Hands-On The Shaper Origin - A Tool That Changes How We Build - Hackaday

11/8/2016
Hands-On the Shaper Origin: A Tool That Changes How We Build | Hackaday
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HANDS-ON TH SHAPR
ORIGIN: A TOOL THAT
CHANGS HOW W
UILD
: Gerrit Coetzee
192 Comments
August 25, 2016
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I et the hand saw reall changed some things. One da oure hacking awa at a
logwith an ax. Its sweat, awful work, and the results are never what oud expect.
The next da the clever new apprenticedown at the lacksmiths shop is demoing his
eta of his new Saw invention and looking for testers, investors, and a girlfriend. From
that da onward the work is never the same again. Its not an incremental change, its a
change. Pure and simple.
SARCH
NVR MISS A HACK
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http://hackaday.com/2016/08/25/hands-on-the-shaper-origin-a-tool-that-changes-how-we-build/
1/56
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This is one of those moments. The world of tools is seeing a new change, and I think
this is the first of man tools that will change the wa we uild.
Like most things that are a ig change, the components to uild them have een
around for a while. In fact, most of the time, the actual oject in question has existed in
some form or another for ears. Like a crack in a dam, eventuall someone comes up
with the variation on the idea that is just right. That actuall does what everthing else
has een promising to do. Its not new, ut its the difference etween crude and
gasoline.
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IF YOU MISSD IT
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WHATSTON RIDGS
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M poetic rasping aside, the Shaper Origin is the future of making things. Its tempting
to oil it down and sa that its a CNC machine, or a router. Its just, more than that.It
makes us more. Suddenl complex cutson an flat surface areeas. Reall eas.
Theres no endless hours with the andsaw and sander. Theres no need for a 25,000
dollar gantr router to take up half a garage. No need for laout tools. No need to
stress aout alignment. Theres not even a real need to jump etween the tool and a
computer. It can e oth the design tool and the production tool. Its like a magic pencil
that summons whatever it draws. ut even I had to see it to elieve it.
TINY GAM OY (THAT

PLAYS WITCHR 3) AND
OTHR THINGS THAT
LW MY MIND
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TH DATH OF A
STANDARD
Building a Mechanical Cocktail Robot with a Handheld CNC
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NOUGH RANTING, WHAT IS IT?

Shaper Origin is an augmented realit CNC router. The augmented portion is a suite of
sensors and an onoard computer. You give it a few reference points on a surface and
it uses that to track its position on the surface. It then augments our view of that
surface with a rendering of the paths oud like to create, edit, or cut.
OUR COLUMNS
Unlike most AR devices, it doesnt just augment the data availale to ou, it actuall
changes phsical things aout the world around it. This includes our ailit to use the
tool. When ou use the router to trace the paths its projecting on its displa, it
automaticall corrects an errors ou make moving the it opposite of them.
Previousl, our estfreehand work might have een to sta within a half inch of the
path. Now oure magicall ale to hit a hundredth of an inch.
PRCPTRONS IN C++
9 Comments
HOW DOS IT WORK?

There are undoutedl man ingredients in the secret sauce that makes up the Origin.
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One of them is the fiducial tape used the sstem. The tape looks like (and is)
aperpetuallrandomizedpattern of dominos. There are onl a few hundredpossile
dominos, ut thetools computer vision software interprets oth the dominoes and
their relationship to neighoring dominos. When ou consider that the tape is
endlessl repeating and randomized, the chance that oull have the same segments
of tape on the same work piece in the same orientation ecome virtuall zero.
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The tape is used the Origin to determine its location relative to the workpiece.
One reall cool feature of the tape,which Originuses to its advantage, is as an
identifing marker. Since it is ver unlikel that the tape will ever e in the same
configuration twice, Origin can use the configuration of the placed tape as a unique
identifier for the material. Lets sa ou have a it of altic irchsitting in the corner of
our shop. A few months ago ou cut somewooden gears out of it. Well, when ou
need a new piece cut out of it, Originwill instantl recognize the arrangementof tape
on it. It will know where it had previousl cut out the gear. It is possile, then, to have
an entire lirar of materials in our shop with ver little set-up needed to egin a cut.
As for placing the tape, Origin isnt pick. It is using onl the relative distance to the
tape,and so the tapecan e placed in an orientation. No efforts need to e made to
keep the tape in an particular alignment. Origin can figure out where it is as long as it
can see at least six dominos in its field of vision for maximum accurac.
Lastl. If ou cut over the fiducial tape, or find ourself needing more tape. Its
asolutel trivial to add more. Just place it on the surface and rescan.You wont lose
our progress on the workpiece.
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NOW ON
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HACKADAY.IO
Aleksandar radic has added zakqw as a

contriutor to Hackada Omnius 2016.
Aleksandar radic has added Adam VadalaRoth as a contriutor to Hackada Omnius
2016.
esot.eric has updated the log for
sdramThingZero - 133MS/s 32-it Logic
Analzer.
thanhesnguen liked Lasercut Optics ench.
Jean-Christophe Duperron liked Mechaduino.
Martin liked LiFePO4wered/18650.
scuaear has updated the log for Harr
Houdini Triute.
scuaear has updated the project titled
Harr Houdini Triute.
Matthew Carlson has added a new log for
Pio 64.
An animation of the mechanism at Origins core.
scuaear has updated instructions for the

project titled Harr Houdini Triute.
TH MCHANISM THAT FIN-TUNS ORIGIN

PLACMNT
At the core of Origin is this mechanism. Two eccentric cams are inside of two arms
creating a ver compact fivear linkage. Its as non-linear as the get, ut fortunatel
its deterministic. Since its all computer controlled anwa, this doesnt matter at all.
An microcontroller could effortlessl perform the required transformation. What it
does mean isthat there are no ulk linear motion guides, allowing for a compact
device.
On top of that the eccentric cams provide a lot of mechanical advantagefor fast,
compact, and constrained movement. This is especiall important when its
compensating for the unrestrained and uncoordinated movements of a Hackada
writer. oth Mike Szczs and I were ale to pick up the tool and cut with it flawlessl,
and with minimal training.
Theres certainl a trick to it. Shaper emploees were ale to hold much tighter
tolerances due to practice. Originactuall has quite a it of feedack to it. Rather than
setting the cutting speed in GCOD, the user sets it moving the device. This is
especiall hand when cutting a fragile material or getting close to the end of a oard.
Rather than just accepting that there will e some lowout, ou can just slow the cut
down and e extra gentle. It offers a lot of control. Its not a tool that does the work for
ou,Origin isa tool that makes ou etter at the work.
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Origins augmented view of the world.

Originderives most of its tracking power from a carefull mounted camera on the
forward facing side of the device. Since the algorithms know theexact location of the
camera relative to the cutting tool, it can work its wa ackwards from the fiducial tape
to determine its position.Of course its not all so eas. To achievethe accurac that
Origin delivers took ears of work, and it will e a while efore an of the undoutedl
soon-to-e emerging competition will e ale to match them.
Origin can take files from a US

stick. No internet needed.
In the photo aove we can get a reall good

look at Origins displa. The triangle in the
middle is a menu utton. When cutting, the it
location is shown with a circle centered on the
screen. If ou look at the ottom of the screen
ou can see some outlined parts. These have
et to e cut out. To place a part ou simpl
move and rotate Originuntil the part is oriented
properl underneath it on the oard Origin
works just like a mouse.
The trapezoid in the middle is the actual live

view of the camera. All the highlighted dominos
are the ones thatOrigin is using to hold its position. verthing around the trapezoid is
lind to the device, it is rendering a picture it scanned earlier. This wa the user gets a
ver high level overview of the workpiece. Prett cool.
Origin can store a wide arra of paths on its internal memor. It can also take vector
paths from the cloud, generate them directl from the tools touchscreen interface, and
thankfull, it can read designs fromUS Drives. (Looking at ou Glowforge).
One of the coolest features, mentioned earlier, is that Origin can actuall e used to
draw the needed paths. Want to cut a 30mm hole? Markan X with a pencil where ou
want the center of the hole. Move Originuntil ou can see the X on the screen. Place
the center of the circle on the Xand then drag Origin to change the size. Optionall,
just tpe in the dimension of the circle using the onscreen keoard. More than
outlines are possile. You can easil do things like laout a pocket for a hidden hinge
without ever having to open CAD or vector software.
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The est part aout the Origin isits

responsiveness. A lot of work has gone into
ringing it elow the threshold of human
perception. Roert . Miller first wrote in 1968
that an user interface element must respond
within a tenth of second or the user will notice the
dela. Considering the amount of heav
processing involved in this kind of machine, its
nearl miraculous that the manage to sta under
this threshold.
WHAT WNT INTO ITS DVLOPMNT?

