THE NEW MAKO IS HERE!!!

[baby15]

Looks like the HD with NEW paint Job?

is it a larger machine than the hd or has better controller. just wondering.

[REG]

is it a larger machine than the hd or has better controller. just wondering.

I had the Shark Pro Plus and now have the Mako. The Mako cutting area is the same as the Pro Plus and the HD. It does have a 7" Z axis travel versus 5" of the Pro Plus. The physical size is about the same. The base (under the T-slot table) is shorter because of the gantry beam redesign. This means my table top is a little lower than my Pro Plus and I believe would be the same on the HD. The gantry is taller - mostly because of the extra 2" of X axis travel.

On the outside, the controller looks exactly the same as my Pro Plus. Connections and ports are the same. I imagine it is what's inside that is different.

Bobby

[EdThorne]

The breakin is just running it for a couple of hours and know that it might have errors for that run.
After that is should be fine.

Hi Tim,

Thank you, I have read that this "break-in" process is required but I don't understand why this is necessary. Does some particular part have to wear in order to work properly? Anyway, I am anticipating this behavior.

Regards,
Ed

[REG]

Thank you, I have read that this "break-in" process is required but I don't understand why this is necessary. Does some particular part have to wear in order to work properly? Anyway, I am anticipating this behavior.

Regards,
Ed

To "chime in", nothing to break-in, it is more of making certain the machine responds properly. Every bump the probe comes in contact with, it reponds with a adjustment to the Z axis. The Y and X axis movements are defined in the scan area settings of the controller so it just moves along those axis. There is a photo for the scan probe with it scanning a coin, it is reading every bump detected and recording it. The more detail you want, the longer the scan. A break-in is good for the user to learn the scan process in some simple test and view the results rather then pick out a large item to scan and take hours to scan only to find that it is too much detail.

I once scanned a 1.5" X 1.5" flourish. I had the scan detail set so high that it took 4-1/2 hours and when I looked at the file, the file size was enourmous.

Bobby

[EdThorne]

Thank you, I have read that this "break-in" process is required but I don't understand why this is necessary. Does some particular part have to wear in order to work properly? Anyway, I am anticipating this behavior.

Regards,
Ed

To "chime in", nothing to break-in, it is more of making certain the machine responds properly. Every bump the probe comes in contact with, it reponds with a adjustment to the Z axis. The Y and X axis movements are defined in the scan area settings of the controller so it just moves along those axis. There is a photo for the scan probe with it scanning a coin, it is reading every bump detected and recording it. The more detail you want, the longer the scan. A break-in is good for the user to learn the scan process in some simple test and view the results rather then pick out a large item to scan and take hours to scan only to find that it is too much detail.

I once scanned a 1.5" X 1.5" flourish. I had the scan detail set so high that it took 4-1/2 hours and when I looked at the file, the file size was enourmous.

Bobby

Hi Bobby,

Thank you very much for the clarification. Your explanation helps. I have seen the picture of the dime and watched a video of the probe scanning a piece of rope molding and it is very impressive. I have read a number of comments where people have scans that run for many, many hours. So this file scans into Cut3D and you can obviously replicate the object. I don't, however, see any way to modify these scanned files with the software included with the system. I guess that is where some other SW package comes into play. Lots to learn here. Does Aspire allow importing and modification of these scans?

Thank you again,
Ed

[jeb2cav]

Hi Ed,

I did find that I needed to run the probe for 30 minutes or so during break in. I can imagine that is not the case in all situations. It is a mechanical device and spring loaded. NWA recommends running it for a bit before 'expecting' proper outcome/performance.

When you run the scan, an .stl file is generated on disk. You can then open that stl file in Cut3D (one of the several 3D formats that Cut3D supports). There is no 'automated' process that loads the scan (stl) file into Cut3D.

How long it takes to scan an object is driven by the size of the scan steps. Not unusual to be into the multiple hours to scan a 6" x 6" area for example.

A couple of posts on the scan probe that may be of use:

http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=322
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... ouch#p6834

A post on 'after the scan' that may be of interest:

http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1176

And while these posts aren't directly about the scan probe, they do discuss some aspects of using a 3D model in your VCarve Pro project. Again, at the end of the scan you have a 3D model in the form of an stl file.

http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=387
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=823
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=382
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1456

Of the VCarve and Aspire parts of this work flow are very well documented in the Vectric training videos. The posts compliment that material - and perhaps give a different view of the process.

Hope this helps some.

[REG]

Hi Bobby,

So this file scans into Cut3D and you can obviously replicate the object. I don't, however, see any way to modify these scanned files with the software included with the system. I guess that is where some other SW package comes into play. Lots to learn here. Does Aspire allow importing and modification of these scans?

Thank you again,
Ed

Ed, as Joe stated, it scans to a file - not into a program. Unfortunately Cut3D only allows you to "toolpath" the file. You can not modify the scan in Cut3D but you can change the size. With Aspire you can adjust and tweak the scan.
If you have something in particular you want to scan; share it on the forum here. As you can see, no one is shy to help out and make suggestions.

Bobby

[EdThorne]

Thank you Bobby and Joe for the wealth of useful information. I have read about half of it thus far. Unfortunately work interfers with these fun activities. I will read everything that you provided. I am really excited to get my mako shark hd. I ordered it on Nov 27th so I am hoping that it will come next week. I have time over the holidays that I could spend getting everything working. I am in my 60's but feel like a kid with a new toy for Christmas. I guess we are never too old to enjoy that feeling.

Hope all of you enjoy the holidays!

[EdThorne]

It's three weeks tomorrow and no mako shark, yet. Must be a lot of orders. Oh well, it will come eventually.

Does anyone have the 4th axis? I am interested in learning more about it. I read that it is best to have Aspire in order to do anything useful. It appears that this is a lathe. The system could rotate the work-piece instead of traveling across the x-axis. There are a lot more possibilities where one could carve a side then rotate the piece to do the next side, etc. The possibilities are very exciting. I saw a video at a workworkers' show that indiced that the option would cost about $1000 but didn't talk much about its operation. I have read most of the posts on this site and started reading some on the NWA site.

[4DThinker]

The Lathe option was shown at the Rockler booth during the IWF in August. It wasn't being run when I saw it, but I did get a full description from Tim Owens. It uses a stepper motor to replace the lathe's more typical motor, and the spin of the lathe is controlled while cutting. You can imagine it as a rolling surface, with the X motion of the Shark serving as Z (depth) and the Y axis serving as X. The rolling changes the Y line exposed to the cutter. Very neat if you have a market or desire for detailed cylindrical or conical parts. From what I could tell you could cut 3D parts from all sides as well, so long as the blank can be mounted on the lathe. I'm thinking of gun stocks, ball and claw feet for assorted tables, etc..