Shark HD4

[Stephen Bandirola]

A friend of a friend has a used Shark HD4 for sale asking $1000 are these good CNC Routers it has a Bosch router on it?
It comes with Vcarve 9.
How hard is it to learn?

Steve

[Jim Becker]

The Shark machines are pretty light duty, but for the right price, it could be a nice starting point. That price appears to be about 25% of new if Google is correct. You can ascertain how easy it is to learn the Vectric software by using the very available online tutorials accessible from the Vectric.com website and/or on YouTube. Start at the beginning as everything builds on the previous.

[Jerome Stanek]

You will need to pay $50 to register the V carve but if you had to buy it new it would be $600 so that is a good deal for what he is selling

[Jim Becker]

You will need to pay $50 to register the V carve but if you had to buy it new it would be $600 so that is a good deal for what he is selling
As long as the current owner is the original owner...Vectric only allows one transfer.

[bobby milam]

Sharks aren't very good machines because of the material they are made of. I had one in the beginning and it just flexes way too much. The price is ok for it and it works if you are willing to consider it's weaknesses and go slower with it than most other machines. The software makes the deal better because you will have something when you decide to go to a better machine. On the positive side you won't have to worry about breaking bits because the gantry will flex and the motors aren't strong enough to put enough force to snap bits with the flex.

It isn't terribly hard to learn. Will take a few months before you really get the hang of it and are comfortable. Just watch the training videos a couple of times and the learning curve is shortened a lot

[Stephen Bandirola]

As long as the current owner is the original owner...Vectric only allows one transfer.
I’ll have to check, will the program work if it’s not registered?

[Stephen Bandirola]

Sharks aren't very good machines because of the material they are made of. I had one in the beginning and it just flexes way too much. The price is ok for it and it works if you are willing to consider it's weaknesses and go slower with it than most other machines. The software makes the deal better because you will have something when you decide to go to a better machine. On the positive side you won't have to worry about breaking bits because the gantry will flex and the motors aren't strong enough to put enough force to snap bits with the flex

can they be modified to stiffen them up?

[bobby milam]

If I am not mistaken the company tried to reinforce that machine by adding aluminum bracing. Problem is they start the machine off building it out of plastic. They may have made some changes since I had mine so see how old this is. You could basically take the router mount in your hand and see how much it moved just from a little pushing or pulling. It does the job and at that price it might be a good consideration. I know that I would spend 30 minutes cutting something then an hour cleaning up tool marks by hand. With my machine now I cut and almost spend no time having to clean up tool marks compared to years ago. It just isn't in the same class as say a camaster stinger 1 but for 1k it is a good machine to learn on but if uou are serious about cnc you will outgrow it quickly

[Jim Becker]

I’ll have to check, will the program work if it’s not registered?

If they hand you the computer that it's installed on as part of the deal, yes. If you're reinstalling, it will only work for a limited time in demo mode. V9 and forward is online registration...there are no codes you can manually enter. You can install Vectric software on multiple computers if it's the same user, but if there are actually multiple people using it simultaneously, multiple licenses are required. You can tell that the software is licensed by looking in the upper, left corner of the window the software is running on. Here's an example...while I'm using the higher level Aspire, VCarvePro/VCarveDesktop look similarly. You can see that this software is licensed to me:

432623

Bottom line there is that hopefully, they are the original owner so you can do the $50 license transfer...which you need the help of that original owner to pull off.


can they be modified to stiffen them up?

Not significantly. With any CNC machine, you just need to know your limits. The Shark will cut things fine. It just can't move fast. I'm not telling you that you should buy it, but for a grand, if you get the machine, the router and the software, that's half the price of a brand new Shapeoko XXL without the Vectric software, etc. You may want to be assured that it's working if you decide to go with it before you plunk down your money. Ask the owner to be up front about anything that's amiss, etc.

[bobby milam]

I believe New Wave Automation (Shark manufacturer) is a approved vectric partner and they bundle vcarve pro with the machine so they won't have to be the original owner to allow the transfer of the software. From what I read, bundled software can go with the machine even if the machine isn't bought from the original purchaser as long as he didn't upgrade to Aspire and trying to transfer the vcarve software. Still have the $50 transfer fee but call vectric to confirm this.

[Jim Becker]

I believe New Wave Automation (Shark manufacturer) is a approved vectric partner and they bundle vcarve pro with the machine so they won't have to be the original owner to allow the transfer of the software.


I've looked into this for someone...even bundled, there is only one transfer lifetime permitted by Vectric from the original individual/entity that registers it as an individual. There is transfer permitted with bundled and the machine it came with, but there are some caveats. This is all clearly spelled out at this link:

https://support.vectric.com/aspire-questions/item/vectric-license-transfer-policy

[Stephen Bandirola]

The guy finally got back to me, and it turns out he is not the original owner so won't be able to transfer the software. With the additional cost of software and the other problems that people have brought up it doesn't sound like that great of a deal.

Thank you to everyone who responded, I really appreciate the help. This is a great community.


Steve

[Bill George]

Depends on the size of the machine, you can get the Desktop version of V Carve priced at $400 and upgrade at anytime. Its yours forever even if you go to a better machine.