Thinking about buying a cnc router

[stacey martin]

I'm leaning toward the shark black diamond. Anybody have something to say about this model good or bad? I was looking at the legacy explorer but I don't like the Z axis of 3". The Mini Arty would be nice but I don't think I would like the table. I think it would be to small, and a little out of price range. I think I would like something to do a little of everything. Sign making, panels with carvings cutting out parts for boxes try to make bowls, and I could see using the 4th and 5th axis if I had that feature. One more question. If you had a working area of 25"x25" and a board that was 20"x48" for a sign or cutting out a part. Couldn't you index it off of a fence and move the board so many inches clamp it down and continue routing? Thanks Stacey

[Mike Heidrick]

I personally would go probotix before a shark. Fireball V90.

There is a Cammaster for sale at an awesome price (for a cammaster) in the for sale section.

4th and 5th axis get expensive and decent cad/cam are really needed to take full advantage of wrapping vectors around a spindle for a 4th axis. Check out Vectric software for a simpler way to implement 4th axis vs a complex cad package. Aspire for instance (will be about 1/2 the cost of your machine).

3" Z is TOOOOOOOO small

Many people drill a hole for a pin and index of that vs a fence but YES you can index if you set it up correctly.

[Ed Harrall]

I would also go with the Probotix but if you could afford the extra move up to the comet model much stronger built. They have very good tech support also! I index for signs with mine a lot it works great, just have to split the file to work area that you have available.

[bobby milam]

It really depends on your budget and how you want to use it. I have the shark pro and yes with vectric software, the tiling function allows you to cut boards larger than your table. I just used it for the first time recently and it was easy and worked flawlessly. I just had to have a straight edge to align the board and drill one hole to give me the 2nd X0,Y0. There's good and bad with the shark. I've outgrown mine in about a year and now am looking for money to buy a heavier duty cnc capable of faster cutting speeds than the shark is capable of doing. If you want a 4th axis, look for one that has it designed already. Sharks has been saying it is coming forever but it doesn't seem they are any closer to getting it and from what I heard, you'll have to remove your router, turn it 90 degrees to use the 4th axis then reset it back up for normal use.

I'd look around for a used machine and get more for your money, preferably made out of a metal and not plastic.