Just a little about me as this is an introduction thread. I am ex Royal Navy, spent 20 years in Nuclear Submarines as a mechanical engineer running from Faslane which is approx 30 miles north of Glasgow, although I have lived in Scotland for over 40 years I was born in London & raised in Surrey.
Medically discharged in Aug 1994 following a major road traffic accident. Been working as a signmaker for the last 15 years or so but only doing vinyl type work, not traditionally trained although I would love to be able to paint properly lol.
I bought a broken cnc router (very cheaply) about 4 years ago knowing that with my engineering background I would be able to repair it with the view of being able to produce flat cut letters from plastics & Aluminium composite. Found software from Vectric which would allow me to produce the toolpaths required to actually cut the shapes so all was looking good.
Vectric have a very well supported forum & from that I discovered all the really fun things that could be done with a CNC that I hadn't even considered which got me started on the road to doing more things with Wood. I hadn't done any woodwork since school but it was one of the subjects I was better at & although I hadn't done anything personally I had always loved the look of wood. Having got interested in working with wood that then led to me buying/making more equipment to be able to extend the things I could do, over the last year I have picked up a couple of shopsmith machines cheaply which have helped me progress & start doing other things like some basic turning. I know the shopsmiths are not as good as dedicated machinery but they allow me to at least progress & I am having fun so that can't be bad lol
