[Scottart]

I purchased a used Shark Pro Plus HD CNC Router. I have been setting it up for a couple of weeks and have been able to cut a few downloaded projects. I bought a refurbished Dell Optiplex 745, two 19 inch monitors, keyboard and mouse from Ebay. I got a kiosk from Habit for Humanity Restore in Nacgodoches Texas for the computer. I also bought a new Bosch router because the original one sounded like a thrashing machine. I got a billet router mount from Dixie Billet. The original owner had smeared caulk or some type of adhesive all over the router to keep the router from spinning in the mount.

I have cut a few downloaded projects and they have turned out very well. My start up costs have been quite high, which I expected. I got a composition book from Staples and am keeping a log of everything that I do. I like to keep a record so I can look back and correct mistakes or see what worked.

Here are the pictures of my set up and the Vetric Dual Candy Dish Lids I cut out earlier this evening.

Let me know what you think.

I have downloaded and got a start up license from Fusion 360. I also downloaded trials of MeshCAM and Vcarve Desktop. I need to concentrate on the CAM/CAD program I will be using but wanted to try out a few. I also got free copies of Carbide Create and Easel was well as FreeCAM. I also got Inkscape and have liked using that to import bit maps, trace them and turn them into SVG files. Google has so many free images it is hard to stop looking.

I will try out the trials but since Fusion 360 is so loaded and so many tutorial I think I will concentrate on it. I cannot beat the price of free with a startup license but the learning curve is quite steep. I have watched youtube videos over and over and the concepts are starting to come together in my head. I just hope that all of the new information coming into the front of my brain does not push out the old stuff like talking and walking.

I started with a SHark HD. still have it and use it on smaller stuff when the shop is really busy. Love it, made tons of cool stuff with it. enjoy and welcome to the forum