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Thread: Cnc Shark HD4

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    Patrick, if machining soft metal ("really nicely") is a primary want/need for you in addition to wood and plastic...you need to do what you need to do to get a stouter CNC for sure, even if it's a small one physically.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
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    When I was doing my router research the Shark was one of the first machines I looked at. The iffy reviews and comments about flexing scared me off. After months more of research and hem-hawing I sprung for the Camaster Stinger 1. I have no regrets. It’s great to hit the go button and watch it do its thing without worry.

    Many cnc routers can cut aluminum and my Stinger does a good job at it, but it is not it’s forte. What takes 2-4 passes with the router can usually be done in one pass on my conventional milling machine.

    Other than engraving, I will not cut any type of steel on my router.

    Here’s a few pics of a name badge for a Hot Wheels storage box I gave my grandson. The cnc router does a good job at this type of work, albeit a very messy one.
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  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Western PA
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    1,242
    Whelp, checked it out tonight and brought it home for 1/7th retail. The water cooled spindle is surprisingly quiet. I yanked on the gantry a bit and didn’t get nearly the flex that the YouTube guy did, so idk what was up with his machine. With that said, the majority of the machine is 1” thick plastic of some sort. There’s more metal in the table than the gantry. For the price, I don’t know how you would be satisfied with this machine. I just set it up and probably won’t get to play with it much before I head to Vegas for a convention for the week.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Western PA
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    1,242
    Wanted to give initial impressions of the machine for the next guy that comes searching for info on the shark HD4.

    Its a small machine, so it is a little underwhelming in person. The bed is pretty sturdy, but taking a straight edge to it, i can see it is out of flat by a decent amount. Across the width its probably 1/32". Not the end of the world, because everyone uses a spoil board and trams it, but still its nice to start off on the right foot. As to the performance, ive only run 3-4 small test jobs of engraving stuff. Running it at 200-250ipm(max speed for the steppers, i think) it cut the letters really well and didnt appear to deflect or do anything weird. Its a decent speed, but for those with Nema 34 stepper motors, 500-600 ipm must be simply blazing fast. The water-cooled spindle is incredibly quiet. I think i ran it mostly around 22k RPM, and it is much more quiet than I anticipated. Vectric vcarve seems to be ok so far. I havent spent hours and hours on the interface, but it seems kinda clunky to draw in. Nowhere near as nice or efficient as the autodesk programs i used to use a lot for modeling and drafting. I like that you dont need to dedicate a computer to running the CNC though. I didnt experience anything close to the gantry deflection that guy on Youtube displayed. I wasnt yanking on it hard enough to damage it, but i gave it a few good tugs and it didnt really move. That guy's looked like it was made of wet noodle. Overall, this is hard to justify $4700+/- on. It just seems like the machines in the $6-7k range are 5 times the build quality. This model is in a weird inbetween, where im sure its considerably better than a Shapeoko or Xcarve, but pretty expensive for someone looking to try out CNC routers. However, in the off chance people were like me and get a shot at buying one used, its definitely not a piece of garbage. If you can get one half off or so, I think its a great starter machine for people due to how plug and play it is.

  5. #20
    Glad you got a machine and hope it works well for you. I remember a few years ago the makers were advertising software that would compensate for material that was not perfectly flat whether it was the table or the work piece. As you stated, it is better to start with a flat spoilboard but you might check into it because there might be a use for you. Go to the Shark forum if you have any issues or questions about it. They had a pretty good forum before and I assume it is still functional. Have fun with it.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,685
    'Glad you were able to get down to business and do some creative work!

    Keep in mind that even on a big machine, you cannot reach those 200+ IPM speeds over a short distance. You're decelerating before you get accelerated! It may still seem "fast", but you're only covering a short distance on a small project.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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