Dear OpenBuilds Friends, After 12 amazing years, we’ve made the heartfelt decision to retire OpenBuilds. What began as a passion project grew into a global community of makers, builders, and innovators. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built together and deeply grateful for your support, enthusiasm, and trust over the years. We also want to take a moment to honor the incredible OpenBuilds Team members who pushed this company forward every day. Their tireless efforts, dedication, and passion made it all work. They have become great friends through the years, and we appreciate you all more than words can say. As the landscape has changed, operating costs have risen, making it increasingly difficult to continue sustainably. While this chapter is coming to a close, the legacy of OpenBuilds will live on in the countless projects, machines, and ideas that you've brought to life. We’ll be holding a final storewide sale as we wrap things up — this is a chance to stock up on parts while they’re still available. Details on this will be coming soon. Thank you again for being part of the OpenBuilds journey. It’s been an honor to serve this incredible community! From the bottom of our hearts and with deepest appreciation, Thank you for everything! Mark and Trish Carew and the entire amazing OpenBuilds Team Resources Our Team is actively exploring solutions for the forum to keep the community thriving. You can access our core tools and resources on Git: OpenBuilds Docs ️OpenBuilds CAM OpenBuilds CONTROL OpenBuilds Fusion360 Postprocessor OpenBuilds-Vectric-Postprocessor OpenBuilds-DRIVERS 3D MODEL RESOURCES OpenBuilds - Profile - 3D Warehouse OpenBuilds® | CAD Models | GrabCAD Model search OpenBuilds - V-Slot - OpenBuilds - Recent models | 3D CAD Model Collection | GrabCAD Community Library - Vslot - Recent models | 3D CAD Model Collection | GrabCAD Community Library - Printables.com - OpenBuilds - Printables.com - V-Slot - Thingiverse - OpenBuilds - Thingiverse - V-Slot Videos Resources OpenBuilds Main Youtube OpenBuilds Machine Assembly Videos OpenBuilds PROJECTS VIDEOS Social Media Resources FACEBOOK X / TWITTER YOUTUBE INSTAGRAM We deeply value the importance of these tools to our community and are committed to keeping them accessible. Stay tuned for more updates and thank you for being part of the OpenBuilds journey!
Hi, I placed an order late Wednesday night. I did not get a confirmation e-mail. So I tried to log into my account. That I no longer have a password. So I tried to reset it and I did not get an e-mail for that either. I did look in the spam folder. Nothing. just want to confirm I have an order before y’all shut down. Adrian west [private info removed for your safety] the address is a new build so it doesn’t validate on most websites.
Just FYI - I had the same issue. I placed an order yesterday afternoon, but no emails and cannot log into the account I created. Reset password emails never arrive either.
Hey guys, sorry to see you go. (I opened a thread on this), would it be possible to make the G-code generator available for download. I just love it and would hate to see it vanish in the haze. Thanx in advance and greetings, Anselm
How much longer do you estimate tech service/support to be available? I am sorry to see OpenBuilds go.
Thanks Edie we appreciate that, we are as well. We are hopeful over the next month we should be able to complete all task to say finished, but you know how everything takes longer than you think.
Not a surprise. Moving into the new premises must have added huge overheads. I see many small businesses making the same mistakes time after time. Many down for owners vanity purposes. Not saying this was the case here but many are.
In response to Openbuilds closing announcement — I want to thank you for pioneering to make DIY CNC accessible with quality components. V-slot is amazing and now a standard. I started out buying a C-beam mini-mill kit years ago, then began steadily sourcing parts from you and your affiliate store MakerTechStore and Chris’ Blue Ox productions so I could slowly build up a 1010 Sphinx based on Kyo’s design, including a self-designed closed-loop water-cooled spindle. All this was my mental & creative escape from a taxing engineering career that demanded all my time. I have just retired and starting to focus on building and running my Sphinx machine and to start building an J-Tech UV ACRO system. I have enough V-slot and OB parts to next build a CO2 laser. I am truly sorry to see the Openbuilds store closing. But, I wish you success in your next endeavor, or some relaxation if retirement is your plan. Please consider contacting the Internet Archive project to see if they can perform a detailed archive backup of the Openbuilds site and more importantly the entirety of the OB forum so all the community references remain intact. I have learned so much from other members’ feedback on the forum, and hope to follow some of their build projects in the future. Best regards!
