi 4 lately in the shop which mighby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
I sent a note to the seller with some assembly documentation that he might be able to pass on to a potential buyer -- so cool that someone cut their own handibot parts! I think I may have inspired him to take another crack at finishing the project so the auction might be going down (sorry to anyone looking to buy!!) but just for anyone looking to build their own handibot here's the link to tby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
A piece of scrap wood will do fine. It is is large enough to sit the handibot on you can drive a few screws through the holes on the front/back of the handibot base to secure it to your sacrificial board—then screw the aluminum down to the sacrificial piece as wellby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
6061 will be the best alloy to cut. A little harder and forms better chips. 0.1” is pretty thin—so you might be able to get away with it—but I think you’ll find 6061 much more pleasant to work with.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Those look really good! What did you use for the red? What adhesive did you use?by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
The double flute is going to generate a lot of heat and lead to aluminum buildup on the bit. I’d recommend an “O-flute” (single flute up cut) but for aluminum. However, if you wanna try with your current bit I’d recommend some kind of lubricant. WD 40 evaporates quickly and pulls away heat. I’d run the cut at 2 ips with 0.01” passesby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
I did some inlay work around Christmas (thanks for giving me an excuse to show off some pics!) and I used the guide here to create the toolpaths: It went surprisingly well and probably all-in took me about 20 hours of work (mostly double/triple checking designs and cuts)by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
I’m not sure if it shows up in the rendering. I’ve never tried before—seems like it should show up though.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Vcarve is looking for an “open vector” rather than a closed shape. in your example, you’d only need the arc—and not the two line segments connected above the arc. However—a roundover bit usually has a flat central base inside the curved part—you’ll want to draw a horizontal line at the base of the arc to account for this flat part. I’ll draw an example tomorrow when I’m near my computer. Brianby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Yep select the vector, then open your tool database and create a new form toolby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
The creation of form tools in vcarve is a little weird -- you actually have to draw the half-profile of the bit in your work area, using the vcarve drawing tools. Easiest way to draw a roundover bit would be to draw a circle with a 1/4 radius then draw two straight lines starting at the center and protruding from the top and left sides of the circle. Set the length of the horizontal line equal toby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
The coordinates are “x,y” so you’d write “M2,1,7”by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
If the tool is still powered on--bumping it should not move it (unless it is loose on the jig and the entire tool is shifting position).by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Well--in VCarve, there is the option for home position which will make the tool go to a certain location every time it finishes a cut. I'd recommended sending it to an empty spot on your jig and marking that spot--so that the tool wouldn't be in your way when you were trying to pull out the dog tags. For startup you could write a macro in the macro editor (little folder icon on dashby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Perhaps in your vcarve file you could choose a home location for your tool that is slightly above the dog tag cutout. Mark that spot with a sharpie and then at a glance you can check that the bit is centered over the mark before you start each cut. Home position is set in the “material setup” menu on the toolpathing side of vcarve.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
I could start a thread in this part of the forum (no one really seems to visit the FabMo part of the forum), however, for most things I could only pass them along to the software devs. I can do simple apps and macro edits, but UI stuff is not really my area.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Ann, 1) There is an "hood interlock" that can be enabled on your handibot so that whenever someone opens the yellow hood while the tool is running, it will automatically pause motion and turn off the router. You can restart your cut once you close the hood, but it will not allow anything else to happen in the meantime. I tend to leave this off when I'm at home -- but always haby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Definitely don't think my way was the best way--part of the reason it was designed the way it was--was so that it could be shipped in the same box as the bridge edition base. The little notches in the feet clip onto the bridge base frame extrusion and let it sit low enough to fit in the box I ship the base in. Dust control was something I wanted to work on. I thought it would be cool toby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Steve, One good way to test the motion of the tool would be to run the same routine we run at the factory before shipment. If you download the app here: and install it on your tool ... you'll find a test called "motion test" this will run all axes at increasing speeds, trying to cause one of them to stall/hang-up. This could rule out any mechanical issues (or point us towarby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Steve, Cool designs! How exactly is the tool f-ing up? is it stopping mid-cut? Losing position while cutting?by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
I've updated the "Build your own" page with a short list of purchased materials. There aren't many. I've included vendors and links to pages where you can purchase them. Outside of the US, you may need to find alternate vendors -- but the pages I link to have detailed specs so you'll be able to compare to local vendor's offerings. Gotta work on the linkage aby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
There are a few areas where a stack of HDPE parts slot into another HDPE bracket, The width of that slot would just need to be adjusted based on the new thickness of material you're using. Other problem may be that the little HDPE "locating pins" that are meant to slot into the base of the Bridge Tool are spaced just right by the material thickness--you may need to add another pieby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Might be able to get to it today--if you own a Bridge Edition tool, you'll be familiar with the way I use rivet nuts as bearings for the rotating joints in the linkage -- but I want to explain it a bit better for people who haven't looked closely at the clamps on the Handibot Bridge base.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Oops. I wish I could make files on my google drive public by default! Fixed it.by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Mark, Handibot is still my favorite of the ShopBot tools -- mostly because there is so much unique stuff that could be designed for it. Here's a recent weekend riff on trying to get a cheap 5-axis head to work with it: What do you think affects Handibot's popularity compared to the Bantam (othermill) or Nomad or Carvey? I feel like they were all trying to bring CNC to the 3by Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Mark Evans has been interested in building his own -- and I thought I'd provide what help I could by publishing what I'd worked out for a customer a while back. I'm trying to flesh out all the "DIY" info for our products on the handibot support page -- and at the bottom, I've got unofficial products such as the Bridge Ed. Accessory Base -- check it out: Thereby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum
Already done the walkabout : Though it may be time for another! Mark, I'm here -- and I saw your email last week. I'd been putting off replying until I had time to pull together the CAD files and other info you were curious about. For everyone else's info -- Mark has been interested in using his rotary axis with his Handibot Bridge Edition tool. The Accessory base that alloby Brian Owen, ShopBot - Handibot Forum