Shaper Origin the first handheld Cnc machine

[Mkholdings]

I know this product is not made by Festool but I wish it was.  At the Festool connect event. This company was invited to show us this awesome product
My friend Toolaholic and myself made this video. This is just a small project but this machine can make a lot. 
The video is in English with Spanish subtitles. I hope this video helps somebody

 

[#Tee]

cool tool, its a manual cnc.

 

[GhostFist]

The tech is interesting but I'm not really seeing a lot of practical application and I assume it's not going to be cheap. Well certainly cheaper than a full sized cbc but only a tiny fraction of the capability.

 

[Brice Burrell]

The tech is interesting but I'm not really seeing a lot of practical application and I assume it's not going to be cheap. Well certainly cheaper than a full sized cbc but only a tiny fraction of the capability.

I too find this concept interesting, I'll hold off my judgements about practicality until we see where it goes.  I believe pricing is $1500 for pre-order, around at $2000 full retail.

 

[clark_fork]

This is the beginning of the CNC product revolution. There are companies all over the world working to bring the CNC concept into the shop and onto construction sites. In less than two years, you will be able to buy one for less than $1,000 and pricing will be headed downward from there.

I would sit tight and wait for tech to catch up. In some garage, there is someone working on a build your own kit that may work or a design that may be adopted by some company.

It doesn't make sense that the answer lies in the overhead mechanical contraptions that are the feature of most CNC machines. The answer seems to be a router/computer combination that is computer guided. This new Origin seems to be the direction of promise.  It does make you think about the future and likelihood of a CNC type of wood lathe where you dial in the chair leg or bowl dimensions and the CNC rides along producing the chair leg or bowl. 

I had a CNC MFT top made and obtained it from a local furniture manufacturer. If I had another project I would hire it out. I now have the Parfitt MFT kit and it will serve my needs at a fraction of the cost.

I intend to stand by the side of the road for now.

 

[bkharman]

Not only seeing this thing, but actually trying with my own hands, I will say it is very slick. Shaper having 3 working prototypes at Connect was boss!  It does have a lot of potential and room to grow and I think at the 1500 price point it has a lot of promise.

I am still on the fence about ordering one but for myself (and a few others in attendance) thought it would be great to cut some MFT templates for use with patten bits for larger production runs.

One of the main developers that was there had indicated a few software updates around the time of release next year. We shall see but this type of "CNC" does have a lot of potential.

My .02...

Cheers. Bryan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[craftedworkshop]

After seeing it in person, I can see how cool it could be, especially for prototyping, creating designs from drawings, etc. Really neat tool.

 

[Svar]

he tech is interesting but I'm not really seeing a lot of practical application and I assume it's not going to be cheap. Well certainly cheaper than a full sized cbc but only a tiny fraction of the capability.

?
Definitely not a tiny fraction of the capability.
Sign making, engraving, or any 2D shapes from sheets, wood or metal (aluminum) without size restrictions. Inlay into existing piece of furniture or floor (try that with traditional CNC), on-site work.
I've seen this used to cut aluminum mounting plates for some machinery. Quite impressive.
I doubt its accuracy matches traditional CNC, but good enough for most carpentry type jobs.

 

[bkharman]

The tech is interesting but I'm not really seeing a lot of practical application ...

?
Sign making or any 2D shapes from sheets, wood or metal (aluminum) without size restrictions. Even on-site work.
I've seen this used to cut aluminum mounting plates for some machinery. Quite impressive.
I doubt its accuracy matches traditional CNC, but good enough for most carpentry type jobs.

Just like a table CNC, you can adjust the "level of accuracy". You can pick an offset to do near 1 mm and the do the last mm (or fraction) as a cleanup pass.

In person I was very impressed... Especially since the full release is due in September 2017.

Cheers. Bryan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Svar]

Just like a table CNC, you can adjust the "level of accuracy". You can pick an offset to do near 1 mm and the do the last mm (or fraction) as a cleanup pass.

I was thinking in terms of overall rigidity. But then it does not have that large gantry span, so perhaps no need for massive mechanisms.

