Artisan Archive

I am going to be picking up the artisin trade pretty soon (going for Armorsmith and weaponsmith) I have been playing as a scout/marksman since the game came out so I have no idea what to do when it comes to anything but the combat profession. I was hopeing you guys could help me out, and give me a brief overview of what I should expect and how to progress through the trade. I remember in the first days of the game watchnig people stand at crafting stations mining rescources in the middle of Mos Eisley. Am I going to have to do that for 3 weeks, or have we found a better way of doing things? What are resource shifs, how do they work and howmany extractors power generators and the like am I going to have to place? Any thing could help. thanks