Thank you OpenBuilds. I've been a fan since near day 1. I've bought various items and I've helped others buy kits and machines from you too. Things moved quickly since the announcement, or maybe you were already drawing down stock levels. Any chance more stock is to show up or be listed, such as stuff in transit you need to sell? I ask because I'm not sure if signing up on the notification email is worth it. There are a few items I'm interested in and I didn't get to respond soon enough to the sale. I wish you the best in what may be next. I'd love to hear more of the story of OpenBuilds, the highs and the lows. I love small business, strategy and those that go out, create value, serve a customer and succeed. Make it a great day - Tim
Thank you @Awestruck (Tim) these kind words mean the world to us! As for stock levels, it's really not my department but I do know that there are things in the works I don't want to promise something and be wrong, so your best bet would be to reach out to support and ask there Submit a ticket : SUPPORT Thanks again Tim for all of your support over the years and for the next wishes! All the best to you and yours
@Jdog , wow man that hits home, thank you for your heartfelt message and for sharing your incredible journey with OpenBuilds! V-Slot’s legacy and the community’s innovations mean the world to us! It's great to to hear you’re diving into your projects in retirement （congratulations on your retirement） we are wishing you endless joy with your future Builds and projects! Yes , we’re actively working with partners like the Internet Archive to ensure the OpenBuilds site and forum are preserved in their entirety, safeguarding this community’s legacy for future generations. Best wishes for your builds and beyond!
The Internet Archive is showing a lot of activity on their daily ops calendar page regarding the OpenBuilds website so hopefully they are getting it all. I have noticed a couple of issues though. It's not as searchable as what we enjoy here so it would be a good idea for anyone that has favorite pages here to save them to your favorites so you have a specific address to paste into the archives to find. The other issue may just be truly browser related but I can't get the drop down out of the to the right of Resources in the Internet Archives view and this is where Software and Documents are located. And while those who are well versed in other ways to get around the site will be able to access them, for those who don't, it might behoove them to bookmark: OpenBuilds Software: OpenBuilds CONTROL and OpenBuilds CAM - FREE software to run your CNC, Laser, Plasma or Pen Plotter start [OpenBuilds Documentation] Edit: See Peter's comment below While the forum will be a significant loss, the greatest loss will be availability of the BlackBox X32 and the Interface CNC Touch. There is no other reasonably priced, plug-and-play, non-proprietary system out there for the hobbyist. This will truly throw the hobby market back to the dark ages of cobbled together electronics. Hopefully a way forward can be found to keep them on the market through either a fulfillment service or (gasp...) Amazon. Their loss to the hobby market would truly be felt.
Man, I literally just started on my OX build at the beginning of this month, I placed an order on May 8th, and now see this... I am SAD to see you go!!! I started tinkering around way back in 2017 and know that you will be missed... I placed an order, (says still being fulfilled) I hope I got in under the wire (it was a big order, I am trying to future proof some projects/expansions) Know you (and this community) will be missed... Timothy
Thanks Timothy, very cool you're building an OX, one of my personal favorites! We really appreciate the outpouring support from the community! It's been such an amazing amount of support that the Team here are working in overtime to keep up with it all, and that's a good problem to have. All the best with your new build, hope it brings you many years of fun projects
It has been a lot of fun building, learning and sharing with the OpenBuilds community! With the innovative products and countless community shared designs and builds, OpenBuilds will be a missed presence in the maker community. I hope the best for everyone moving forward on your next adventure.
I have my own, Workbee related, Facebook group - Log into Facebook and I am a member of the Openbuilds Facebook group - Log into Facebook Alex.
So this may sound like a stupid question, but the control software will still function after the shutdown correct? Just no more updates past the current version that’s out now? It will we need to find a new control software that works with the black box? Again may sound stupid but I am barely smart enough to run the machine as is.
Yes, Openbuilds Control will continue to function. Updates will depend on what happens to this site/other support groups and that is very much unknown at the moment. Alex.
