I will confess right now I am somewhat new to the whole CNC thing. My wife and I have a sign business. I also restore old vintage sports cars. Somewhere along the way we decided that a CNC table router would be a good step up in the sign business as we could branch off to three dimensional and carved signs. Additionally there have always been parts and such that could not be sourced out and had to be made in house. We obtained a good used 5×10 foot router table and thought we were well on our way.
Next step was obtaining a software program, which would fill both needs. There are a lot of programs out there and quite frankly it was a difficult task to try to figure out the right one. I contacted many of the software companies and was astounded at the price and complexity of the systems.
In my search I came across the BobCAD system. I could was surprised at the price and wandered if the program would be too difficult to use or worse yet, not capable of the varied demands we would be putting on it. It did come with a Bob Art module along with the Cad Cam software. After talking to the people at Bob-cad I decided to take that route. I also got the 10 CD tutorial at the time. Mind you I had little to no experience with CNC.
I had a problem loading the software into my system. A call into BobCAD and they talked me through the process and had me make a few changes to my operating system. After that the system worked beautifully. I must say there was quite a learning curve. The online tutorials and Cd’s went a long way to get me where I needed to be. I think the most impressive thing about this system is that it works as advertised. As I learned more and more about CNC, and tried different and more involved projects, I was very pleasantly surprised. In each instance the BobCAD system had the tools to do what I needed to do.
What really impresses me about the system is that it is extremely versatile. The BobART allows me to do terrific V carves in unlimited fonts, do three-dimensional engraving from photos or sketches, and any number of other projects. Additionally I have used it to layout and cut perfect patterns for anything from aluminum dashboards and coolant tanks for vintage sports cars. The more I learn about the system, the more useful it becomes. I am very happy with the purchase. I found the software does exactly what it claims, and there seems to be unlimited potential for what it can do. I was also very pleased with the people at BobCAD, in that they really did follow up and genuinely cared that I was satisfied with their product.
David Quarltere
Dave’s Autoworld