How to use the Shopbot

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A Shopbot is a large CNC milling machine.

Assembly

Assembly of the Shopbot can diverge significantly from the instructions in the enclosed instructions manual, mostly due to it being written in a "one size fits all" manner that doesn't really fit in with the different versions of the Shopbot.

Proprietary protocol

The Shopbot is connected to a computer over USB (or serial link on older models). A proprietary program written in Visual Basic is used to communicate the Shopbot Parts Files to the machine. These files are written in Gerber language.

It is as of yet unclear whether the machine's control box itself interprets these Gerber files or whether the control is in the hands of the control software. Neither would be particularly surprising, but if the control box interprets the Gerber commands then it is far easier to hack the protocol and create a free interface to the Shopbot.

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