Received my Origin a few weeks back. Have done a few things with it experimenting...
- Drill press table replaceable insert
- Ribbon rack for my wife to test accuracy of through mortises
- Sign made from cedar
I’ve used Fusion, Graphic for Mac, and SketchUp to do the designs. For larger projects Origin will be one element of a workflow. I have used the engraving bit to lightly mark cut lines on large pieces and then use my track saw to cut them. This works great.
Accuracy has been very good so far. Depth of cut is up to 1.5” on the Z axis. Recovering from a cut error due to getting off track is better at shallow depths thus far. But like any tool there is a learning curve. Don’t try hard maple at 3/4 depth and expect a finished cut. But there are users cutting hardwoods with a rousing bit at 3/8 depth and then a low finish cut. So 3 passes on 3/4 material.
Like many on the Origin forum, I made 3/4 x 48 x 6” and 10” tape boards and tend to clamp a piece between them on my MFT table. I slightly recessed the tape in .75 x .03 dados below the surface for reusability and have been happy so far. There is an active owners group on ShaperTools.com and we have seen printable dominos on paper as an alternative but have not heard much about the cost of tape vs convenience and small footprint that Origin offers. There are also online tools for doing a grid of holes for 32mm or MFT tops, so lots of potential.
The unit IS sensitive to surface variations. I just shim up the piece I am cutting to the tape board and it works fine. I did try rough sawn cedar on the sign but with cupped boards and slight thickness variations I had to thickness sand out most of the roughness.
The Origin forum has a lot of interesting projects from engraving to joinery, signmaking, pattern making, and full on desks, jewelry boxes, inlay, etc. I don’t think it replaces a production CNC but it has it’s place in lots of projects and can do things you cannot do with a larger CNC.
Online orders have been stopped as I think they are about to turn on retail with Rockler.
Neil