We onl got a glimpse ofthe thousands upon thousands of hours of development that
have undoutedl gone into Origin. Thankfull the gave us a great set of highlights.
The origin of Shaper and Origin egan with a frame. Not a machine frame or anthing
technicall difficult; Alec Rivers, one of the founders of the compan, decided that he
would ver much like to properl frame a photograph. From what we understand, a few
hours into the project perhaps even a few tears of frustration later, the founder
ecame aware that woodworking was asolutel not his thing.
However, no shortcoming can survive unmolested progress for long. ngineering is
alwas waiting there in the shadows, read to solve a prolem. Surel one can just
uild a root to do this, Alec thought. It would e simple, just move opposite of all
the mistakes Im making, he followed the logical progression; thoughts unhindered.
Weve een told that its een five ears and the picture frame has not een uilt et,
ut insteadwe have the Shaper Originas we see it toda.
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It started with a machine vision camera and a portale x- platform. This platform used
regular lead screws and linear earings to perform the translations. It was assumed
that the user would take care of the Z depth.The next iteration was the first one to
feature the mechanism that is used toda. The Z depth was still managed the user.
Thed have to manuall plunge the router.
It is at the next point that Hackada first interacts with Origin at a Makerfaire.The
device starts to evolve. Gone are the clunk handles and etter industrial design
egins to have its influence. Still its a long wa from the machine we see toda. You
can see how far its come from the following video(Shaper changed its name from
Taktia to Shaper in 2015):
CNC Twofer: Taktia Augmented Power Tools and Nomad CNC mill
Further user testing and development added the Z axis control. This is an important
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development. Not onl is pocketing possile, ut Origin can now retract when it
senses error or the cut has een finished. Finall, Origin egins to look like the
machine we see toda. Were not certain if the commercial version will look similar, ut
we imagine it will e close.
It was quite a challenge to find a manufacturer who could produce the fiducial tape.
Not onl does the pattern have to infinitel randomized, it has to e
extremelaccuratel printed or Origin will have errors in its positioning. Ilan Moer,
Shapers other co-founder, confided that the their original fear was that thed have to
make it themselves. To that end he constructed a rather cool set-up. An industrial ink
jet head would print a continuous pattern on a carefull reeled spool of tape. A pthon
script controlled it all.Thankfull, the did eventuall manage to teach the production
process to a professional tape manufacturer, who is now suppling Shaper with the
magic tape.
Testing and More Testing:

Naturall a device this
complicated needs
extensive testing. The
Shaper team has come up
with a lot of interesting inhouse solutions for testing
their machine.
For example, the tape
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Shapers tape testing machine. Made with Origin of

course.
needs to e optimizedfor
workshop use. It needs to
stick to a variet of surfaces.
It needs to e cheap. It
needs to come off of the
surface without leaving
residue. It also has to e
durale. A machine tool is
going to e scraped over its
surface multiple times
inuse after all.
Shaper had ordered their first run of

professionall manufactured tapes. Thed
also ordered the entire assortment of
arasion coatings offered. It was time to
finalize the tape specifications, ut the
came to the realization that their testing up
to that point was too unscientific to have
produced a clear winner. So the did the
onl thing that made sense. The uilt a
testing machine from what the had
around.
The machine is simple. An Arduino drives a
floating head with some sandpaper glued
to it ack and forth. It counts the ccles.
The tape with the least amount of damage
would come out the clear winner.
Another prolem was that of the spindle.
While the Dewalt router that everone
seems to use is fine and dand;there are
hundreds of router spindles out there, and
Shaper wanted to find one that would provide the est power, control, qualit, and cost
to integrate into Origin.The onl wa to know for certain is to test the options all of
them. ut theres a prolem. How do ou test a spindle anwa? Do ou have an intern
route wood all da long, keeping a sujective log of the spindles performance?
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The, Spindler, can automaticall profile a spindle.

We were kind of lown awa the testing device, ut then again these gus are ver
clever. The came up with a wato place an aritrar load on the spindle. The do this
attaching a reall strong magnet to the end of a shaft attached to the spindle. The
magnet hovers over an aluminum plate. moving the magnet closer and furtherawa
from the plate the can dnamicall adjust the load inducing edd currents in the
metal. Naturall, this heats the plate up quite a it when its eating 500 watts of power,
ut it gave them a wa to test an of the spindles out on the market. A it of off-theshelf watercooling meant for CPUs and the machine can run indefinitel.
Jerem lumthrew together a simple touchscreen control panel that logs spindle
metrics in real-time, and allows them to push the spindles until the reak.Wed love to
see their data for all the routers in the market.
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The asket Shapers automatic logging and status shelves.

The go into it in some detail on their ehind the scenes log, ut another reason for
their success is their excellent sstem for tracking ugs and testing results. The device
aove is called The asket the like to joke that all their eggs (their hand-uilt
eta prototpes) are in one asket. The asket emplos purpose-uilt software for
checking units in/out, and logging detailed ug reports for each unit.. The shelf is, of
course, also entirel made with Origin. We feel that its ailit to cut properl sized
holes for plugs is worth it alone.
The asket can track whos
using the tool, who roke the
tool, its current status, and
much more. The even use it
to keep track of eta testers.
All the data is seamlessl
pushed to their internal eta
logging sstem. One prolem
an engineer faces when
performing tests on a newl
designed hardware is
Worth it.
whether or not the prolems
the are seeing are a fault of
the design, or just a fault of
asseml. Having nicel organized logs is the est wa to make such determinations.
WHAT CAN I MAK WITH IT?

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Building a Radio with a Handheld CNC
Fortunatel Shaper has recentl egun posting more videos of the device in action.
The simple answer is, anthing ou could imagine uilding with a Shopot or
Shapeoko is fair game. ut, ou can also do much more since there is no limit to uild
envelope, and ou cut non-sheet materials, like existing desks and alread installed
panels, etc.Shaper currentl recommends that Origin e used for wood-like materials,
soft metals, plastics, and composites. However, theve een doing a lot of testing on
tile and granite. Since all it requires is the fiducial tape, it can make anthing from the
size of a matchox to something as ig as a thirt foot conference tale. Most of the
test rigs shown in this article were made using the device. elow is a plalist showing
wa more example videos.
Building a Handplane with a Handheld CNC
TH FUTUR:
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After a long wait, Shaper has opened up pre-orders for the device. The hope to have
the first production units in peoples hands next ear. Keep in mind this isnt a
Kickstarter where there, prett sure it will work, we know a gu, theve een at this
for five ears now. So were etting on a good chance it will turn out well for them.
There are some earl ird discounts rising up to the final estimated retail cost of
$2,099 US dollars.
Having used Shapers Origin, theres no tool I want to add to m personal shop more.
Ive fantasized aout owning a Shopot for ears, ut even if I could afford it, the
chances that Id have a place ig enough for it are even less. This just opens up so
man possile avenues for making. For most of the things Ive used a CNCor laser
cutter for, this will do. For most of the things Ive wanted a full wood shop for, this will
do. Its the size of a readox, eas to use, and enaling.
The Pre-Order Rendering Photo.

Posted in usiness, cnc hacks,
ngineering, Featured, slider, tool hacks
Tagged hands on, origin, router, Shaper, taktia
Ausing a Cellphone Screen with

Solenoids Posts High Score
Seeed Studios ReSpeaker Speaks All the

Voice Recognition Languages
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192 THOUGHTS ON HANDS-ON TH

SHAPR ORIGIN: A TOOL THAT CHANGS
HOW W UILD
RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:11 am
Sounds like a new variation on the inkjet printer scam to me.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 25, 2016 at 7:47 am
Yup! $10-15 for enough tape to cover a 48 panel, and ou can onl get the tape
from Shaper (the claim its not possile to make it ourself). What happens
when the (or their third-part supplier) go out of usiness or decide to charge
twice as much for the tape?
Also, given all these nift demos, wh are the quoting deliver in
?! The earl ird prices are suspiciousl low, making me think that the
actual shipping price wont e anthing like the quoted $2,100.
Ill hang onto m mone until after I read reviews of the shipping units, and
possiilit til the overhpe crash drives the price down to a more rational level.
ut I think Id feel a lot more comfortale with an ordinar gantr machine, even
a small one in the $5k range, that doesnt depend on anone else to keep it
working.
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:13 am
If there is demand the will e availale on alia at $2 a roll. Dont e cheap an

u the $0.75 ones tho, qualit is terrile and the leave residue that is a pain to
remove.
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Mike Szczs sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:34 am
I tend to agree with Daniel. There is reall nothing that is secret aout the
fiducials so third-part tape should e prett eas to come if there is
demand.
Shaper has a vested interest in keeping the cost as low and as availale
as possile. The inkjet model onl works ecause the printers were free
with ever computer sold for man ears. There not just giving awa the
tool in this case.
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:56 am
14/56
11/8/2016
And I dout people with this level of skill are driven the dream of
making their living selling tape.
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Jerem lum sas:

August 25, 2016 at 9:29 am
Indeed all of us at Shaper are here ecause we want to

improve tools that allow people to make amazing things. All of
us are Hack-a-Da readers, and all of us spend our time
uilding stuff (when were not designing Origin). We want to
put ourselves out of the tape usiness constantl
improving the tool so it needs less and less tape to e
accurate.
-Jerem @ Shaper
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:41 am
The tape seems like how machine vision was handled in

1980s, mark up the thing ou want to see with reference
points. Its like the learned all the know from the tech
ehind the original optical mice, that needed an indexed pad.
This could lead to the hpothesis that either level of skill is
low, or intent to generate recurring revenue stream is high. Or
a plausile alternative is to generate a quick and dirt sstem
thats reall cheap to implement. and it doesnt look cheap.
Report comment
Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:25 am
RW, I challenge ou to ring a standard optical mouse from

drawing oard to ox in store. You know, manufacturale
mechanical design, deal with contract manufacturors, plastic
tooling, FCC and C certification and so on. I assume that ou
are aware that when ou get that full functional circuitoard
fit perfectl in the 3D printed casing ou are aout 0.3% on
our wa there?
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:41 am
So ou agree that this is aout 0.3% of a finished product. ;-)

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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:56 am
Touche
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Whatnot sas:
August 25, 2016 at 4:07 pm
And medicine manufacturer COs didnt grow up dreaming

of making epi pens $600, ut the sure did..And it isnt an
accident.
Report comment
Marc T sas:
August 26, 2016 at 3:14 am
@Jerem lum If the tape is precision-made and the

markings are random (or pseudo so), and if the device reads
these precision points to get its earingsWHY can one not
just dot marking patterns along a path/grid/ox/straight line
with a lack marker and have the device find its wa from
these?
Report comment
ric sas:
August 26, 2016 at 9:29 pm
RW Id like to point out that the earl indexed mouse pads

were asolute position, more similar to todas graphics
talets than an optical mouse. An optical mouse has no idea
where it is, all it reports is delta XY position. Its ver eas to
tell which wa oure moving and at what speed with far less
sensing than it takes to know where oure actuall located in
space.
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:55 am
Well Ill e more comfortale with the idea when I see it second sourced
without ensuing sue-age.
Residue wise though, hope the have something special there,
considering our unconsumed materials ma sit around a couple of ears,
and maximum non-residue guarantee on masking tape ou can get is 60
das as far as I know.
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Michael uffington (@go) sas:

