Carbide 3D, manufacturer of two of the most popular home-use CNC Routers, has announced their Black Friday sale, which will give you up to $390 worth of free supplies and upgrades.
Stuart’s Note: I actually took advantage of their deal last year, but a full work-load and a fully-cluttered workspace has kept me from getting the machines up and running yet. I went with Carbide 3D because they use beefier components than competing products, they had excellent pre- and post-purchase support, and they seem to be the best bet for benchtop machines that I could learn on and produce quality parts with.
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Carbide 3D’s Nomad Pro is their self contained desktop CNC router, which has a working volume of 8″ x 8″ x 3″. Their Black Friday sale gives you:
- Free Threaded table
- Free #111 and #112 cutters
- Free pack of 3×5 Renshape
- Free license for Alibre Atom3D CAD Software
This package is worth $393 in upgrades & supplies.
Price: $2,499
The Shapeoko is a more traditional desktop CNC router, and is available in three different sizes, with the largest offering a working volume of up to 32″ x 33″ x 3″. If you buy one before Dec 1st you’ll get:
- Free Compact Router
- Free Precision Collet set
- Free #302 Vee cutter
- Free license for Alibre Atom3D CAD Software
These extras add up to a value of $330.
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Price: $1,170 (for the standard spec)
They are also offering discounts across their range of supplies and upgrades:
- 10% off all cutters
- $99 Shapeoko Touch Probe
- $99 Nomad Threaded Table
- $99 Nomad Flip Jig
- $99 Nomad Low Profile Vise
- $400 Shapeoko HDZ
- 10% all Shapeoko Expansion Packs “
Thoughts
Owning a CNC router used to be reserved for high-end machining shops. Thanks to companies like Carbide 3D these devices are becoming increasingly affordable. Plus there’s a thriving community of owners and their email support is excellent, so help is only a few clicks away.
I own the Shapeoko XL, and I’m thrilled with it. It’s the perfect mashup of my creativity and my geekiness.
If you have been considering buying one, now might be the time to get your credit card out!
On a side note – I’m working on a couple of blog posts covering both CNC basics and a review of the Shapeoko XL – please let us know if these are of interest to you and if there are any specifics you want us to cover.
RKA
Definitely interested the the CNC basics. Not sure if I will ever buy one, but I would at least like a primer. It’s been a hill I haven’t been motivated to climb on my own.
William Adams
(ob. discl. I work for Carbide 3D)
We have pretty much everything you need to know on our docs pages: https://docs.carbide3d.com/
and the machine designer wrote a book: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920032021.do
Julien Heyman wrote a book as well: https://shapeokoenthusiasts.gitbook.io/shapeoko-cnc-a-to-z/
I recommend that folks who are curious about CNC use a CAD or drawing program to create a design and select material, endmill and work up toolpaths and then preview them using a simulator. We have a standing offer — if you get stuck on a file or project, send it in to us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to help you puzzle things out.
Ben V
Thanks William, when I said “their email support is excellent”, I should have said William’s support is excellent! 🙂
William Adams
I just kibbitz on forums and occasionally answer e-mails — everyone else at Carbide 3D does the heavy lifting.
RKA
Thanks William! I’ll check it out!
Jp
Same here, but i love to learn. I don’t expect to ever get into this. I hate math/cad. I prefer gardening. But maybe understanding will help my kids with a future project.
William Adams
You don’t need to use math — just draw — rather than a CAD program you can use a vector drawing program which is far more approachable.
Alternately, use a pre-made project such as one of the ones from https://cutrocket.com/
I’ve been working on various ways of making designs parametric — see: http://chaunax.github.io/projects/twhl-box/twhl.html and use https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3575705 for previewing and see: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Carbide_Create:_A_Simple_CNC_Box for the details
evadman
I bought a Maslow 4 foot by 8 foot CNC router last spring, but I never had a chance to use it 🙁 I really want to route out all the pieces for a arcade cabinet.
Brett
There’s no time like the present.