What do I need to know?

[Kwinkman]

Hello,

I have been doing alot of research recently about the Shark and am considering buying one. At the end of the day the best info I can get is from the people that are using it. It looks like a very nice product, I am familiar with AutoCad and other softwares so I feel confident about using Vcarve Pro. What are some pros and cons of Vcarve Pro? As far as hardware goes, what kind of problems if any do some people have? Are there bearings, belts, etc that fail and need to be replaced? I see some people buy percison collets for the Colt router. Is that a "luxury" or a necessity? I think that what this machine is capable of is awesome and would potentially want to sell, donate, give away as presents, etc. Do other people enjoy the creations that are made as much as we do? Any advice would be awesome!

Thanks

[Loudspeakerboy]

Hello..

First of all I think the Shark is a great machine for the money! It's very easy to use, and Vcarve is a perfect companion software package. I do find drawing with Vcarve to be clumsy, so I do all of my drawings on my Mac and export as a DXF to Vcarve. It really saves me a ton of time. You could do the same thing with autocad. I will say that once you have the drawing in Vcarve, it's really easy to manipulate using the tools available..

I think the presision collet is very worthwhile, especially if you are using very fine bits. The smallest bit I use is .020 and would snap using the stock Bosch collet. Too much runout..

As for parts replacment.. The only thing I hear people replacing is the bearings in the router. Then there is lubrication of the screws and bearing on the gantry itself, and occasionally tightening the couplers beween the stepper motors and the screws.

The only upgrades I've made to my shark was to replace the table top with 10/30 80/20 aluminum, and upgrade the collet. I do intend to replace the Y axis rails with the Glacern liniar rails. This will eliminate the problem of the stock rails sagging under the weight of the gantry, a problem largely corrected with the newer HD model shark..

Anyway.. That's my 2 cents.. Cheers, Michael

[4DThinker]

I also find VCarve clumsy for creating drawings with any degree of complication. AutoCAD or Revit or any other CAD program with DXF export will be better for that.

The Precision collet kit is an excellent addition to the Shark.

I've worn out one router so far in the three years I've had my Shark. Relatively inexpensive to find replacements at Home Depot though.

[jeb2cav]

Some other recent threads on this topic that may be of use to you:

http://cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 985#p10721
http://cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 607#p10607

[Kwinkman]

Thanks for the great information. I decide to buy one so I am pretty excited to be getting it soon. I was at sears the other day and came across there version of the rotary Dremel and they have some engraving bits. 1/8" shank and 1/32" ball nose. Do you see a problem with using those bits with the shark? Seems like it would work, they are good up to 30,000 rpm, just need to get a 1/8" collet and they are only $5 - $6.

[BRoberts]

I'm looking to purchase a CNC machine in near future, however, I would like to find someone in West Central Alabama (Tuscaloosa) that has a machine that I could visit and look at. I don't mind driving a couple of hours if I need to. If you can of assistance please email me broberts7510@bellsouth.net and maybe you help me decide. BR