Please read my original post in this thread.
looks around
The posting traffic sure has dropped off a cliff here recently. Almost a ghost town.
Yet, sadly, I still check this place maybe hoping it can rebound but sadly, I donât think thatâs possible given todayâs climate.
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I see your point. I also feel like I owe an apology to those who have participated in the forums over at DeWalt. I gave some advice on ripping with a circular saw, and I have a Makita. And worse⌠Itâs a worm drive. Iâd hate to see that forum become the laughing stock of the circular sawing world.
Still happy to help, though.
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Iâm a little slow⌠why did Phil and others leave?
While a wiki is a useful reference, itâs not as interactive as a forum, and itâs hard for folks to find things if theyâre not familiar with the terminology.
Itâd be better if folks are patient about understanding that everyone was new at this at one time, and everyone learns differently, and needs help in different ways.
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Let us assume I am one of the other âexpertsâ and full of adviceâŚermâŚopinions
Background:
- I use Easel a lot, but not exclusively
- I have built a fully operational 3 axes CNC, purchasing individual components, upgraded over time etc⌠No kit, DIY.
- The controller is Arduino, using GRBL and is controllerwise identical to the gshield and X-controller. No kit, DIY.
- I am familiar with many of the GRBL parameters, how to use, edit them etc.
- I know how a stepper is built, how it operates and understand a fair bit regarding torque in relation to speed and microstepping
- I know how a stalled stepper sound like
- I have broken several end mills
- I have spent time in this community, read most of the posts available at one point - because I was a newbie and eager to learn.
- I have been inspired by others here, gotten help when I was stuck - the community came to the rescue.
Why would me not owning an X-carve discredit my experience with this community and the work-flow from concept/design to actual CNCâing and the pitfalls that exist there?
Why discriminate? Is an excluding community something to aspire for?
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The experts left because the Inventables team didnât value what they had in this forum and paid little attention to it. I have a feeling that they(inventables) wonât be around much longerâŚsadly. CNC is a niche hobby and I think the âfadâ of owning your own hobby machine will wear off soonâŚjust like 3d printing when someone thought everyone who owned a computer would have a 3d printer just like a normal printer and theyâd make all kinds of things. Doesnât look like thatâs happening.
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I would say itâs more the âwoodworking magazineâ syndrome â the folks most likely to buy a woodworking magazine are newcomers / beginners / folks considering woodworking â this results in a publication which is oriented to newcomers, or which has to walk a line catering to both new and experienced folks, or a publication which has to field a lot of questions about why everything is so hard for beginners to get started with.
Some folks have a limited patience for explaining things, and when thatâs exhausted, they move on. Give it a while, and the folks who learned from them will step up and pitch in to help.
FWIW, the addendum to âThe Rulesâ back when there was just one community: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable was:
No one is a professional Shapeoko user.
as noted at: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable
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All of us were newbies at one point. If we all share the knowledge that we have gained the community will be successful. I donât claim to be an expert but I do have knowledge and experience to share. Thatâs why I started doing videos which is my way of sharing my knowledge. I still seek knowledge from others. Even doctors and lawyers, engineers continue to learn from others. Why should this hobby be any different. We can learn from each other. Quit talking about what we donât have and start talking and sharing what we do have in this community
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Inventables is doing great and we plan on being around for a long time. 3D carving is not a fad or a niche hobby. We believe manufacturing is shifting to a long tail of distributed, indie manufacturers. Weâre helping drive that change with the easiest to use platform.
We know that support from the community plays a critical role in the making process. Earlier this year we rebooted the guidelines for this forum and recommitted to enforcing them consistently so that this space is a positive and encouraging environment for makers of all skill levels. We have a full-time community manager starting next week, and over the next few months weâll be extending and improving our tools around community, both here and on other channels.
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I think that there was a period where some people were buying these machines for the wrong reasons with unrealistic expectations.
But thereâs another group of users that love making stuff, troubleshooting, tinkering and upgrading. That group will not abandon their machine because the âfadâ is slowing down.
Thatâs my opinion anyway but I have a modified S02 so it might not be relevant. 
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@JeffTalbot, can you shed some light on when all posts from some of these users have been deleted? What that seems to done, at least to a certain extent, is hit the reset button and purged some extremely valuable information. Not only that, but now there are literally thousands of posts that will seem to have an unrelated or confusing string because very key posts have been removed with no indication that it was removed. Many of not most searched will now yield confusion rather than clarity.
Iâm sure this whole action wasnât just a knee jerk move and had to have been calculated, so what is the mitigation plan to fix the massive mess that has been created? It seems like some VERY key members of this community have been alienated which now leaves everyone else, especially the newcomers, in a bit of a quandary as to how to learn/hone their skills in the CNC world.
@Zach_Kaplan any thoughts?
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@JeffTalbot. Thank you. Iâm glad you jumped in to set the record straight. I also do not believe that this is a fad and will go away. If anything industry is moving toward this. My son teaches drafting and engineering in high school and industry leaders have sought him out to teach specific things to help prepare students for jobs. The industry canât find enough trained workers. My son also is working to certify teachers throughout the state on several platforms. Itâs not going away!
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