What I needed to know to buy in.

[BRITTELL]

Well I finally went to the local store and ordered my CNC Shark and here are the things I wasn’t told and needed to know to start
1. The Rockler store doesn't take checks. fortunately for me the staff were exceptionally friendly and overall helpful.
2. Had to wait a month to get it, back orders take forever
3. Had to hire my neighbor to get it from the car where it wouldn’t fit into the trunk to the shop due to the weight of the boxes.
4. Once you unpack it you find that there are no manuals or assembly instructions. A little note in one box labeled "CNC Shark Instruction Manual"
tells you to go get a down load on line at their site or from the CD they send for the software . This means you must have the computer you will
be using to run it in the shop operational and on line.
5. The manual is a 143 page .pdf file. You can figure the time to print it on that old printer and be sure to have an additional ink cartridge.
6. Rockler has no optional book or manual that you can buy with the machine.
7. Have the workbench you will be putting it on clear and ready
8. Have help handy to help with lifting parts for assembly.
9. Get 2 extra hold downs for your material it will help on the bigger pieces you only get 2 with it

[Wolffie1]

Welcome to the club.
Cheers
Wolffie

[drueth]

Brittell

Your way ahead of all of us. A year ago when many of us got our Shark the manual was not as good as the one you got with a toilet seat you bought at Home Depot. As far as it is online and you need to down load it that is the way every big company is going.
Well with that said welcome to the club. and there are many great people on this sit that will help you if you need some help.

[4DThinker]

I agree. Welcome!

And thanks for your list. Although I ordered my original Shark online a few years back and it showed up within a week, I know their new models are more popular. Christmas orders did have the factory running behind for awhile.

The boxes surprised me as well, although the shipper left them in my shop within a few feet of the table they ended up on. I made a couple of quick blocks to prop the gantry up. Made bolting it to the base a simple job.

I've had enough experience clamping boards down that I'd already ordered two extra clamps when I ordered the CNC. Only the Mako comes with a Router, so if you get any other model be sure you have the router you'll be using on hand when the CNC shows up. When I bought mine the little Bosch Colt was fairly new and no local stores sold it. I'd ordered one from Amazon.com though and it showed up a day before the CNC did.

The old router bits you've been using with your hand held routers won't be "good enough" either. I'd never heard of upcut and downcut spiral bits. They cut far more efficiently than any old HSS straight bit from True Value though.

Expect confusion on feed speed and RPMs, as well as pass depth. I've been playing with my Shark for three years now, and I still find those variables a bit mysterious. VCarve has a basic set of tools already defined, with those variables on generally safe settings. You'll need to tweak them for different materials though, and you'll certainly be adding bits to the tool library.

It's a complicated tool. I've said before that within "CNCing" there are several skill subsets required. General woodworking, Routing in particular, machining, computer aided Design and Drafting experience, and some creative problem solving just to start. Humans are great at it. There is certainly a learning period though.

[ohiococonut]

Welcome and congrats for taking the plunge. Now that you've got the physical part over it becomes a mental game.
For me it wasn't too bad getting started thanks to this and Vectric forum. I had been reading for months and prepared ahead of time before I decided to buy mine. Had my Rockler catalog in hand highlighted with everything else I thought I'd need and made the 3-1/2hr trip to pick it up when it came in.

Don't hesitate to ask questions, the members here will be glad to help.

[CountryWoodCrafts]

Advise so you don't get the mistake many of us have made . . . .
Make sure you ZERO out the machine before you run a file . . .
otherwise your table may become a sacrificial board . . .

[4DThinker]

My HD 2.0 arrived today.

I have the earlier Shark Pro Plus and somehow managed to get it out of boxes and set up all by myself. Those were the good old days.

This new model is heavier and more solidly built. I needed a second set of hands to lift the base out of the box. Although I managed to get the gantry out and on, a second set of hands would have been handy here as well. I cut some 2.25" blocks to put under it that raised it to align the middle set of holes. I had to run a 1/4" drill bit through all the holes in the gantry sides as the screws wouldn't slide through. There seemed to be a slight misalignment of the aluminum cladding with the plastic core.

You'll definitely need that 1/2" wrench and a torx driver.

[EdThorne]

Welcome to the owners' group. Also, don't forget:
1. Get the proper silicon lube and lots of it. Then figure out how you are going to lube the y-axis leadscrew.
2. You'll need some additional bits so get ordering
3. And get the surge protector and maybe even a ups.
4. Don't forget about how you're going to contend with the endless supplies of saw dust. Build an enclosure, get a vacuum collection system, ignore your wife's endless complaints.
5. Get ready to watch the many hours of tutorials and don't expect the family to join in.
6. Prepare to cough up another $1400 to upgrade to Aspire

It is a fantastic CNC with excellent software
Good luck and enjoy.
Ed

[Eagle55]

Ehhh, those are just the trivial details... ha ha ha. Figure a way to get the $4000 and the rest will fall into place I messed with the free download program for a week while I waited for mine and when it came in, I put it together and cut my first project within 24 hours. Not a awesome project by any means but at least one that demonstrated that I could get the idea from my mind to the material successfully, which was an awesome feeling in my mind.

Roger