August 25, 2016 at 10:32 am
Its reasonale to assume that if I leave tape on m stock material

for a couple ears that there will e the possiilit of residue eing
left ehind. Its unreasonale to ask Shaper to design around this
scenario a scenario that seems unlikel to happen given that
theres simpl no advantage to placing the optical tape on our
stock an earlier than when oure actuall going to e making cuts.
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Ro sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:45 am
The make this amazing material just for such applications its
called sandpaper. You should check it out.
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Ro sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:46 am
and the, I mean an numer of companies all around the

world.
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:57 am
So we should interpret Gerrits claim of reducing use of a

sander, as increasing use of the sander.
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ric sas:
August 26, 2016 at 9:26 pm
I had some Scotch lue painters tape on a wood floor for around 8
ears, came off with no residue. Similarl, I recentl used some to
tape up the gap in the mirrors of a car I had sitting outside eing
worked on without moving it from April until second week of August.
(I found the tape works well to keep wasps from turning the mirrors
into homes. Keeps them out, keeps me happ.) When I was done
working, that tape came right off as well, again, with no glue, and it
had een sitting outside in the drivewa getting sun through all that
time. If storage conditions of our materials are somewhat
reasonale, I dont see wh oud have a prolem.
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chive33 sas:
17/56
11/8/2016
Septemer 21, 2016 at 4:57 pm
$100 OFF for oth ou and me if ou use m link. Cheers!

https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/4KQMTP3F
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Mac sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:11 am
This is an interesting tool. ut

The ~$2k price tag is a good chunk of change for a tool that the human still has to
drive ;)
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Michael uffington (@go) sas:

August 25, 2016 at 11:09 am
Ive thought aout this a lot, ut have come around to eing OK with the price
point.
Consider a machine like the X-Carve (which I own). Full loaded, it costs $1200. I
think its safe to assume that the Shaper Origin can produce parts of equal
qualit as the X-Carve in the same sorts of materials.
ut then the Shaper Origin reall starts to look attractive when ou consider
things eond what there capale of making.
The X-Carve has a working area of 800x800mm. The Shaper Origin has no
theoretical limits on work area.
The Shaper Origin is portale. The X-Carve is less so. Frankl, its a chore to
avoid, moving the X-Carve. Ive done it, and prefer not to.
The Shaper Origin takes up ver little space. Consider how much space an
CNC router than can handle a full size sheet of plwood takes up. Can ou just
store that machine on a shelf when its not eing used? Not a chance. ut the
Shaper Origin quite easil sits on a shelf.
The workflow for the Shaper Origin looks a lot simpler and appears to require a
lot less setup than something like the X-Carve.
Also, the X-Carve requires a human to drive it. You dont get to just set it up and
walk awa. Its not a closed loop servo driving machine oozing with safet
mechanisms. It can skip steps, crash into clamps, get uried in the dust it
creates.
M iggest prolem with the Shaper Origin is that Im desperatel wanting to
work on igger projects than the X-Carve can handle. I either need to wait for
the Shaper Origin, or spend a chunk of mone on a igger router. If the Shaper
Origin were availale right now the prolem of needing more work area would
e eas to solve.
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Jason sas:
August 25, 2016 at 2:37 pm
+1 for the X-Carve requiring a human to run it. Ive used a numer of
ho-grade and commercial grade CNC machines over the ears, and
the thought of leaving one unattended for long periods of time is just sill.
These machines have the capailit to destro themselves, wh risk it?
For a reall expensive machine, its etter to have a paid technician
monitoring at all times. $20/hr equates to ~ $40,000 a ear. How much
does a new commercial-grade CNC cost? How aout the workshop its
housed in?
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paul sas:
August 25, 2016 at 6:07 pm
Opinions do var luckil

The idea that it would e sill to let a CNC machine do its thing
unattended is a it sill in itself.
Some time ago I worked in a factor which handled a lot of sheet
metal and near the end of the last shift we used to load one of the
CNC machines with a pallet of sheet metal. And with a it of luck
there woud e 20 to 30 stacks of nicel punched and cut steel
plates on a few other pallets. Without that luck the machine stopped
somewhere during the night if one of the gazillion safeties was
triggered
I think this machine would qualif for the reall expensive kind in
our view.
I know it was ig (20m long with material handling), heav (made of
several cm thick steel plate) & Orange. Italian rand Strange, cant
rememer the rand name Gosh, this was 15 to 20 ears ago
And no, ou do not give a $20/hour worker responsiilit over a
multi million dollar machine.
Down to the ho stuff:

Depending on the work piece of course a single person can
supervice multiple X-carve class cncs.
Not so with a machine ou have to hold in oth hands while using
it
The are just differen machines for differend was of working. It
seems a it sill to make a list of the differences etween them
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 6:46 pm
Yah, wa ack when, when I was in and around a lot of light

industr, a lot of them seemed to have Italian CNC machines, I
cant for the life of me rememer the manufacturer either. It
was semi familiar, like Piaggio or something. The were prett
reliale at running themselves. It was one tech etween 3 or 4
of them.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 25, 2016 at 4:46 pm
The Shaper Origin has no theoretical limits on work area. Ill et dollars
to donuts that isnt true. The larger the area, the larger the error. Also, the
tool has to memorize the fiducial tape pattern, and there is surel a limit to
that.
ut anwa, thats nit picking, If its usale over 4x8 (and it is, right,
Jerem lum?), thats good enough for most purposes.
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Jerem lum sas:

August 25, 2016 at 4:52 pm
Correct we can onl process so large of a workpiece efore we

simpl run out of memor in the sstem. Weve done 48 without
an prolem.
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Steve sas:
August 27, 2016 at 5:03 am
Just for fun, what would e the theoretical maximum?

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Jerem lum sas:

August 27, 2016 at 11:25 am
I actuall dont know. We havent een ale to hit it et. Could

proal e computed, ut havent done that since we
havent run into a practical limit et.
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foxtravellers sas:
August 26, 2016 at 2:12 am
If ou or anone need it, ou can use m referral link and we oth get
$100 of the preorder price.
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/YLGJ4TJK
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:10 am
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11/8/2016
Reall? You pre-ordered one a ear (at least) in advance with so

man unanswered questions? If oure looking for investments, I
have some land in Florida
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Sheldon sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:27 am
Im glad that theve finall got to (pre)releasing it to the wider world, even if I still cant
get access to it in the UK :-(
ver since it was first mentioned on HaD and watching the few videos en
Krasnow (he successfull used it on thin metal), Ive een lusting after such a device
(one that is not constrained a gantr sstem, like traditional CNC rigs, so can e
used in-situ or over massive areas).
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Polaris sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:28 am
can ou configure it to use metric units?
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Dielectric sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:23 am
Nah, the emedded processor is wa too us with the vision sstem and
inverse kinematics to convert units at the same time.
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:25 am
Onl if ou want it to fl right out of our hands and crash into mars .
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CheshireFool sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:29 am
more accurate the slower ou go

right now I call that use a chisel, and the onl design input requirements are a pencil.
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PAVUK sas:
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11/8/2016
August 25, 2016 at 7:33 am
Looks like the are reall investing into promotion, Diresta got one too:
https://www.outue.com/watch?v=R3ahfDFHo3g
So, is this a PR article?
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 25, 2016 at 7:57 am
No.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:30 am
Well, not a paid one. I appreciate ou genuinel loved it, and the compan
are one of us. And it is relevant to some of our interests. The article
wouldnt e out of place though as an advertorial in some magazine
aimed at technicall proficient, intelligent people.
Im not ojecting, ut I can see it is a it advert-ish.
Im looking forward to the drama in 5 ears when half the compan splits
off to make the Original Origin vs Genuine Origin. Sure oull cover that.
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en sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:56 am
Ill admit this is far the most glowing product endorsement Ive ever seen in a
Gerrit article. I suppose I could interpret that as suspicious if I wanted to. Or I
could interpret it as a legitimatel exciting, functional product.
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Somun sas:
August 25, 2016 at 3:42 pm
Hmm, I would think this one is on par with the othermill article
http://hackada.com/2016/08/02/the-othermill-vs-import-a-technicalcomparison/
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Lucas sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:07 pm
The Tested outue channel put up a video on this the other da. Other
outuers have een receiving free units as well all around this time. Its a prett
clever marketing campaign though, ou get direct access to hundreds of
thousands of suscriers who trust who the suscrie to for ver cheap. Id et
this Hackada article is similar not paid, ut a free unit.
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Not overl dodg, just ver well coordinated. xpect to see the Shaper Origin all
over the internet this week.
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rian enchoff sas:

August 25, 2016 at 11:16 pm
No, we did not get a free Shaper. Nothing was exchanged for this article.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:31 am
You shouldve stuck our neck out, ou might have got one.
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xmtx sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:34 am
The product looks great.

