My FIRST Experience With the SHARK CNC Router!

If you are thinking about getting into CNC, you need to watch this video about my first weekend with my new Shark SD100 machine. I was able to make a couple of simple projects, but I discovered the learning curve was steeper than I expected.
Make sure to stay until the end if you'd like to see a quick tour of my retail store and get a glimpse of the many products I have made for sale in the store and online. And, most of all, leave me a comment on what you would like to see in future CNC videos.
Timestamps
0:00
0:25 SD100 On sale
1:41 My SD100 stand
2:07 First project problems
3:55 Vectric software
6:05 First Vectric-designed project
6:41 Router bits
8:24 Closing comments

[@henrysara7716]

Thank you for taking the time on the CNC machine.

[@bobshomewoodshop7996]

I'm just getting started on CNC, and hopefully if I pass on what I am learning it will help others learn more quickly without having to take as much time or make as many mistakes as I do.

[@mikel4510]

Don't mean to be snarky, but CnC is not handcrafted. The skills needed are entirely different from actually using you hands to transfer patterns, cut/shape the wood, then assemble a true handcrafted product. That's not to say or even imply that using any of these computer gizmos doesn't take skills, just not skill that are true hand-crafting. (Me: 70+ YO, retired electrician, lifelong woodworker, code-writer, and a few other accomplisments. I am not a technophobe, but I do resent comparisons of computer made stuff to true handmade/hand-crafted works.

[@bobshomewoodshop7996]

I totally understand your point of view that using a CNC machine is not handcrafted. In fact, I agree. However, I am a one-person business, and my plans for the CNC are to use it to make items I could not make by hand. Also, once a job is up and running on the CNC, all I need to do is to check its progress occasionally while I do some "real" woodworking on my table saw, band saw, and scroll saw. By the way, I am selling every item I make in a retail store, and I have the CNC-made items displayed apart from the other items. I always point out to customers that an item is made on the CNC in case they have an objection to purchasing something made by machine. Only a very small percentage of what I make and sell in my store and online is made on the CNC.