 

[GhostFist]

I work in a production based environment.  We use cnc for mass production. Load in sheet goods, out come parts. This frees up the man hours on repeat processes and makes identical multiples. Layout is done once. For me, I  don't see this as useful. To others it might be great, but I'm not seeing it for what I do

 

[CarolinaNomad]

I don't see the shaper as a mass production cnc machine.  I see the shaper as a big cnc machine for a one man shop in the garage or basement, that can produce small wooden or aluminum pieces to large kitchen panels.  Of course, producing a kitchen in the basement becomes a little bit more profitable for a one or two man shop.  For a cnc machine to cut 5'x10' sheet of goods, a shop needs a dedicated room to house the cnc machine and a 5'x10' sheet.  The Shaper allows someone to cut a 5'x10' sheet or 2'x24' Facial board anywhere that can support the size and produce anything that can be drawn.  Limitations are depth of cut, manually moved around (which means one can't start the program and walk away).  Or the slower you go the higher percentage of accuracy, but for a tedious cnc project with numerous cuts or having the shaper sculpt an ornate crown molding.  Doable, but time consuming to the one man shop.

I saw the shaper in action at the Connect.  The gentleman routed out a circle for a 2" pipe.  The first cut, he specified the hole to be slightly smaller than the pipe.  He then cut the hole and of course the pipe didn't fit.  He then increased the hole size slightly up on the computer screen (he said some computer jargon stuff, ya da ya da), recut the hole and the pipe fit snugly all around the pipe.  That convinced me that the machine is accurate even though it was moved around by a human.

I'm on the fence regarding purchasing one because I have a small need/big want for a cnc machine in my 2 man portable shop.  I sure could use it to produce my variation to the Ron Paulk work bench, MFTC (Wilmots bench),  or Hornbergers cnc clamps.  Or butterflys for a wood slab at a week point in the wood slab.

 

[Michael Kellough]

To me the best feature of Shaper is it's portability. Like the Festool track saws, you take Shaper to the work.

Imagine a big three sided bar, already installed. With Shaper you could add intricate inlays and even come back later and inlay into the inlay.

 

[Svar]

Will this work on a vertical surface? For example, make cutout in a wall.

 

[Cheese]

Will this work on a vertical surface? For example, make cutout in a wall.

Why not? Just lay down some tape, map the area and cut away.

I wanted to pre-purchase when the entry fee was $1400, but I missed the cut-off point. Now that they're at the $1600 level and will still not ship for another year, I'll just wait. I think they showed their cards prematurely and have possibly opened the door for others. Time will tell.

 

[rst]

I've been tire kicking CNC for a few years now and decided that for that amount of money I am going to give it a shot...gave them a deposit yesterday.  I make a lot of pattern work and although I have been hesitant to pull the trigger on a standard CNC because of space considerations and having to learn a drawing program...I'm a sketch and try guy, never really do scale drawing.  Plus I'm 63...old dogs and new tricks.

 

[bkharman]

Will this work on a vertical surface? For example, make cutout in a wall.

The guys there had a jig they made to do end grain vertical type stuff. It had a large area to take the domino dots.

Cheers. Bryan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GhostFist]

An example of how CNC is used in my industry

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[Svar]

Will this work on a vertical surface? For example, make cutout in a wall.

The guys there had a jig they made to do end grain vertical type stuff. It had a large area to take the domino dots.

Cheers. Bryan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This could potentially be 3D. Add another set of targets on a vertical surface, place the machine on a route sled and carve reliefs.

 

[Cheese]

...although I have been hesitant to pull the trigger on a standard CNC because of space considerations and having to learn a drawing program...I'm a sketch and try guy, never really do scale drawing.  Plus I'm 63...old dogs and new tricks.

I'm with you on this one [member=25351]rst[/member], I've also failed to pull the pin because the foot print of a CNC that will handle decent sized parts, can get pretty large. Throw in the manipulation of vectors and different drawing software and now attach another computer to this mess and things just got rather cumbersome and unwieldy.

I do everything in QuickCAD 8, but started to learn Fusion 360 this weekend because that is the software that Shaper uses.  [cool]