# Shaper Origin?



## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

Anyone played with this thing? It's a "hand held" CNC Router. https://www.shapertools.com/en-us/

I have to say at first glance I was immensely skeptical. The slick video is void of any real specifics. And at $2500, I think I should be very skeptical. The web site has almost no details of how it works. I'm guessing that internally, there are X and Y motors that position the spindle so that when the operator moves the unit, X and Y adjust to track to the intended cut path. Could be pretty clever though there are a lot of questions that need answering. They make a lot of claims (and imply them in their overly slick video). My local Rockler is selling them so maybe I can get a demo. I talked to a Rockler guy on the phone and he's pretty gung-ho. But then, he'd be a poor salesman if he wasn't.


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## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

A few details are here: https://www.rockler.com/shop-by-brand/shaper

needs special tape that it reads to know position. uses SVGs.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I believe I seen a few used ones for sale here shortly after they came out . I don’t see that as a good sign


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I saw that when it came out last year (year before?) and I guess if you work on site often then it might serve a purpose. But I don't think it could ever replace a 'real' CNC router. I'm kind of in the same boat as Rick - saw some used ones for sale not long after they became available and that speaks volumes.

David


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I've seen at least 4 of them for sale used on the forum for anywhere from $1000 to $1500. I think one or more of the comments was "I don't use it as much as I thought I would". I do believe that it has both some x and y capability but I think it has z capability too because we all know how hard it can be to get a bit that is fully surrounded in a cut to track and I think it may retract if it wanders too far off path but I would want someone who knows more to confirm that.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> I've seen at least 4 of them for sale used on the forum .


weren't a couple of those ''offers'' suspect scammers???


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Possibly. No one ever followed up on the offers so we can't be sure.


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