Price boost on basic Shark

How are other systems alike/different from the Shark?

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pedals
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:00 pm

Price boost on basic Shark

Post by pedals »

Rockler had been offering the basic Shark at a discount, which put the price at $2399. Not only is the discount gone, the basic price has now catapulted to $2899. What happened to cause such an enormous price jack? Did plastic prices get out of control?

Romaxx offers a basic machine with virtually the same table size (and all metal construction) for $2450. Yes, you have to pay for the software, but there is the option of going with a less expensive version than V Carve, which would bring the total to LESS than the basic Shark. Why is this a big deal? The Romaxx is a far more durable and production-capable machine. It uses v-groove adjustable guides which permit much smoother gantry travel than the usual bushing setup. Then, there is the innovative high-tensile belt drive which moves the x and y axis, totally eliminating maintenance of screw drives.

With this kind of competition, we have to wonder why New Wave/Rockler decided to boost the price of the venerable little Shark so much. Perhaps they are looking for an excuse to discontinue the thing, after citing sluggish sales in the wake of this big price increase.

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wolffie
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Location: Far North Queensland, Australia

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by wolffie »

I guess that leaves people with a choice between products.
Some like Fords and some like Toyotas :lol:
Cheers
Wolffie
I am never going to die, I live in Paradise already

spinningwood
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 11:28 am

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by spinningwood »

pedals wrote:Rockler had been offering the basic Shark at a discount, which put the price at $2399. Not only is the discount gone, the basic price has now catapulted to $2899. What happened to cause such an enormous price jack? Did plastic prices get out of control?

Romaxx offers a basic machine with virtually the same table size (and all metal construction) for $2450. Yes, you have to pay for the software, but there is the option of going with a less expensive version than V Carve, which would bring the total to LESS than the basic Shark. Why is this a big deal? The Romaxx is a far more durable and production-capable machine. It uses v-groove adjustable guides which permit much smoother gantry travel than the usual bushing setup. Then, there is the innovative high-tensile belt drive which moves the x and y axis, totally eliminating maintenance of screw drives.

With this kind of competition, we have to wonder why New Wave/Rockler decided to boost the price of the venerable little Shark so much. Perhaps they are looking for an excuse to discontinue the thing, after citing sluggish sales in the wake of this big price increase.
You ask a valid question about the basic shark price increase. But your touting of the Romaxx makes you sound like you either work for Romaxx or have been blinded by slick advertising.

1) You didn't say what the "less expensive" software would be. Saving $100 or $200 on software and ending up with a lot less capabilities / support isn't a good trade off in my mind. Few companies are as good as Vectric. Don't forget $$$ for the spindle bracket which is not included. You also glossed over the need to drop some moola on Mach3. When you add it all up, assuming you won't settle for cr@p software, the Romaxx still comes out more expensive by hundreds. Maybe it's worth it, maybe it's not. But it's not some super bargain.

2) "All metal" might be better or it might not. Just assuming it's better because it's "all metal" seems naive. Aluminum foil is "all metal". I wouldn't want a cnc made from "all metal" aluminum foil.

3) Chips in the v-rail system will give a whole new meaning to your use of the word "smoother". Whether it's better than unsupported shafts and bearings will depend on the implementation. There are better ways to implement linear motion, but then you pay more for that.

4) the word "innovative" does not belong in the same sentence as "belt drive". Belt drives are as old as dirt. They can be very reliable, but belts and pulleys need maintenance just like screws. You better have spare belts laying around. Nobody needs to have spare screws laying around. If you are going to be doing fine detail engraving / carving then belts are probably a poorer choice than screw drive. But once again, it all comes down to the implementation. A screw drive can be implemented to favor speed over accuracy as well.

5) Maybe when NWA saw the total price people were willing to pay for a comparable Romaxx they decided to increase the price of the shark but still keep the total package below the higher price of the Romaxx. Maybe NWA is upgrading all the sharks to fully supported linear shafting? Maybe they made some other improvements that aren't obvious from the rockler info. Maybe NWA / Rockler just want to make more money? Don't like it? Then don't buy it.

Just something to think about.

Ed

pedals
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:00 pm

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by pedals »

In response to Ed, I don't work for Romaxx, I was merely playing devil's advocate to elicit some serious discussion. And I thank you very much for just that. A big part of marketing is how a product is percieved, and the basic Shark simply LOOKS less robust than the smaller Romaxx unit. Another maker, Zenbot, makes liberal use of plastic but colors it black to give a more metal-like appearance. Of course the Zenbot price is substantially lower throughout their product line, which gives a CNC newbie the chance to learn this technology without laying down such serious coin. There is value in education, even the kind where you find out you bought the wrong machine!

One of my problems with this rather steep price increase for the Shark is that it exceeds 10% of the previous price (it is 11.5%). Raising the price of a product by this much isn't a good business decision anymore than it would be for a government to raise taxes by that percentage. If a price (or tax rate) needs to be hiked, it is far more palatable to do it in smaller increments. This gets back to how things are percieved, and a single large price spike like this just looks bad.

Phil B
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:31 am

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by Phil B »

I’m sure rockler / nwa gave the price increase a lot of thought. I’m not in the know but I bet business is pretty good and they can get it.

As for the comparisons, the metal frame and linear motion components should be more rigid than the shark. That doesn’t mean they are, unless you test them you don’t know, there is every reason the expect them to perform visible better.

As for v-rails, chips tend to be more of a cosmetic issue than anything. The real thing to consider is if the v rails are hardened steel of not, if not, there will be wear and issues related to that.

As for belt drives, no they are not new but consider that probably most laser engravers are belt drive and they can produce detail that we cannot on any of our routers.

If you want to do a comparison then you need to get your spreadsheet out and account for everything. That means comparing a vcarve machine to a vcarve machine or otherwise negate that out. It’s easy to do but requires a little diligence. The software value on the shark is one of the reasons for it’s success.

What’s harder to do is evaluate other performance issues between the two, for instance capabilities of mach3 vs the shark control panel etc.

Phil
http://benchmark.20m.com

Gitchigumi
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:22 am

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by Gitchigumi »

NIce article in current issue (July 2012) of WOOD magazine might have had something to do with it... Article talks about how affordable and capable the smaller CNC routers can be.

saramos
Posts: 83
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:27 pm
Location: Nortridge, CA

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by saramos »

One thing to keep in mind about the accuracy of belt driven laser engravers is that they have much less load forces as they do not touch the material.

norseman
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:19 am

Re: Price boost on basic Shark

Post by norseman »

Howdy folks,

One thing that you all may have overlooked is that the new “Smaller Shark” has been upgraded: Item 49200 - http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=19441(it even has a new item number). The new “CNC Shark now has a different controller, same as the big brother on the Pro Plus and HD units, this controller allows faster speeds and is a single unit (unlike the old controller with the fan). It also comes with Cut3D which is quite a value to say the least.

Stan -

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