9th CNC BBQ Melbourne Australia Sat/Jan/31st/2009

[ynneb]

Hey guys, I'm starting to get revved up about our next event. As many of you know, our numbers are growing rapidly each event. The last one had 67 people turn up, and 8 different machines on display and working. We even had many people fly in from all around the country.

The next event will be at Nigels house. In the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne on Sat/Jan/31st/2009
It will be a BYO BBQ. Bring your machine, or items made with it, or pictures, or any item of interest.
If you want to prepare a speach please start preparing it now. Make it short and to the point. 30-45 mins Max.
If someone can bring a video projector, that would be appreciated.

There will be many door prizes, that have been generously donated by our sponsors, Vectric, Homann, Artsoft, Geckodrive, and Arnie. I did a quick calculation and it easily comes to more than $2000 in prizes....Woo Hoo

9 AM Start, machine exhibitors can arrive from 8 AM onwards. People standing arround b4 9AM must work otherwise they will be escorted off site by our tough security guards

Regards Benny

PS To those who are planning to fly here or spend money getting there, we make no guarantees about how the day turns out. Usually the days are fantastic, but the variables depend on who comes, and what people bring.
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Attached are some videos of our last two events.

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[epineh]

Hey Benny, I was wondering how you were going to top the last BBQ, this sounds like a blast, I will be quite willing to donate three servo drives if ya want em, and if no-one else volunteers I can make a BOB to suit, kinda like a custom plug and play system. Also I am sure a power supply would help, I should be able to whip up something...

The servo's are a little hard to get hold of, (cheaply of course) but if there is enough time...I am now working on a plug and play brushless DC drive, if it is ready in time then that is what it will be, besides BLDC servo's are about $60.00 bucks a pop brand spankin new

Oh yeah and hopefully I should be able to make it to the BBQ as well.

Russell.

[ynneb]

Hey Russell, I'd like to take credit for the idea, but Nigel has been hassling me to do this for ages now.
I was speaking with Nigel,Mike and Ivan, at night school tonight, and they recon no one wold want to come if it cost 25 bucks. ( I am amazed myself). They seemed to think 10 bucks would cover costs. I dont think we will build much of a machine with that. I was thinking a machine with $600-$800 in parts would make a great prize.
What do others think?
Thanks for your offers Russell, I will keep them in mind as we develop the event.

[electrokean]

That sounds great Benny. I will do my best to come down from Sydney, especially now that I've turned my CNC hobby into some paid consulting work!

[ToranaGuy]

Sounds like a great idea guys!

I don't know how many ppl may be turned off by the idea of $25 door charge, but to be honest, i'm not, considering how great the last BBQ was, and the idea's running around right now are sure to top the last BBQ!

Especially if the machine built is given away as a prize!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

[CrazyIvan]

besides BLDC servo's are about $60.00 bucks a pop brand spankin new

Whoa! Where are you scoring BLDC servo's for $60 new?

[LaserImage]

What I wouldn't give to be in Australia! You guys rock!

Any room for a laser engraver/sandblaster/dye subber/cnc'r - from Oregon? (and I mean to stay permanently...)

Gary

[epineh]

Whoa! Where are you scoring BLDC servo's for $60 new?

http://www.anaheimautomation.com/bru...-products.aspx

I realize there will be shipping costs but I have a friend that has used the US $50.00 motors in a commercial machine and they are impressive.

What I wouldn't give to be in Australia! You guys rock!

Any room for a laser engraver/sandblaster/dye subber/cnc'r - from Oregon? (and I mean to stay permanently...)

Gary

Sure, and you would get the furthest travelled to BBQ award !

I was speaking with Nigel,Mike and Ivan, at night school tonight, and they recon no one wold want to come if it cost 25 bucks. ( I am amazed myself). They seemed to think 10 bucks would cover costs. I dont think we will build much of a machine with that. I was thinking a machine with $600-$800 in parts would make a great prize.
What do others think?

I won't speak for others but I spent about $500.00 bucks for airfares and accommodation for the last BBQ (even though Ron Nollet put me up for one night) and I would be happy to pay $25 bucks to get in the door for the next one, even though this is a hobby for me it is money well spent, besides 25 bucks would hardly even cover a round of drinks these days...

Russell.

[CrazyIvan]

I won't speak for others but I spent about $500.00 bucks for airfares and accommodation for the last BBQ (even though Ron Nollet put me up for one night) and I would be happy to pay $25 bucks to get in the door for the next one, even though this is a hobby for me it is money well spent, besides 25 bucks would hardly even cover a round of drinks these days...

Very good point. I guess I spent about $300 for transport at both ends and airfares. $25 seems trivial...

...but I can see that some people mightn't want to feel like they are paying mainly to cover a single door prize that it's unlikely they'll win.

Lesser charge for food & facilities, and then auction the machine off?

[Eclipze]

Great idea!!!

I'm a little concerned the $25 door price might turn some people off. There will be some wanting to come have a look, but might only come after the BBQ has finished and only for an hour. Whereas others will stay for the full day + lunch, whereby $25 is a bargain for a full day event.

There will also be some people that don't want to put in for the CNC prize, either because they already have a CNC or its not the CNC they really need.

You put in an awesome effort (very much appreciated) and the last thing I want to do is get you off side with suggestions you might not want. So... just an alternative format suggestion for the mix... How about an auction for the CNC at the end of the day? It would have to have a reserve price, to cover costs etc... You can take bids from people during the day (given they need to leave early). If reserve isn't met, then it goes on CNCZone or ebay for auction. There could still be a $15 entry before lunch, $10 after lunch. Otherwise proceeds from the auction can help fund the next venture.

I'm keen to attend... and bring my WidgitMaster Midi. I can demo cutting aluminium, acrylic, PCBs, MDF... and should be up to speed with machineable wax too. If any of this is useful in the schedule, let me know. I would only like to run a few short demos throughout the day, rather than long continuous demo. But please let me know in advance so I can prepare some demos and material etc... or if there are any small parts for CNC machine, all I need is a CAD model

[ynneb]

Good suggestions Eclipze, the only problem is someone has to put the bucks up originally.
I am starting to think its easier if we dont do the router in a day thing.
Maybe we can mime building one in a day I will donate the white gloves.

[epineh]

I had a thought for something on the day, what if we get a clunker PC and install Ubuntu Linux and EMC2. It will take about 15 -30 minutes and might be of interest to anybody wondering what EMC is like and how hard (easy) it is to setup.

If anybody is game it could be plugged into a machine on the day, I don't mind volunteering to do all this (so long as I can make it)

Russell.