A Little about me
Being sort of a retired nerd, I spent my career doing mostly finance related I/T, I have always gravitated towards technical stuff.  My dad grew up on a farm during the depression where you figured out how to make due with what you had and could learn to do  what you needed to on your own.  He was not really trained to do any of it but he could figure out just about anything mechanical and he could usually fix most things when they broke.  I learned trouble shooting and creativity by following him around as a kid, picked up a lot of that ethos and it has served me well.  I started by holding the flash light and handing him tools and learned a lot by just watching.  Both he and his father could work miracles with a piece of bailing wire.  I credit this ethos with why  I like to tinker with things and I often do things the hard way just because it sounds like more fun than the regular way.  One reason I enjoyed (and think that I was good at) the computer stuff as a profession is that I enjoyed problem solving in creative ways.    I simply call it thinking outside the box but to the less technical, they think you are a magician.   

But I digress.  When I decided to retire,  I knew that I had to find another creative outlet and woodworking was always something I wanted to do.  I like designing things because it is the closest thing to artistic ability that I have.  I really never learned to draw very well but computer aided design tools bridges that gap nicely while also tickling my nerd side.  Having a Forestry degree (with a second major in computer science), wood has always been been a passion and woodworking is the perfect creative outlet.   Add nerdishness to the mix and you start accumulating toys.  What better than a woodworking tool that is part computer and part woodworking machine      -- the CNC. 

How did I get here -- The deal.
I started thinking about a CNC machine about 7 or 8 years ago (2017-ish?).  Being a cheap bastard, I could never dig into the wallet deep enough to go buy one of the retail machines.  Around that time is when all of the Youtuber were getting free Inventables machines to demo.  The nerdishness appealed to me but the price tags did not.  I explored buying a 2nd hand machine but at that time, most that I saw were giant production machines that were too large and still too expensive for an experiment.  I also looked at building one as there were several websites devoted to DIYers but ultimately they just look at little kludgy to me at the time and I knew I was not ready for that deep of a dive just yet.  Luckily, I (my wife actually) stumbled upon a young guy who was selling all of his relatively new woodworking tools to downsize so that he and his new wife could move into a smaller home closer to a special school.  The dumb things people do for love and family.  He was basically selling his tools for half what he paid for them only few years before and there we some amazing bargains.   In hindsight, I should have just said I will take it all but, you know, cheap bastard.  In his shop was a fully assembled but never registered or used Next Wave Shark HD3 that we was selling basically for about the cost of all of the accessories he bought with it from Rockler when he got the machine.   Either it had been sitting unused for a few years or he had gotten a deal on NOS (new old stock) from Rockler because it was a model behind what Next Wave was was selling at the time.  I went to his moving sale  3 times that day and picked up a few of his other half price, practically new tools each time but the last time I took $1200 in cash and came home with his entire CNC setup. 

My machine.
The Next Wave (NW) CNC machines are a compromise between affordability, rigidity and ease of use.  NW hit the nail on the head by being a turnkey CNC machine that requires little knowledge of the underlying mechanics and technology -- pretty much a plug and play machine that most people can figure out as long as they really have an idea what it is good at and are willing to learn the excellent software that it comes bundled with. Most of the truly technical details are not important as long as you take the time to learn the software it comes with.   Again, Next Wave got that part right by creating an accessible CNC package for the common woodworker.  From the very beginning, I recognized that the NW ecosystem was almost 100% proprietary and would be to be expensive, if I wanted to add any their upgrades or even just needed to make repairs, but for my price of entry I had plenty of room to experiment.  Their support model is "support for life" and they obviously pay for that through expensive upgrades.  While I often complain about their model, there is no denying it as a easy way to get into the the CNC landscape.  They are small US company and their online and phone customer support is responsive.  You can see more about that in a recent review I posted on Craftisian.  The summary is that it is difficult for me to recommend them due to their expensive, proprietary ecosystem but there is no denying that the plug and play nature would be worth it for many CNC newbies or simply light users.  With all its baggage and limitations and despite my recent ranting (whining) about the company, I have for the most part been able to do the things with it I wanted to do. 

Okay, so why are you posting?
My goal with this series is simply to post some of my experiences with my machine and CNC in general.  I have had my machine for about 6 years now, IIRC.  I do not tend to use it like many do who want to make signs or simply cut out shapes (art).  My use case is more along the nerdish side by doing things that others might not really do with a CNC.  My projects are less about the artistic side and more about using it as a tool to do things a different way, albeit sometimes harder than the normal way.  I enjoy the challenge of thinking outside the box.  Note that I really sort of hate using a handheld router or router table and I sometimes figure out a way to do something on my CNC that would be pretty simple by just doing a little setup and running the piece next to a router. 

Off the top my head, here are few things I plan to post about in no particular order:
-- The technology in my machine is pretty old and expensive to upgrade through the NW ecosystem so I will post about some in process upgrades I am making to my machine.  For now,  I will refer to these posts as #JumpingTheShark.  I am in the process of replacing the old Porter cable router with a more modern variable speed, water cooled spindle and to completely decouple from the NW ecosystem, I just ordered some new control system hardware that I hope will bring me to more current technology and provide a better upgrade path.   Hopefully I won't break my machine in the process.

-- I have an experimental project underway, though on hold as I make upgrades, to make an alphorn (alpine horn) for a buddy of mine.  He came to me asking if I would be interested in making one and liking a comical challenge I said I would look into it.  I used CAD to come up with a design and I have made few tests runs and will be moving forward.  The tests reveal some of the limitations that my machine has so hopefully the upgrades will help.  Of course the design and trouble shooting are the real fun with this project.  This is a big project and could wind up in a separate blog. 

-- I may make a few posts about my process.  I have begun using parametric CAD software as part of my design process along with Vectic's Vcarve.   I find it useful to see how people use the various tools to get to an end and hopefully I can show a a little about how a work though the process in my own way. 

-- Anything else that tickles my fancy as I slog along occasionally using my CNC in my shop.  Who knows.