Assembling The Shapeoko 2: The Day the Shop Stood Still

After 10 hours, countless washers and a broken 5mm tap, I will never complain about assembling put-together-furniture again!

I am the owner of a functional desktop CNC machine. Even if the person who assembled it was a bit sub par...

Tools reviews are not anything that I'm interested in doing. The fact is, if I want something, I'd rather just save up and buy it than be beholden to anyone. So When I was asked if I wanted to review the Shapeoko 2 from Inventables I was surprised that I got excited.

My verbatim response:

Yes! Was that too quick? ....Absolutely! I would totally be on board for that. I've been watching Bob Clagget's channel and I have a bunch of ideas for a CNC. Just let me know what you need from me.
-Peter

The process is a long one! I tried my best to document a portion of it in my video, but 10 hours is a realistic commitment of time.

I will admit that if I were to turn around and build a second one, I would significantly cut down that number. Much of the process was getting the directions from the screen to the my hands.

The wiring was easily my favorite part, and was almost enjoyable. As a dyslexic I think I was glad to be done with all the 25287's and 25652's. The only other thing I noticed was the choices.

At some parts, you were given options. Do you want to do this, or this? For many folks, not familiar with open source directions this is not a common sight. Not everything is set in stone. You will have to leave the directions behind sometimes and venture forth making your own decisions. I'm comfortable with that. You should be too, before undertaking this build.

All in all, I couldn't be happier. I'm excited to put this machine through it's paces and see what sort of interesting items I can create!

Inventables : https://www.inventables.com/

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