ut the tone is so enthusiastic that it reall looks like some sort of advertorial
(pulireportage in french), or sponsored post.
Is it?
If so, shouldnt there e some warning aout it?
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 25, 2016 at 7:59 am
We dont do sponsored posts. So nothing to warn aout.
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:48 am
Its unridled hperole thats the prolem.
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DominicW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:39 am
M wifes emroider machine has the find the X or in its case the crossing on an 8.
Google alock nterprise. Otherwise, awesome idea and good luck.
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11/8/2016
MS3FGX sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:40 am
So first off, this post is much closer to an advertisement than I like to see on HaD. If
ou want to review the thing, thats fine, ut this isnt a review. This article literall
claims this device is as transformative to woodworking as the saw lade. Come on.
Second, I honestl dont see the excitement here. If ou ended this article saing it
was $399, mae. ut its 2K AND I have to move it around hand? One of the
whole points of a CNC router is that ou dont have to do it ourself, the machine can
cut shapes out of flat stock all da while ou just keep an ee on it.
This device is like those 3D printer pens compared to an actual 3D printer. Yeah its
cool and looks like the future, ut at the end of the da if ou still have to move it
around manuall its never going to e as useful.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:00 am
Well, despite m snarks aout the machine (aove), I have to disagree with ou
aout it eing less useful ecause ou have to move it around handthis is
actuall the reason Im tempted to u one. With a gantr router, ou have
to move the material to the worked, and it has to fit. With the Origin, ou can
take the machine to the work, even if its on a wall or ceiling. Not often needed,
ut when its essential our onl alternative would e a less-accurate manual
router.
So, the Origin is tempting, ut its going to have to e a less expensive and
there is going to need to e a ackup source for the fiducial tape.
Rememer all the hpe aout the Glowforge 3D Laser Printer, another
gimmick product thats in perpetual preorder status? I wouldnt e surprised if
the Shaper Origin turns aout to just as vaporous.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:34 am
Thing is with this, the gantr is our od, which is something ou ring
with ou everwhere. Meaning the it ou have to carr is hand-portale.
The unit manages machine-precision with human muscle. Thats the
genius. This can ring CNC precision to man, man work sites and
applications, where it wouldnt e practical to take a wall out of a house
and load it onto a traditional CNC machine. Its a rilliant idea, and I et
wasnt simple getting it to work.
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Leonard sas:
August 27, 2016 at 10:16 pm
Agree 100% with this. een thinking a lot aout this machine; firstl
that its completel unaffordale for me, ut mostl for the
possiilities. No need for dowel joints or Domino loose dowels; ou
could place dowels and sockets wherever and whatever size and
shape and spacing ou want. I will e making a 12m floor to ceiling
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11/8/2016
ookcase with a stepped from and drawers at the ottom if this

works as advertised, I could imagine making up the pieces with to
finish qualit with all joints uilt in. Mallet and glue to assemle. It
would ring the ailit to design items with complex connecting
shapes and e ale to do so the same ever time. Slow es. ut
likel faster than multiple machining steps and multiple asseml
steps.
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:08 am
Hackada doesnt do advertisements or sponsored posts. If anthing I spent

more time on this article than I should have; considering I get paid the same
regardless we can construe that this article actuall cost me mone to write. I
stand m review. Sometimes reviews are positive. Sometimes the can e
overwhelmingl so. What would e the point of onl reviewing things I hate just
ecause people have an easier time trusting grump cnical rants than the do
the opposite?
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C4 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 2:30 pm
I like it, oth the product (except the tape) and the review, enthusiasm
shouldnt e a disqualifier for an independent review.
Cnicism is the prevailing wind lowing through this site and it stinks.
eing passionate aout whatever is what makes doing stuff worthwhile for
me at least.
Tell me I cant turn the dials up to eleven and I wont turn them past three.
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laisepascal2014 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:03 am
One of the things I see and like aout this tool is that while it cant replace a
production CNC router where ou want to cut flat stock all da, it does allow ou
to do one-offs using much less space. I cant see putting a decent-sized CNC
router in m Makerspace (1000 sq.ft. total space), ut one of these can go on a
shelf and still let me route 48 sheets when I need to.
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Whatnot sas:
August 25, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Although oviousl put jokingl, in actual fact the saw predated lacksmiths,
since the were first made from flint and one and all such natural materials I
read. ut even if ou dont want to call that a saw, in the woodworking
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discussion sense, it still is the invention-foundation.

it also mentions: [T]he identities of the axe, adz, chisel, and saw were clearl
estalished more than 4,000 ears ago
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:38 am
Thats what I thought.
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daid303 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:28 pm
The point is, I can store this in m garage, next to m other tools. While a router
would take up a considerale amount of space, this takes up the same amount
of space as a circular saw.
ut as alwas, Ill wait till the pre-order phase is over and see if the actual
product lives up to the hpe. (And if it does metric)
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dave sas:
August 26, 2016 at 2:00 am
I dunno if Id e storing this $2000 unit in m garage next to all m other

tools. Id e thinking aout storing it inside, in a safe.
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daid303 sas:
August 26, 2016 at 5:46 am
While 2k isnt cheap. Its more likel that thieves will steal all m
ikes and leave the tools. As were not keeping our 1k ike in a safe.
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 5:51 am
I dunno, it looks somewhat like a conventional power tool, so

the might gra it. Compared to sa a 3D printer, that looks
like a science fair project :-P
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 26, 2016 at 5:59 am
@RW, Just finished upgrading m reprap the other da! Who

wouldnt want to steal this?
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11/8/2016
Onl got twent eight thousand dollars of parts and man hours
in it too. Sure it woles a it on the Z, ut Ill fix that soon
enough
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 9:15 am
Who wouldnt want to steal this?

Heh, anone who alread has a hernia or ack injur for sure.
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CA sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:03 am
So a Dremel tool with a magnifing glass with some asic cams put in place to reduce
motion. Wouldnt it e cheaper and easier to get a CNC mill like the Shapeoko,
remove the ed, and attach a RaspPi running OpenCV?
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:10 am
A rocket ship is just a clinder with some explosions ehind it. Wouldnt it e
easier just to put a om under m car? The seats are comfortale and it would
even have AC!
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Sheldon sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:24 am
xcellent retort! :-)
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:26 am
Insensitive! I roke some ris wrestling esterda and reading that

comment was prett painful.
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Whatnot sas:
August 25, 2016 at 4:02 pm
eah I wrestle with some das too sometimes.

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kris sas:
August 27, 2016 at 11:43 am
ou gus kill melol

machine looks great, dont let the folks with preorder vapor
fatigue get ou down
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:25 am
28/56
11/8/2016
Top Gear : Robin Reliant Space Shuttle Challenge - T...
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Galane sas:
August 25, 2016 at 5:11 pm
That nearl worked. Most likel a connection to the explosive olts

to disconnect the fuel tank came loose on launch. Wind tunnel
tests of a model of the car with wings showed it should have een
capale of gliding and eing remotel piloted.
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:43 am
I know I was so ummed the didnt have the funds/time or

whatever to get it right, seemed prett close.
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kitlaughlin sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Hahahahahaha! Perfect.
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gordon ash sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:06 am
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A fantastic tool ut i KNOW i see one of these a good 10 ears ago somewhere on the
interwes?
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rutigrem sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:12 am
Covert advertising. Not a single critic, its all wonderful for 2k$. Pathetic HaD, we dont
u it.
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kdev sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:34 am
You dont speak for all of us, udd. I personall am salivating at the thought of
what is asicall an entire workshop in handheld form.
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:59 am
Its nowhere near an entire workshop. The wa it is descried, I cant see it

doing more than 75% of what a normal hand router could do with an
experienced operator. You can knock that down elow 50% if ou have a
tale attachment for router.
The particular prolem areas would e, narrower material, smaller pieces
of material, swiss cheese material that ou anticipated that ou could get
a lot of small parts out of et, edges of material. Due to the material
memor, sounds like ou cant even have a set of over run oards, to
allow ou to get close to edges, ecause the second time ou use them it
will think oure cutting thin air. All down to needing to see an approx
square foot or two in front of the tool. Sure ou can jig and rig and
workaround, and use fre$h tape ever time, ut if its getting to e more of
a PITA than the manual tool, then its not justifing itself well.
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Lucas sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:13 pm
Its a router + more, how can it do onl 75%? It should e > 100%
our logic.
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:55 am
Wheres the more??? Its an accurate router that cant go as

close to edges and needs a rather large minimum amount of
area for it to know where it is. Doing fiddl its might e less
frustrating, ut it cant achieve finer detail than the it its
spinning will allow and it asicall onl works on materials
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that ou dont use if etter than plus or minus half a millimeter

is reall that important.
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kitlaughlin sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Thats how I see it too.
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Whatnot sas:
August 25, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Yeah HaD clearl loves this thing and its the 3rd or 4th time its featured on
HaD.
And it must go ack ears at this point, and its still not released? Odd.
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Mike Szczs sas:

August 25, 2016 at 8:13 am
Commenters e craz. From reading most of what is aove it seems were not allowed
to actuall like anthing. Do ou actuall prefer if we hate on everthing all the time?
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Leithoa sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:28 am
Of course oure allowed to like things, ut when log posts start sounding like
product rochures oure gonna get some snark from people who think ou
should e 10,000% impartial.
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:31 am
When a positivel charged od A is rought into proximit of an uncharged

od a negative charge will e induced in equal and opposite to the charge
in A.
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:35 am
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No. Overl positive articles triggers the gloom nasaers which in turn rings
out the est of the witt commenters. Its fact that a logs standard is set the
qualit of its comments.
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rian enchoff sas:

August 26, 2016 at 2:13 am
Were not that ad.
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Faceman sas:
August 25, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Next time the tr to cut a complex shape into a wall with their X-carve the will
change their minds on this thing.
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Steve sas:
August 27, 2016 at 5:27 am
Cut a guide on the X-carve, use the guide on the wall with a flush-trim it?
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Alex Rich sas:

August 25, 2016 at 3:46 pm
People are used to review meaning a consumer reports critical analsis of

some random thing like a refrigerator. Hackada writers dont review random
stuff, the pick things the like and then write an article reviewing them. The
reviews are almost alwas positive ecause it seems writers dont go out of their
wa to find and then complain aout equipment that totall sucks.
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RW sas:
August 26, 2016 at 11:37 am
Well this isnt a We took it to our shop and put it through 7 kinds of hell.
proper grown up review, its a We went to their controlled environment
and drank the kool aid. tech preview of unfinished product.
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moo sas:
August 26, 2016 at 11:05 am
mae address the most plausile complaints up front? and limit our
reathlessl hperolic editorializing to posts where oure not discussing a
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commercial product?
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Leithoa sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:41 am
I dont get it.

