(April 2006) MAKER FAIRE - ShopBotters Jillian Northrup (a photographer and designer) and Jeffrey McGrew (an architect
in training and designer) have taken a ShopBot to the MAKER FAIRE.
Jillian and Jeffrey operate a new biz,
Because We Can, cutting unique CNC products. The MAKER FAIRE
is an event put on by upstart MAKE Magazine with the idea of encouraging
more grass roots puttering, tinkering, and making of things.
"We both have full
time jobs, but manage to make time designing and creating things with
the help from our ShopBot robot." [View Full
Article, PDF]
•
Signmaking in the CNC Groove
(April
2006) Sign Builder Illustrated - "Computer Numerically
Controlled (CNC) routers are essential for the sign maker
specializing in dimensional signage, as evidenced by the work being
produced by these four sign fabricators:" ... "[ShopBotter] Bill
Palumbo dreamed of building boats and, instead, set seail for new
horizons in three-dimensional signage." ... "[ShopBotter] Dale
Kerr's self-taught CNC router skills arose from his efforts to
design meaningful woodworking for young people with intellectual
disabilities." [View Full
Article, PDF]
•
Playing Catch (Custom woodworking company's designs advance with
consumer electronics)
(March
2006) Modern Woodworking - The ever-evolving consumer
electronics industry has designers and manufacturers of custom
entertainment centers constantly looking over their shoulders.
Beacon
Custom Woodwork, a cabinet company catering to high-end
homeowners in and around the metro Atlanta area, has seen its
entertainment center designs change seemingly overnight after 18
years of business."" [View Full
Article, PDF]
•
Class Sports Boost Woodworker's Business
(December
2005) Lafayette Journal & Courier - "Don't count Skip Sturgeon
among the Hoosiers who are critical of the Indiana High School Athletic
Association for dividing the state's football and basketball programs
into class structures. The large increase in championship winners has
meant more sales for one portion of Woodland Woodworking, a business
that began as a hobby and part-time enterprise."
Skip writes: "Thought you may be interested in this article our local
paper did about the plaques I make on my ShopBot. I did mention that is
was a ShopBot CNC Router, but they cut that part out. Sorry ShopBot.."
[View Full
Story, PDF]
•
Computerized Efficiency
(July,
2005) Custom Woodworking Business - "The design for Duke Eye
Center included two circular, two-story surrounds for freestanding
elevator shafts meant to be decorative as well as functional.
Hardwood Designs stretched sound-dampening fabric between circular
bands of anigre. For one room’s acoustical ceiling, the company used
its ShopBot to cut hundreds of slots in anigre panels. Shop
employees attached an adhesive-backed fabric to dampen sound, using
Kulowitch’s iron from home. “We’re a full-service company,” she
jokes, but adds that metal, glass and stone work are contracted
out..." [View Full
Article, PDF]
•
Finding Success
(May, 2005) Custom Woodworking Business - "A North Carolina
architectural firm focuses on big-ticket projects.
Woodpecker
Enterprises' client list reads like a directory of corporate
heavyweights: computer giant IBM, pharmaceutical leader
GlaxoSmithKline, biostatistical analysis company Quintiles
Transnational, etc. That's not counting the banks, law firms,
insurance companies, churches and universities that have turned to
the Apex, NC, firm for custom contract furniture during its 33 years
in business..." [View
Full Article, PDF]
•
A Big Business in Small Parts
(May,
2003) Custom Woodworking Business - "...Though it may be a smaller
shop,
R&K Woodworking has made a niche for itself as a company able
to make one part or one million parts for national and local
companies. Depending on what the customer wants, those parts can be
delivered unassembled or partially assembled. “I’m proud of what we
do,” Ouellette says. “We push an awful lot of work through here with
three guys. Being able to utilize CNC equipment has gotten me a lot
of jobs I wouldn’t have been able to do... ” [View
Full Article, PDF]
•
SHOPBOT APPEARS ON “EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION – HOW’D THEY DO
THAT?
February
23, 2005
Durham, NC – Ty Pennington went to the
hospital with appendicitis, and it was a ShopBot CNC that helped keep
his “secret room” project on “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” on
schedule.
A ShopBot CNC router, manufactured by ShopBot Tools
Inc. of Durham, N.C., made another television appearance on “Extreme
Makeover Home Edition – How’d They Do That?” in February. The episode
featured a segment on how CNC routers are used in furniture making. The
ShopBot CNC was used to cut key parts of a piece of furniture for
Pennington’s “secret room” – a ribbed bench called “the sternum.”
“We are very proud of our product,” said Ted Hall,
president and owner of ShopBot Tools Inc. “We believe the high profile
attention it receives is a direct result of the performance of our tools
and the quality of support we provide.”
The ShopBot woodworking machine is not an official
product of the ABC show, but is owned by Pennington who purchased it in
the fall of 2003. Rob Williams, Pennington’s shop manager, operated the
ShopBot on the episode when the filming took place in his workshop in
Atlanta, Ga. earlier in February.
About Ty Pennington: In addition to being a featured “carpenter
about town” for “Trading Spaces,” Ty has appeared on “Oprah,” “The
Today Show” and “The Sharon Osborne Show.” His new book, “Ty’s
Tricks,” will arrive in stores early this fall. Ty owns and operates
“Furniture Unlimited,” a new company where he plans to use the
ShopBot extensively in the production of his own line of furniture.
His designs can be seen on his new websites at www.tythehandyguy.com
and www.furniture-unlimited.com.
This is not ShopBot’s first TV appearance. In
October 2003, it appeared on the $100,000 edition of “Trading Spaces” on
The Learning Channel, and a ShopBot CNC is scheduled to be shown on “The
New Yankee Workshop” on PBS in March 2005.
[Recent Extreme
Makeover report ...]
Please
contact us if you would like to be added to this page
ShopBot Tools is North America’s leading
manufacturer of affordable CNC routers.
About ShopBot Tools Inc: ShopBot Tools Inc is based
in Durham, N.C. and designs, manufactures and provides technical support
for low-cost, high-value computer numerically controlled (CNC) cutting
machines. ShopBot was founded by CEO Ted Hall, Ph.D., a Duke University
professor of neuroscience, who developed the tool while building plywood
boats as a hobby. After several years of development, the company opened
in 1997. With 3,000 ShopBots in 50 countries, ShopBot is one of the
largest producers of CNC routers for woodworking and plastics in North
America. It currently employees 25 people in the Durham, N.C. area.
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