WHERE did everybody go?

I know that we are in the middle of a pandemic, and things have definitely changed. However, it seems that with all of the "shelter in place" mandates and such, if anything, folks should be spending even more time in their shops. In my case, I lost my shop to a fire, and everything else I owned. And had to rebuild/replace right from the very beginning of the pandemic. I am only just NOW getting back to some sort of normalcy. I found a used CNC Router table on Craigslist, and bought it. I have no idea who manufactured it, and have been spending the last couple of weeks just measuring, and documenting the machine. And tracing down the wiring for the limit switches, etc. Baby steps. Just getting started, and realizing that I just don't have the tooling infra-structure needed to build what was lost in the fire. So, (with the CNC Router table I just bought), it's all the way back to the very beginning, in many ways. (Dust collection, touch probes, screen sets, etc. ALL have to be addressed prior to being able to actually carve anything with this machine). And, being retired, and on a very FIXED income, it all makes for a very slow process. I have tried the machine out, but even standing beside it, with a ShopVac just can't keep up with the volume of dust created from a simple planing operation. So, it's design and built a Dust Shoe to fit this machine, purchase a Dust Collector system, and mount everything together, just to be prepared to get back into the wood carvings I once did before the fire. But looking at the posts (or LACK of posts) on the Zone, and the MachSupport page begs the question: ARE WE EVER GOING TO GET BACK TO THE INFORMATIVE INFORMATION SHARING NETWORK WE ONCE WERE?

That's a good question. Indeed many people were affected by the pandemic. And that certainly didn't leave their projects and their work untouched. We all hope that things will recover and that everything will soon return to the way it was before the crisis.
I hope you´ll be able to finish your projects soon.

I remember the community here years ago, and yes, it is less personal now. Its a completely different ball game. I can remember when there were maybe 3 or 4 controller choices, and Mach 2 was still being used. My first machine used TurboCNC. Everyone knew each other and there was a lot of comrade-are and just getting parts was a difficult and expensive process.

There was no such thing as a Tormach. We had to solder all our own wiring and cables and connectors. My hands worked like new. I could see without squinting. AC servos were unheard of on the machines we made. I love all of the choices we have now, I just need more room for more machines and tools and motors.

I don’t think the changes you see are from the pandemic. Take the history in 3D FDM printers for example. Never was a popular subject here because all the documentation and discussions were on a site called reprap.
In the beginning there was a lot of discussion around how to build a 3d printer. Only electronics and only a handful of components could be purchased at places like makerbot.
Today makerbot only sells high end printers, no one builds a unit but buys it from an endless supply of vendors and manufacturers. No real discussion needed as everything is pretty much plug and play.

We are not at the point where we can buy metal printers or metal cutting lasers or 5 axis machining centers, for hobbyists, but I don’t think they will come about thru discussions and scratch building like in the early 2000’s.

The pandemic didn’t kill discussions, the convince of on line sales did. Just like the passing of Blockbusters and soon Redbox died from on-line services, you won’t see another thread like joes 4 X 4 router build in the future.


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