The Augmented realit work is reall cool and Im sure it took a lot of smarts to get
operational, ut this seems to e a solution in search of a prolem.
I get that the wanted something less cumersome than a full on CNC router tale,
ut thats aout the onl thing this seems to reall have going for it. Sure, ou can go
from working on an end tale to carving a viking long ship ut I dont think man
people work on things that ig. Who is their target demographic?
I get that not everone wants to take 10 ears to ecome a master wood worker using
a chisel and coping saw ut for a quarter of the price of the Shaper Origin I can u a
trim router, spra adhesive, and a laser jet to print templates and do at least 99% of
the same projects. Mae m imagination is just stale, ut I dont see the void that the
supposedl Origin fills.
Will someone who gets it help me understand?
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:59 am
Now Michael J Fox can use a router too?
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Leithoa sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:05 am
Leave that crap on 4chan.
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Sheldon sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:12 am
Not sure how much I can help ou understand ut I can see that it wont e that
eneficial to a lot of ho level users.
If ou want to make something out of raw material that is desktop sized to start
with then its far cheaper to pick up a cnc router tale as ou suggest. Where it
comes in to its own is with things like furniture, something where the raw
material and the final parts are larger than a desk ut the user still wants the
same level of results.
Yes, on large material ou might e ale to get awa with stuck-on templates
and doing it entirel manuall ut this will keep a high degree of accurac in the
results without having to take ages tiding up or going ver slowl.
Think more large format CNC machine (8x4 sheet) except it can also e used in
an orientation and it can e taken to the material (e.g. on walls, floors or
ceilings that cant e taken off and put in a machine). Plus, unlike a large format
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cnc machine, its incredil portale so if ou wanted, ou can take it with ou

on a ike rather than needing a van.
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Leithoa sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:37 am
The Origin seems to use template tracing, there just digital & ouve got
some slop uilt in with the CNC aspect of the tool. The correction is cool,
ut again, tracing patterns is easil accomplished hand for most
people.
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etihehe sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:08 am
Most people are not that good with tracing, mself including. Ive
tried some router work and can tell ou that this level of accurac
would e unattainale for me, mae onl after several das of
training. Cutting gears manuall? Forget aout it.
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Leonard sas:
August 27, 2016 at 10:26 pm
Interesting; while I dont use a hand-held router ever da, its one of
m preferred tools for heaps things when a near-perfect edge is
needed. I dont elieve that its possile for anone (except mae
Superman) to follow a line even remotel accuratel hand.
Certainl 0.5mm is I elieve fundamentall unachievale. It needs
templates.
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Dan sas:
shaper claims our average person can do 0.01 with the

origin.
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Alphatek sas:
August 26, 2016 at 2:05 am
Quite. Sod woodworking, what aout using it for fireglass complex

cutouts on oats, kitcars etc, or thin metal instant front panels and the
like.
Id imagine its also capale of etching (depending on Z-axis resolution), so
thats another thing it can do.
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11/8/2016
Definitel a reakthrough tool.
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nachtritter sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:17 am
I get it, and Im excited to see the final product. Some folks dont get arduinos
either, and theres no amount of explaining that will help them understand. I
think the same goes here.
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jadams sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:40 am
What I see is the Arduino of woodworking. Take complex, detail oriented masterwork
that would normall take ears of diligent practice and put it in a package that anone
can pick up and do incredile things with. I am excited to see what people accomplish
with this tool. What will hurt it is the cost and the low likelihood of copcats appearing
antime soon. That price will unfortunatel put it out of reach of most.
And to all the people that are itching aout still having to phsicall move the tool:
RALLY?! elieve it or not there is a sustantial numer of people that actuall NJOY
getting covered in sawdust and working with their hands.
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rutigrem sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:37 am
Arduino is CHAP and OPN-SOURC

That thing is closed-source, far from cheap, and its usefulness is still to
demonstrate (HaD over-positive log entr sounds fish at est)
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mac012345 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:30 pm
Anone can pick up

Then itten clim milling in a 1/1000th of second. Hopefull this router is a
small one with tin its. Take a 1.5HP one with a 10mm straight it and ou learn
to never do clim milling again even for a couple of millimeter.
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Tucson Tom sas:

August 25, 2016 at 9:54 am
A long post that reads like advertising cop.

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11/8/2016
I think this writer just found his niche in life, especiall if he gets paid the page.
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StopTheInsanit sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:03 am
Im willing to test it. Got one ou can send to me (free)?
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charliex sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:18 am
i think its a neat device, augmented realit routing. pit it doesnt fit the festool router,
though i did see festool hoses. itd e great for offsite work or places ou cant take
the cnc, or when its too ig a material.
add some driven wheels to it, line following and there ou go
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salec sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:19 am
I suppose it is just a first of its class and it will onl get etter with time.
Once VR gear ecomes uiquitous and VR interfaces standardized, this idea will
proal reed universal interface to wiggl tools which tend to sta on virtual
grid, and routers proal wont e onl things. Marring VR, virtual coordinate
sstems and e.g. 3D pen, ou can throw our 3D printers in the shed and do things
manuall, almost as good as on a gantr.
It is possile even to draw with our fingers with a sstem like this, provided it controls
exoskeleton arms and gauntlets ou would wear. Then I could reall use pencil and
chisel to make industrial-qualit handiwork, or even insert the thread through the
needles ee at first attempt!
Do ou see? The core of this technolog is ringing power ack to us meatags, from
the pincers of our rootic overlords. New hot thing is (the old hot thing from
eginnings of industrialization): human augmentation, this time not just, or not at all,
for strength, ut for precision.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 9:23 am
Or, other wa round, its exploiting us plentiful clums meatags to carr it

around, and take the work off precious root motors. Were cheaper to repair,
and produce new stock from inexpensive carohdrates.
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Arthur sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:21 am
Doule edged sword. This post anwhere else would give the people working on the
project an instant invention of the lifetime recognition. ut since it is HaD AND the
invention costs $2K (reall ???) I can imagine that someone somewhere is alread
hooking up wecam to the laptop and tries to prove that this can e done for 10% of
the cost. ( worst . chances are that there are people in China working on it alread)
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RW sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:49 am
Yes in front of audiences who have never heard of hand routers, or computer
controlled tooling, or hpe, its going to sound like the wright fler 50 ears
earl.
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salec sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:23 am
And another thing: Your laser optical mouse needs no special tape. Later generations
of this thing wont need tape either.
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:39 am
I had no idea hackers hated tape that much. rian should add a tape tag to use
with his filter script.
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MikrSoft sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:20 pm
Your mouse looses track of its location when ou pick it up. This doesnt.
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Dan DeLaRosa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 9:19 am
How do ou loose something?
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en sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Your laser optical mouse might need glphs if it had to return to a fixed point on
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our mousepad while simultaneousl assigning it the correct coordinates on

our computer. I mean, this appears to cut a closed path without appreciale
error, and can account for rotation and skew of the device as ou move it. Its
perfectl fine if our mouse accumulates error, ecause our rain can correct
as needed using the information on our monitor *oure* doing the same
thing for the mouse as the tape does for the Origin.
I just tested this turn off acceleration or enhance pointer precision in the
mouse settings and line our cursor up with a reference point on screen. Put a
ook or calculator or something on the mousepad so ou can return the mouse
to the same phsical position. Now repeatedl move the mouse awa from, and
ack to, that position, and see how far ou stra from our on-screen reference
mark. The results will e different ever time fine if oure aiming at a purel
digital target, ut totall unacceptale if oure tring to correlate digital and
phsical positions.
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dave sas:
August 26, 2016 at 2:29 am
I vaguel rememer SUN optical mice requiring a special mouse pad

which was metal and looked like a piece of graphing paper ack in the
mid 90s.
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Marc T sas:
August 26, 2016 at 3:38 am
It ma have had a specificall oriented su-laer which if ou rotated

the mat the pointer did some wack movements.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 9:31 am
A mouse is a lot closer to its mat than this is. xtreme magnification like a
mouse uses onl works in mouse-like cases.
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Jan sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:30 am
Onl the cost of this machine will hold me ack in uing it. The concept is great, ou
can do large projects ut ou dont require a large machine. If its memor allows it ou
could make a project the size of a footall field with a machine the size of a hand tool
and great accurac. I would not mind moving it hand and if manuall moving it is
reall the iggest prolem, I think that the will come up with a version that has
caterpillar tracks and rides across our work piece. ut Im ver sure that version will
e much heavier.
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M father alwas told me to u a decent tool, spend a little more mone and ou can
use it the rest of our life. Qualit tools onl needs to e ought once. Now I do not
know aout the qualit, ut the concept is solid. Despite of the cost there is another
thing that scares me and that is the tape. IF in a few ears something ad happens
and the tape cannot e ought an more then this great tool is useless. I sure hope
that the next version does not require tape or other reference other then the work
piece itself. I full understand that that is a ig challenge, with reduced contrast due to
dust and dirt. Perhaps a complex configuration of laser lines or projected references
from a fixed location (clamped) on the side of the work piece to let the machine know
where it is and where it is pointing to.
To the author of this item: I do not see this as an advertorial, just the stor of a writer
who elieves in what he has seen. Please continue in writing with this spirit.
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rutigrem sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:43 am
Please do not stop watching TV either.
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:02 am
Tape!! Taaaaape..
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gae sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:42 am
Availale for PreSale now! Use m referral link for $100 off!
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/A8JX6MW
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:42 am
Yeah I think thats crossing a line, ou should proal cut that shit out.
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DD sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:42 am
ver time I see this tool, it gets etter. ut what reall sells me isnt the feature list, its
the evidence of the testing and development smarts exhiited the compan ehind
it. The ackstage stuff is great.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:18 am
The ackstage stuff is great. Marketing 102.
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:23 am
Check the coverage of the tool from the igger sites. Wired,
TechCrunch, etc. Onl Hackada has an content that is interesting aout
a new tool that is interesting to most of us. None of them have pictures of
the mad hack original version. None of them have the cool test rigs and
hacks that went into it. Youre Welcome.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 8:55 am
M comment was praise (for including the interesting ackstage

