Need advice

How are other systems alike/different from the Shark?

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Chop
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:29 am

Need advice

Post by Chop »

I am 61 and our 16 yr electronic repair business is failing fast along with our livlihood so this is very important to me.
I have ideas for products needed in my trade that would be made of wood, plastic and aluminum that I can sell to my existing repair customer base which in turn would save our company. The items that I am talking about are not very complex and by looking at your forum pictures can be made by a shark cnc, but may have to end up being made from plastic or aluminum.

I have no knowledge of CNC and for that reason was attracted to buying a Carvewright but my concerns were that by doing that it would not help me with experience or knowledge to run a heavier built machine like shopbot in the future. So here is my concerns and questions.

If I buy a Shark CNC will I be able to learn how to use it along with all the software with out returning to school ?
And if I end up needing to buy a shopbot later will my knowledge and experience apply to that machine ?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or recommendations.

4DThinker
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:00 am

Re: Need advice

Post by 4DThinker »

The Shark line comes with Vcarve Pro and Cut3D. The Shopbots use the same software from the same company, although it is called Partworks: http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/P ... atures.htm. So any time spent learning the software that comes with the Shark will apply directly to using a Shopbot.

I'm 57. I had both woodworking and CAD experience when I bought my Shark, and thought the learning curve was small. There are great tutorial videos for VCarve at http://support.vectric.com/training-material/vcarve-pro. You should watch them through to get a good sense of how foreign and difficult using any CNC might be for you. You'll need to know how to draw up the parts you want, then how to assign tool paths to the drawing so the CNC can cut them out as you intend. If "vectors" and "profiles" and "pockets" are foreign concepts to you then your learning curve will be steep. I find Vcarve to be a very well made program and all I really need to do the drawing and the tool path creation, so no other CAD programs are needed. There is a free trial version of it available at: http://www.vectric.com/downloads/trial-software.html. You can download and install it for free to work along with the instructional videos. I highly recommend this.

4D

savannahdan
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:33 pm

Re: Need advice

Post by savannahdan »

I just ordered my Shark HD, am shopping for a router and bits (cheap and precision) for it, and have been reviewing videos from Vectric. Also, I will be 68 yo in a few days and have spent over 45 years in health care administration, which I'm getting ready to step away from. From what I'm experiencing you shouldn't have a lot of difficulty with it. I also feel there is a tremendous amount of support from this forum and the Vectric forum for those times we run into problems.
Good luck!!

Chop
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:29 am

Re: Need advice

Post by Chop »

I appreciate all the help guys, I will take your advice. Hopefully within the next few months I will have my first project online to show you.

Thanks again, Chop

dmyers
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:59 am
Location: Melbourne, Florida

Re: Need advice

Post by dmyers »

Chop,

I have owed both the CarveWright and a Shark. My opinion is DO NOT BUY the Carve Wright, you will spend half of your time working on it to get it to carve.
Now that I have my Shark I'm learning new things every day. I come home from work and head to the shop to unwind.
I will grab a pierce of scrap wood and draw some thing up and carve it. There is a small learning curve to get started but it is know way near as frustrating as the CarveWright.
Save your money and buy a Shark you will be better off in the long run.

My 2 cents worth.
David

Chop
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:29 am

Re: Need advice

Post by Chop »

David, thank you for writing in, and telling me your experience , you have reinforced my decision to go with the shark. I think that the carvewright is a neat machine and can do a lot of cool things but the shark can clearly do more , work with more materials and has better software options.

Thanks again to you and the others that have been nice enough write in with their valuable thoughts and information.

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