Upgrading from my shark

[benaroh]

Hey everyone!

So I love my HD 2.0- however I have found myself in need of a new machine. One that is designed for manufacturing, well specifically for cutting.

I cut a lot of walnut on my shark, often cutting out the profiles of states from 5/8'' hardwood. The shark can manage it- but I am looking to ramp up production with a faster, more accurate machine.

I would love some guidance on the topic. I don't need a huge machine: a bed that is 48" by 48" is plenty big. My price range is around 10-15K.

Thanks in advance!

[Crazy_One]

Assuming that your working at your house/garage/home shop then I would look at a Laguna, an Axiom (Steel City's new CNC line), Camaster or Shopbot. At a minimum you need a true spindle and the Shark is not even up to that. I went to Woodwerks in Columbus Ohio and had the opportunity to look at an Axiom and a Laguna setting next to a Shark. The differences are huge and the price was not that much higher, the 2'x4' Axiom with a liquid cooled spindle was around $6500, the Laguna IBot was on sale at $5500, if it weren't for the lack of space I would have taken it home. In the $10K or so range I would move into a CaMaster with a 3HP spindle.

[4DThinker]

probotix.com sells a 2'x4' CNC that comes with a Linux PC as controller all set up to cut once connected and you provide a router or spindle. The bed is MDF so you'll have to deal with clamping somehow, but at $3995 We've bought one and are using it alongside the Shark HD 2,0 in the college shop I teach in. All metal, and uses 2 Y motor so the potential for how you configure the bed is great. We have ours configured with two t-track section as a top, but one comes off so we can clamp vertically inside the frame. They can make a wider (3'x4') model at special request for an additional $300ish.

If you call them they will make you a 5'x9' much beefier version for around 10k: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGREPhdITU

All models come with an e-stop on the frame, home/limit switches on all axis, and VCarve has post processors for LinuxCNC (EMC2) which is the controller software it comes with.

I am impressed with their build quality and have been very satisfied with their support.