stuff), not criticism. Marketing 102 was intended to refer to
marketing thats etter than what ou get in 101.
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 26, 2016 at 9:07 am
Oh! Thanks. Sorr, proal letting mself get a it too touch

aout the suject after reading the comments
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MrAnderson sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:46 am
Im reall excited to see this project finall ecome a product. I got to use an earl
prototpe at MakerFaire sometime ago and was impressed with it then. To see how far
its come is just amazing!
I went ahead and pre-ordered minefor those on the fence and mae $100 off will
tip ou over, heres a link where we can oth save.
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/21JHXJAM7
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Somun sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:37 pm
You have more than a ear until it is shipped. I admire our patience.
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daid303 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:39 pm
arl Ultimaker orders took 6 months (when the whole 3D printing thing
was new and hpe). So its not that uncommon for new and different
product to have a long waiting time.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:20 am
Plent of time for a competitor to see the weaknesses.
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John Samuel (@sam1am) sas:

August 25, 2016 at 11:02 am
Can I somehow use m rooma to drive this thing?
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Daniel sas:
August 25, 2016 at 12:07 pm
Yes, if ou know how to use tape. If not I recommend ou to leave it to a

professional tapeer. That stuff isnt something ou want to mess with if ou dont
know what ou are doing.
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Greenaum sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:43 am
Can it mill dogshit?
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Daniel sas:
August 26, 2016 at 7:10 am
With liquid tape and a crapp it it is possile.
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gae sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:41 am
Availale for PreSale now! Use m referral link for $100 off!
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/A8JX6MW
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 9:42 am
rave soul.
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RIC T sas:
August 25, 2016 at 11:50 am
I think it is neat and I appreciate the hands on information. Since it is not just another
3d printer or cnc mill it is good to see how it operates outside of the las. I see it as
et another tool that will not necessaril replace anthing right awa. I want to
purchase a CNC router and will proal stick to something like a shapeoko simpl
ecause I want to do more, like 3d ass relief. I cant imagine tring to do complex
operations that take hours with a hand operated machine. This tool will simplif
making qualit stuff (signs, templates, etc) since the computer is assisting. It takes
hoies up a level and makes results more professional with less time or experience.
This reminds me of the Silouette I ought m wife, it takes our shirts (and others) from
puff paint cringe-monsters to professional looking items.
The prolem is going to e the price tag, I am thinking $900 at max efore I would
even look at it.
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daid303 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 10:42 pm
Price wise, the router part looks a lot like a Dewalt DWP611. Which is alread
$600.
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Justin sas:
August 26, 2016 at 10:54 am
$112 not $600

https://www.amazon.com/DWALT-DWP611-Torque-VarialeCompact/dp/0048FUV8
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unn Leowski sas:

August 25, 2016 at 12:18 pm
ither m math is wa off or this ver page comes in at ~21M (!) with all its GIF
animations and whatnot. Are ou serious?!
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Martin sas:
August 26, 2016 at 4:17 am
I dont know. Wh should I count the Ms? Does it load slow ecause ou have
ad connection?
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sarinkhan sas:
August 25, 2016 at 2:19 pm
Whats holding me is US preorders onl, and next ear deliver.

However, i find this tool awesome, and ever time i see more aout it, i want it more.
Im currentl in the process of uilding a CNC, and its quite some work. I ma end up
etween 1000 and 2000$, and ill have a 600*600mm work area. Not that ig, ut
still, its going to e a ig enough machine for me to wonder where ill put it when not
using it.
If i could u it now, id do it right awa (even if i would proal uild m CNC,
ecause!), as it would cover the vast majorit of m needs. It would handil replace m
router (that im ad at using), m jigsaw, circular saw, m electric coping saw (i dont
know the nglish name of this tool, scie chantourner) that takes a lot of room, and
whose precision in m hands are much lower.
So with that tool, even at 2K euros, i could replace at least 600 worth of other tools
(id oviousl keep them, ut appart from the drill to drill in walls, i dont see wh not
use this instead). This one tool remains compact (as of now, i have ins of tools), AND i
can use m skills in CAD design rather than m ad wood working skills.
As of now, i have NO tool that i can use to make perfectl straight and positioned
pocket cuts in thin metal sheet (reall thin, its for frontplates). Im uilding m CNC for
this purpose, ut this would do perfectl.
I could also work on full plwood panels, and the est part is that i could just put it
standing up, rather than finding a work area of 2*1m flat. I can reach anwhere on a flat
panel when its up against a wall, ut when its flat, i cant unless i can walk on it.
I can work easil on wood eams without a prolem with such a tool, whereas i have
no solution as of now to do it.
Heck, i could even go to u raw materials somewhere, have the tool powered m
car atter, and make pre-cuts in the parking to have pieces that fits in m car, and still
maintain the sizes i want to cut later on. And when at home, i get to finish the cuts
properl.
I see so man uses for this tool
And as for the tape eing a consumale well oull u router its anwa, and those
are wa more expensive. So whats the ig deal of spending a few ucks on a reel of
duct tape?
im prett sure we could make it if needs e, anwa. perhaps even simpl printing the
patterns on paper, and using clear duct tape to tape it in position. If thats all ou fear,
meh, i dont see the ig deal with it.
And whereas im all for reverse-enginering, and reproduce this in an open design (im
all for open design, open hardware and open source -its even a purchase factor for
me-, so if someone does an open hardware version of this, im all for it), while
positioning with computer vision is a solved prolem, doing it
accuratel on a moving ad virating CNC, with dust and all is far from eas.
Im a computer scientist (i have a PhD in machine learning), however this is not
something id want to start working on
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as a ho. Theres simpl too much work. I think that there is a great value in their
software work.
All in all, for what it can do, i dont think 2K is such a ludicrous price. Id e glad to u
it at pre-order price (it was even 1300 at some time!) ut sadl the dont sell out of the
US et. And i think id rather pa more, ut have m mone until i can u it to have it
actuall shipped quickl to me.
Also, hackada writer : good article. Youre completel allowed to like a product, e
enthusiastic aout it. I also think of it as a revolutionar tool, as a CNC that could e
used in a small apartment, and replace man other tools, as well as open new uses
(engraving cool patterns on wood eams in our home!). I dont see this as a hidden
ad, ut as someone eing enthusiastic aout something. Another post was reall
enthusiastic aout the new prusa, and i dont see the prolem.
In the end, were all hackers here, and most of us are far from dum, so even if the
product were to end up eing ad, or unreliale, thats up to each to think efore
uing a price tool , read actual reviews, articles, and decide weather or not ou
have enough confidence in the tool to e good enough.
As of now, i feel like that im a little it too hped, since i have not much proof et of
its longevit, serviceailit, etc.
However, what i see is a cleverl designed tool, proper scientific testing of elements, a
lot of work in incremental improving the prototpes, etc. All in all, i like what i see, and
i think i would have done things in a similar wa if i had to (i mean the conception
process, not the actual product).
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Fred sas:
August 25, 2016 at 7:51 pm
I *FULLY* support everthing ou sa!

$2K is *not* expensive for this tool. Compared to annual salar, it is far less than
what a TV would have cost when the were first released to the pulic. In these
das of time is mone, when our average carpenter might charge $100/hr,
then s/he onl needs to save 20 hours to pa outright for the thing! Having to
work slower to sta accurate, tid up inaccurate inside-the-line work and redo work ecause ou cut outside-the-line will low that 20 hours out in a week,
not to mention materials if ou outside-the-line a 6 foot solid cedar tale-top!
The advantages of eing so small and so portale are huge! I cant elieve that
people would claim a CNC ed is etter! Although ou could run it from an
inverter or generator, would ou reall take our CNC ed machine out to a
worksite ever da? I dout it.
And the scaremongering with regard to the tape! Crike, get over it! The
reviewer specificall sas that the (the manufacturer) tried making their own,
ut it didnt give them the accurac the reall wanted. So I take from that that (if
ou were reall are that tight) that ou *could* print our own and live with a little
less accurac.
It is well priced. Im saddened to see it is still so far awa, oth in time, as well as
onl eing availale in the US. Otherwise I would go out and u one this ver
afternoon.
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Leonard sas:
August 27, 2016 at 10:34 pm
I agree; compare with other sophisticated woodworking tools, and $US2k

is not too much. It is unfortunatel too much for me. Damn.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:49 am
oull u router its anwa, and those are wa more expensive. So whats the
ig deal of spending a few ucks on a reel of duct tape? With the Origin, ou
have to u the same router its AND the fiducial tape, and the tape costs a hell
of a lot more than a few ucks.
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Wumologist sas:
August 27, 2016 at 1:28 am
Oh m god, how will we ever pa for a $15 roll of tape? I could arel
afford m $20 roll of toilet paper printed with Oamas face!
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Dan#8582394734 sas:
August 25, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Great tool, if our da to da work regularl requires ou to cut complex and precise
holes on site and in place rather than allowing ou to use a CNC in our shop then
assemle on site.
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CKnopp sas:
August 25, 2016 at 3:39 pm
The should send one to Norm Arams. Id u one with his endorsement.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 11:45 am
He sold out a long, long time ago.
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Henr erg sas:

