I share a drive (network share) on my system inside the house, so if I am working on something inside or out in the workshop I can access everything.
Ditto on Dropbox. Several weeks ago, I started using it to synchronize all of my CAD, CAM and gcode files. During that time, I also began to store all of my data on Dropbox so all three of our computers are synchronized. It’s a bit of a chore uploading large files and large quantities of file like photos, but it offers a lot of security against tragic failure.
Exactly, I would really hate to lose a design file after a few hours of editing. Plus I can work on files during lunch hour at work.
How does a computer hold up in a dusty workshop environment ? I have a ipad that i use in my shop now without any issues,but that has no fan to suck the dust into it.
A computer on the other hand will suck in a lot of that fine wood dust,how do you overcome this,or is it not a problem ?
I have my air compressor which I use after every job to blow any dust out of the system. The fans do suck in the dust.
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I would have thought cooling would be a concern with that dust “clogging” the cpu and power supply fan.
Well good to see that this is not a big concern 
Cooling has not been an issue, and it has been very hot in my shop the last couple of weeks (over 100 almost every day), have to love that Georgia heat and humidity. But still no issues with anything overheating…except for me 
My laptop does get very dusty, I am still worried that it may effect the keyboard. If I am doing a long job I will lay a towel over the keyboard to keep out the worst of it. But so far I just wipe it down after each project and it has not had any problems.
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I design in the house on an aging Mac Mini (7 years old, never misses a beat) using Inks cape and Easel. I then grab my more modern Macbook, go into the shop and carve.
I’m considering moving the Mac Mini to the shop.
Only problem with that is I’m about to add a laser and most of the dedicated software is Windows only. Drats.
But I hopefully can get Easel to do the laser in jobs for me or use UGS after running these software in the house first on my Win PC.
Cheers
Ian
Yup, that’s me!
With an equally old VGA flat screen monitor, circa 2005. (has a better picture than the laptop.)
Tried win 10 and since it wont support the vga port or monitor, I went back to win 7 but of course it aint quite the same, Any one have the number to ghostbusters?
Controlling X-carve with an iPad:
My computer is located in another room in the house and I can’t bring it into the shop. So rather then buy another computer I thought I would try using the “SplashTop 2” app to remotely control my iMac with an iPad. The iMac would be hard wired with USB to Ethernet adapters to run the 50ft to my shop. Anyone try this? You think it would work? I plan on using Easel for now.
i do my design work in the house on the desktop then use my wifi network to send files to my garage laptop. in the garage i use my old alienware laptop connected to a 42in lcd tv above the xcarve and the computer and the xcarve is controlled with a old xbox 360 controller
I do all my CAD/CAM work in my office on a self built I7 system decked out for Video editing and CAD work with a pair of 25" monitors. Then send the files over dropbox/local network to the mill computers in the mill room. The Shapeoko 2 and X Carve run Planet CNC MK3/4 controllers with Leadshine DSP drivers and everything runs from an E4300 Dell Core 2 Duo laptop for each mill. The larger ball screw mill runs a Planet CNC MK 3 board and Leadshine DSP drivers with an i7 3.2 E4310 Dell laptop. Each mill has a 22" wide screen monitor above it on an arm. Each mill is enclosed so dust and noise are not an issue. All the mills run Planet CNC USB software like champs and do everything from milling to digital probing with 3d touch probes with no issues at all.
I’m using an old HP Probook to actually connect to the X-Carve, but a lot of my designing happens on my upstairs laptop (an Alienware 14) since it has much more firepower. I’ve also used my Surface Pro 3 in a pinch but it’s definitely not ideal. Having everything networked is definitely beneficial.
Does anyone know the maximum length of USB cable that can be run between PC and X-Carve without running into reliability issues? For reasons relating to dust control I’d like to separate the PC from X-Carve as much as possible.
Simple. The files are backed up automatically and available to me no matter where I am or what computer I am using. Plus I can share a file with someone else with just a click.
I use the dropbox soIi can edit files while I am traveling weekly and then have them on any of my three mills when I get home. I do have a local network share folder system setup. But most of my work is saved to the dropbox so I can work on it at anytime.
I’m using an older 20" iMac (2007), 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, running Yosemite. Dropbox is free and simple. I can work on my files from any computer and have them accessible for the XCARVE almost immediately (sometimes takes a few minutes to sync).
I’ve tried planet CNC USB ,is there a trick to the setup to get it connected with x-carve.?
All I have is a USB port
You must have a Planet CNC controller (MK3 or MK3/4) for the Planet CNC software to work. It will not work with a stock XC arduino controller.