Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine • Hacker News Board

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#31

Post by TheRealPomax » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 7:32 PM UTC

gedy wrote: post #2

Looks cool, and I guess I'm old and illogical - but I miss the 'old days' when you could just buy things without teasers, pre-announcements, order windows, etc. I doesn't build excitement in my case, more that I forget about it and move on.

You seem to gloss over the old days where we got teasers and pre-announcements in the form of interviews, tradeshow reports, and PR photos in trade magazines. They were just doled out at a much lower frequency than today, but then that's pretty much true of everything else, too.

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#32

Post by froindt » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 7:39 PM UTC

opencl wrote: post #24

matte_black wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn’t a $1400 dollar shapeoko or x-carve be better than this?

This doesn't take up an enormous amount of shop space, can be used on arbitrarily large workpieces, and probably requires far less calibration and maintenance work. I have a 2' x 2' CNC router and can easily think of usecases this would be better for. A 4' x 8' CNC router is sure as hell not going to be cheaper than this thing.

I wonder how accurately it would work on a 4' x 8' piece. If I cut some curvy shape near the edge of the piece and followed the dashed line perfectly, would I end up exactly back where I started or would I miss by half an inch?

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#33

Post by yaw » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

I was part of the preorder and just finished my first project with it, an MFT style workbench (3x5). My prior woodworking experience was a single class in high school. I would likely not have attempted this project without access this tool.

The software works off of SVG files, which was appealing as this is a format I'm already accustomed to. They have made a plugin for exporting SVG from Fusion360 models. The workflow to go from idea to a finished prototype is pretty quick.

Price for me was competitive, I had been looking at laser cutters which start at 2x-3x the price of this. Obviously not a direct comparison in capabilities.

Overall, I'm quite happy with it

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#34

Post by petra » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 7:55 PM UTC

TheRealPomax wrote: post #29

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At that price they are competing with options that you don’t have to babysit, which is a big advantage if you are commercial operator.

Yeah, but they're also operating in the "maker space", where ten people all pitch in $250 and buy a tool for everyone else to use. That $2400 buys you a tool that everyone, including kids, can use, as opposed to a real CnC machine that requires someone to become an expert operator needing to babysit anyone else who has an idea that requires CnC work. This tool has zero appeal to commercial operators. But it's _INCRED…

Is this really kid safe ?

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#35

Post by app4soft » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 8:09 PM UTC

> Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

As it hand-held machine, then it's NOT a CNC[0] by design...

> Computer numerical control (CNC) is the automation of machine tools by means of computers executing pre-programmed sequences of machine control commands. This is in contrast to machines that are manually controlled by hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated by cams alone.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_control

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#36

Post by aidenn0 » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 8:17 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #34

TheRealPomax wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they're also operating in the "maker space", where ten people all pitch in $250 and buy a tool for everyone else to use. That $2400 buys you a tool that everyone, including kids, can use, as opposed to a real CnC machine that requires someone to become an expert operator needing to babysit anyone else who has an idea that requires CnC work. This tool has zero appeal to commercial operators. But it's _INCRED…

Is this really kid safe ?

I used a band saw as a kid; this is probably at least as safe.

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#37

Post by westoncb » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 8:49 PM UTC

app4soft wrote: post #35

> Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine As it hand-held machine, then it's NOT a CNC[0] by design... > Computer numerical control (CNC) is the automation of machine tools by means of computers executing pre-programmed sequences of machine control commands. This is in contrast to machines that are manually controlled by hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated by cams alone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu…

It's still numerically controlled. 'Hand-held' just refers to its size, not how it's operated.

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#38

Post by elil17 » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 8:53 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #34

TheRealPomax wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they're also operating in the "maker space", where ten people all pitch in $250 and buy a tool for everyone else to use. That $2400 buys you a tool that everyone, including kids, can use, as opposed to a real CnC machine that requires someone to become an expert operator needing to babysit anyone else who has an idea that requires CnC work. This tool has zero appeal to commercial operators. But it's _INCRED…

Is this really kid safe ?

Depends on your kid

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#39

Post by stefan_ » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 9:04 PM UTC

gedy wrote: post #2

Looks cool, and I guess I'm old and illogical - but I miss the 'old days' when you could just buy things without teasers, pre-announcements, order windows, etc. I doesn't build excitement in my case, more that I forget about it and move on.

You need this stuff when in the old days, current days and future days, people will replace your product with a mere pencil. Measure, mark, cut.

Re: Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine

#40

Post by xellisx » Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 9:09 PM UTC

westoncb wrote: post #37

app4soft wrote: post #35

> Shaper Origin: Hand-Held CNC Machine As it hand-held machine, then it's NOT a CNC[0] by design... > Computer numerical control (CNC) is the automation of machine tools by means of computers executing pre-programmed sequences of machine control commands. This is in contrast to machines that are manually controlled by hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated by cams alone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu…

It's still numerically controlled. 'Hand-held' just refers to its size, not how it's operated.

All the pictures I'm seeing are showing it being controlled by hand.