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11/8/2016
August 25, 2016 at 4:27 pm
I dont understand how the device aligns the design with the factor edge of the
workpiece. Lets sa for the sake of argument that I want to inscrie the words Coffee
Tale on m existing coffee tale, that it measures 2448 inches, and that I want the
ottoms of the letters to e 6 inches from the edge of the tale. I draw the design in
Inkscape, upload it to the device, put tape on the coffee tale, wave the device over it
so it can scan and map the tape, mark the center of the design on the tale, and set
the device down more or less on that mark. Then what? How does it know how
accuratel Ive placed the device at the exact centerpoint of the design, where the
edge of the tale is, and its current relationship to it? Would I draw a ox on the
workpiece with a pencil to mark the left/right/top/ottom edges of the design, then
eeall the alignment looking at the screen?
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Galane sas:
August 25, 2016 at 5:21 pm
Id expect that it would onl need a mark placed in the center of the tale, eas
to measure out with a tape measure, and a second mark X distance from the
center along a line perpendicular to one edge of the tale. Poke in the tale
dimensions and the router takes care of the rest from its scan of the surface with
the rows of tape applied.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 25, 2016 at 5:08 pm
Oka, it cuts in 2D, ut what aout 3D? Could I make, sa, relief maps with it as I could
with a gantr router? It seems unlikel.
I was reall excited aout this at first, ut the more I think aout the likel limitations
the less I elieve that it has value anwhere the asking price. If it has to cost that
much to e profitale for Origin, then I suspect its doomed. ut, well see what the
reviews sa.
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Galane sas:
August 25, 2016 at 5:25 pm
It has Z axis movement and I would assume adjustale depth of cut. Dont see
wh it couldnt do 3D carving using a V or round nose it and scruing the
thing ack and forth over the area until the carving is complete.
The limitation to 3D work would e the size of the aseplate. Tipping a side into
a hollowed out as relief would not e good. Solution to that is to have a
removale ase laer like most routers so larger plates can e attached. The
compan wouldnt even have to manufacture them, just provide data files to
have it cut out its own accessor ases.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:05 am
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So, I should choose the Origin over a gantr router, then spend loads of
time & energ working around its limitations?
If this thing cost $500 Id u it for the rare times when its unique
capailities would e useful, ut at the asking price I dont see how it
could ever pa for itself over using other methods. Still, I suppose ou
cant put a price on impressing our friends with cool tos.
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sangwiss sas:
August 26, 2016 at 7:17 am
Most gantr routers that are ale to cut a full plwood sheet wont
cost just 2K. ven so, ou have to e ale to fit it in our house. So if
i cant, im not allowed to have a CNC? this one allows me to.
I dont sa the gantr router has no use. Its proal etter for some
uses, and this tool is proal etter for some other uses.
Instead of considering that people onl want that to show off, tr e
less condescending and consider other point of view
There is NO WAY i could have a full sheet capale CNC where i live,
it would cost me wa more, and thats not even counting
transportation. And with a classic CNC i have to worr aout correct
zeroing, securing the piece correctl to the tale, etc.
Your comment is similar to someone saing wh u a large router
when a small mill is more accurate. Its different uses cases.
And if ou need to work offsite? Go at a friend and work on stuff? Or
simpl want to carve nice patterns on the foot of this massive, ut
uggl tale that ou scavenged?
What if ou want to work on the surface of a reall thick material,
that wont fit our gantr?
ut i guess ou cant put a price on refusing anthing that doesnt
suit our needs, consider it useless, and, all in all, rehashing the
could e done with a 555, so it sucks.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:46 am
I most definitel did not sa that its uselessId love to have

one, if the price (including the consumales) were more
reasonale given its limitations and if I had more confidence
in Shaper (the unexplained long wait, the wide spread of preorder prices, and the weak details on the fiducial tape all
make me suspicious).
As for size & cost, I ought a little gantr machine for $2,200
some ears ack that has a working area of onl 13x24,
figuring that it would get me started and Id soon replace it
with a larger model. ut Ive onl a few times needed to cut
something it couldnt directl handle and have so far alwas
een ale to find a workaround, so even though I have the
space reserved for a full size Shopot I dont see mself
uing one in the near future.
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Your use cases are a it of a stretch, with the exception of

working offsite where Ill grant that the Origin could have a ig
advantage. If ou do a lot of complex, precision work in the
field (thats impractical with a standard router), then the Origin
is certainl worth considering if it doesnt turn out to e
vaporware (like the GlowForge).
Report comment
Galane sas:
August 25, 2016 at 5:43 pm
What can it do that other CNC tools either cant or ones that can cost much more than
$2,000 and are larger and more cumersome to setup, and require the setup to e
repeated when moved?
Install a diamond grit cutting urr and carve stuff into concrete. Theres at least one
portale gantr device that does this, and thats all it does. Want to increase the
capacit? Pa up more for the longer rails, and oull still need the shorter ones for
smaller areas.
I assume the sidewalk carvers could e adapted to doing carving into wood floors, or
even tales and countertops, ut oud have to work around the space taken up
the rails and working on things too small for the supports to set on would e a
prolem.
Think of this, a usiness wants their logo carved into the concrete outside their door.
Put on a UHMW aseplate to resist eing scratched up t the concrete, install a
diamond urr, throw down some of the tape, put on some kneepads and after
spending a minute sweeping it around to scan the area then position the design, start
carving.
Next, the usiness wants their logo inlaid into the middle of their floor. Same process,
just different cutting its, and the material to e inlaid into the floor can e cut from a
sheet of material using the same tool and design file, just cut outside the line instead
of inside.
To finish up, the usiness has a counter covered with sheet metal and the want their
logo engraved in it. Same tool, same design. Use a V engraving it and set the router
to cut on the line.
One tool, one design file, three extremel different materials, and the operator does
not need to e extremel skilled and precise, while the tool does not allow oopsies. If
the operator pushes eond its range of automatic adjustment it lifts the spindle.
If ou want to clamp a fence across a sheet of plwood to run it along, oud onl have
to e within aout 1/2 or so of straight. The router will continuousl compensate for
the crooked fence, even if the fence is a piece of oard with a it of a ow in it. That
capailit alone has the potential for speeding up work with plwood and drwall a lot.
I could see the compan licensing their domino pattern to a drwall manufacturer, and
making a smaller version of the router like a RotoZip. Pre-print the ack side of the
drwall with the domino pattern then set the router caliration setting it at two
corners with its camera facing onto the sheet. Since it has the patterns pre-stored it
wouldnt need the scanning step, the caliration is just to account for offset on an
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given sheet.
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rian sas:
August 25, 2016 at 8:05 pm
Just u an actual mill I see no real point to this over a mill.
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dan sas:
August 26, 2016 at 8:37 am
let me just gra the mill from the cainet..
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Leonard sas:
August 27, 2016 at 10:38 pm
Or mill the end edge of a 2.4 long shape.
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Dan sas:
i can easil take the shapper to a jo site. a mill, not so much.
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nsaer sas:
August 25, 2016 at 9:17 pm
This looks intriguing. I am not a CNC expert, ut Id have to assume there a standard
(like Gerers are to PC fa) for the input file to such a machine and that this device
would accept it. Is that the case? If so, Id further guess that such a thing ecoming
popular would lead to the 2D version of thingiverse as a pulic repositor for designs.
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Kent sas:
Septemer 24, 2016 at 11:38 am
The input file is simpl a vector graphics format. It can e produced Adoe
illustrator, sketchup, or man other applications. The compan mentions their
own pulic repositor called shaperhu.
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Tweep sas:
August 26, 2016 at 12:58 am
What aout metric units? We didnt get the response, for the remaining 95% humans
of this world, its an important one.
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notarealemail sas:
August 26, 2016 at 1:09 am
Sometimes I have to convert mm to inches.

Not that ig of a deal; mae the Internet has a wa to convert units? :P
Ill et the will eventuall support Metric if/when this ecomes a common
product. It would e a simple firmware update anwas.
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Martin sas:
August 26, 2016 at 4:28 am
Of course i convert sometimes, it is not that difficult. ut while using such

a tool I would not like to e distracted such a task as converting units.
And SI/metric units are around for sufficientl long time that this inch and
feet stuff should have died out ages ago. Dont forget: we have alread
the 21st centur.
So its not the question of ig of a deal ut if a >2000$ tool is uilt the
right wa.
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Gerrit Coetzee sas:

August 26, 2016 at 3:55 am
I asked too when I used it and rememer it just eing a setting in the software.
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Jerem lum sas:

August 26, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Yes, It handles metric units just fine. I do all m cad work in metric when cutting
things with Origin.
-Jerem from Shaper
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Leonard sas:
August 27, 2016 at 10:43 pm
Careful mate the will urn ou at the stake as a witch.
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11/8/2016
alfie275 sas:
August 26, 2016 at 6:16 am
If oure using this in a shop environment I wonder if ou couldnt just use cheap
projector or two pointing down at the workpiece to project the domino patterns onto
it, rather than using tape. Itd e easier than placing the tape manuall (ou could even
have a computer generate the placement of the projected dominoes) and not leave
an residue or get peeled off during work.
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sangwiss sas:
August 26, 2016 at 7:24 am
Neat idea, however, it would e impacted an move of the projector relative

to the surface, amiant lights, and the position of the operator while cutting. ut
it could e an interesting solution!
Il like the tape however, for the fact that i could just put some tape, start a work,
stop when im tired, or do another more urgent work, then come ack at it later,
without having positioning issues.
I wonder aout the resolution of the projector, too
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 7:55 am
Viration would make the projector impracticalthe accurac would e terrile.

Whatever generates the fiducial markings, it has to move with the workpiece. No
holddown method is going to keep the work stale within a fraction of a
millimeter when someone is shoving a router around on it.
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sas:
August 26, 2016 at 4:43 pm
The viration also makes this guiding sstem position accurac terrile,
the camera on the whole thing virates, there isnt an video aout hard
material cutting, even hard wood.
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Dan sas:
milling aluminum with the shaper origin
51/56
11/8/2016
Handheld CNC router repairs old CNC machine
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lageos sas:
August 26, 2016 at 7:56 am
Is it possile to mill PCs? Anod tried et? Otherwise a comination of Shaper

Origin (or second gen), Othermill and a From +1 3D printer would e an amazing shop
where ou could uild a lot of things with ver little space requirements at a
reasonale price (elow 10k$).
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 26, 2016 at 9:00 am
Ill et the Origins accurac will never e good enough for milling PCs.
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Wumologist sas:
August 27, 2016 at 1:31 am
Never!
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sas:
August 26, 2016 at 4:33 pm
52/56
11/8/2016
Ok, I did not what to comment on the other advertisement article aout that small
plastic milling machine with a metal milling machine price tag (hahaha, these articles
are like the shopping channel commercials), ut this is another thing.
This advertisement campaign should have een at least $2 million, so giving awa
some of the earl products is not a ig deal. I clicked through all the advertisement
videos, and I can tell ou this product is total useless for real industrial use.
When something is pushed so hard on ever advertising channel, than ou should e
reall careful aout the product.
Its just a to ho machine, with real limitations.
So here are the points:
Its too expensive. (well if something works great its not a issue)
The tape just does not work in real industrial environment. Here the main prolems,
the camera resolution, the dirtiness of the camera lenses, tape on not straight surface
etc.
Real prolem is in the a virating motor guiding mechanism. The mechanism life
expectation IMHO is less than 200 hours, the nuts and the guiding motors wear out
from the viration, so good luck cutting a straight line after 100 (or less) hours usage.
The cut surface will e rugged or lump ut not straight.
Comparing this to a router is just ridiculous. With a router ou can set the cutting tool
feed rate precisel, rails and motors guide the tool, here our hand movement sets the
feed rate, and a low resolution positioning sstem guides the cutting tool. Adding up
all the errors from the camera, the calculation errors, the tape, the viration of the
guiding mechanism, the sstem dela (ou push the tool, it has to calculate the correct
position, move the guiding motors while ou alread moved the tool etc), and ou end
up with a ver ver lous precision and surface cut.
You cant cheat nature (phsics), a cutting tool must e in a rigid fixture and guided
a rigid sstem, to e ale to cut nice surfaces.
So this product as the plastic milling machine is more like a to, an expensive to, not
a real tool.
Thats m opinion, ou ma dont like it, so e it.
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Wumologist sas:
August 27, 2016 at 9:23 am
Call the wamulance. Id like to see some evidence for what oure saing must
happen to the motors default.
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Jake Gough sas:

August 26, 2016 at 6:30 pm
I just ordered one for $1500. Use m link and save $100:
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/79WYV8W6
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Rodne McKa sas:

53/56
11/8/2016
August 27, 2016 at 2:08 am
Sucker.
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crener sas:
August 27, 2016 at 2:51 am
What id like to see is this cutting metal (mae V2), not think metal or anthing, just 13mm. That would e reall cool :)
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Yenrait sas:
August 27, 2016 at 7:28 am
en Krasnow actuall did this a while ago, using one of their earlier prototpes.
Seemed to work well on thin aluminium.
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Mrak sas:
August 27, 2016 at 9:27 am
I pre-ordered and I want one of these right now. I have een so close to pulling trigger
on a cheapie CNC router, ut this is a much etter tool ecause it can work with huge
work pieces.
Im so excited aout it Ive een considering uilding m own to get it sooner.
Drop an android/iphone on a 3d printed mount (on an existing router) and use the
integrated camera for the machine vision and positioning. OpenCV should e ale to
do the heav lifting on position feedack.
The cam mechanism is quite clever and makes implementation prett simple for XY
correction hardware. For most people doing thru hole cuts, I think it would e OK to
drive the Z axis hand using on-screen feedack.
I can see an open source router-add on version of this tool come out for a hundred
ucks in a couple ears. Or, mae not the are proal crafting the claims on their
patents now.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 28, 2016 at 2:33 am
So wh to ou pre-order? To save a few hundred ucks? Septemer

2017, is a long, long time awa, and there could e a lot of developments efore
them. And the wa, patents could not stop an open source version, the
would onl restrict the ailit to sell one (and onl partiall, at that).
Given the ver high price of this tool comined with the possiilit of an
alternative solution, it seems to me that it makes the most sense to wait and see
how things turn out efore committing to it. Yes, the sa that ou can get a
refund at an time. ut what happens if someone else starts shipping a superior
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(or equivalent ut less expensive) product eight months from now? Or an

ingenious Instructales version appears that, while not as finel-tuned as the
Origin, gets the jo done for man people? Shaper could e under a lot of
financial stress and unale to meet the demand for man refunds.
Have the man failed (or at least disappointing) Kickstarter campaigns taught us
nothing? The hpe is strong with this one, and I predict a lot of uers remorse.
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Rodne McKa sas:

August 28, 2016 at 7:43 am
Demos of a machine that looks ver exciting ut wont e availale for over
a ear, with no explanation for wh. Suspiciousl-large discounts for giving them our
mone NOWthe sooner the etter. A referral program that looks just like a classic
pramid scheme scheme (rememer Heralife?).
Anone else smell a rat?
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prown77 sas:
August 31, 2016 at 9:50 pm
If tape cost gets too high, someone can easil make a multi-page pdf file to print out
on sheets of mailing lael stickers. ven an inkjet printer would ver likel e plent
accurate, ut if not, then a laser printer certainl would e, after caliration. Or it might
e as eas as just photocoping a few pages of these stickers. I sa a few pages
ecause ou cant just photocop the same page over multiple times for use on the
same project ecause the patterns proal have to e different across the full field of
view on a single project.
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Jason sas:
I ordered one toda, use this link to save $100,

https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/WDCM5Y0D
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Chris lair sas:

Octoer 22, 2016 at 8:01 am
This thing is amazing! No more circle jigs! I do a lot of design in sketchup for trade
show ooths and convert different components (complex curves for wall panels
mainl) to vector files to cut ris on on our 44 cnc. efore I had to go from vector to a
cnc program to g code and was limited the ed size. With the shaper origin now I
can just go straight from vector to cutting and am no longer constrained to a 44 ed.
Awesome! I just ought mine, preorder ours using m referral link elow and we oth
save $100!!
55/56
11/8/2016
https://preorder.shapertools.com/ref/U8MX9QGUU
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Hands-On The Shaper Origin - A Tool That Changes How We Build - Hackaday

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Hands-On The Shaper Origin - A Tool That Changes How We Build - Hackaday

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11/8/2016

NVR MISS A HACK

nter mail Address

TINY GAM OY (THAT

Building a Mechanical Cocktail Robot with a Handheld CNC

More from this categor

NOUGH RANTING, WHAT IS IT?

HOW DOS IT WORK?

NW PART DAY: PYNQ

More from this categor

Aleksandar radic has added zakqw as a

An animation of the mechanism at Origins core.

scuaear has updated instructions for the

TH MCHANISM THAT FIN-TUNS ORIGIN

Origins augmented view of the world.

Origin can take files from a US

In the photo aove we can get a reall good

The trapezoid in the middle is the actual live

The est part aout the Origin isits

WHAT WNT INTO ITS DVLOPMNT?

Testing and More Testing:

Shapers tape testing machine. Made with Origin of

Shaper had ordered their first run of

The, Spindler, can automaticall profile a spindle.

The asket Shapers automatic logging and status shelves.

WHAT CAN I MAK WITH IT?

Building a Radio with a Handheld CNC

Building a Handplane with a Handheld CNC

The Pre-Order Rendering Photo.

Ausing a Cellphone Screen with

Seeed Studios ReSpeaker Speaks All the

192 THOUGHTS ON HANDS-ON TH

Sounds like a new variation on the inkjet printer scam to me.

Rodne McKa sas:

If there is demand the will e availale on alia at $2 a roll. Dont e cheap an

Mike Szczs sas:

Jerem lum sas:

Indeed all of us at Shaper are here ecause we want to

The tape seems like how machine vision was handled in

RW, I challenge ou to ring a standard optical mouse from

So ou agree that this is aout 0.3% of a finished product. ;-)

And medicine manufacturer COs didnt grow up dreaming

@Jerem lum If the tape is precision-made and the

RW Id like to point out that the earl indexed mouse pads

Michael uffington (@go) sas:

Its reasonale to assume that if I leave tape on m stock material

and the, I mean an numer of companies all around the

So we should interpret Gerrits claim of reducing use of a

$100 OFF for oth ou and me if ou use m link. Cheers!

This is an interesting tool. ut

Michael uffington (@go) sas:

Opinions do var luckil

Down to the ho stuff:

Yah, wa ack when, when I was in and around a lot of light

Rodne McKa sas:

Jerem lum sas:

Correct we can onl process so large of a workpiece efore we

Just for fun, what would e the theoretical maximum?

Jerem lum sas:

I actuall dont know. We havent een ale to hit it et. Could

Rodne McKa sas:

Reall? You pre-ordered one a ear (at least) in advance with so

can ou configure it to use metric units?