Beaver products

so to round up this thing; I got it all to work and it all just worked first time.

I also learned a new hard lesson; the test cut I did had a mistake in it (it cut 0.4 inch deep instead of 0.04 inch; either human error or the 414 carbide create ignoring depth per pass or something) and in the past, such mistakes meant I would have to rebuild the Z carriage and retighten all of its internals and then put it back on the machine.

the HDZ is so much more robust that it is no longer the Z carriage that gives, but the X belts gives and need to redone.

Are the suckit ears available yet?

Hey Luke, this may be something to which you canā€™t answer, but in regards to pricing on the Beaver HDZ, I know you had shipping costs in there that accounted for ultra-fast, teleportation-style shipping to the US. If Carbide3D decides to make them in house in the US, will the price be reduced to account for perhaps a lower shipping cost within the US or is the price-to-performance ratio appropriate enough to account for not changing the price?

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Wow you go right in the deep end with this one. Itā€™s not something that is super easy to answer as there are many factors.

First off the HDZ sells for $450 which is typically about what it originally sold for. There is fluctuations and this is down to exchange rate.

2nd we donā€™t have free shipping at C3d, and whilst we did at Beaver it was a massive cost to us, we also charged a remote destination fee for those off the UPS grid. Whilst distribution costs are lower at C3d actual production costs rise by being in the US.

In short if you buy one now itā€™s going to be be $450 + shipping which starts from about $10. This is very similar to the cost when on Beaver CNC.

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So I had the ā€œupgrade Zā€ revelation coincidentally last week after having been away from the machine from a while and watching a job almost fail because the Z wheels and/or belt starting coming loose in between tool changes (yet again). I found this thread and the secret link. However when I read the ā€œCarbideā€ description it seemed to be saying to me ā€œyou really donā€™t need this?ā€ Now I am in quandry.

After 3 years or so of use it seems like I need to pay constant attention to Z hardware and even when everything is tight and I have no strikes, there often appears to be some slight variation in depth across say a 18" piece. The only downside I can think of is that its going to be much less forgiving of my occasional pilot error Z-strikes.

Am I missing something?

so having clicked the magic link, I must say that the Carbide HDZ is a very solid piece of kit.
Installation was not complicated (the beta instructions were more than close enough and will only get better). I too decided to switch because Iā€™ve had to rebuild the Z system one too many times/lost work to it.

So far (half a day of use) it works great; I had one ā€œpilot errorā€ in my very first cut that would have caused me to have to rebuild the Z system, but the HDZ did not blink.

Who knew that bit 201 can cut 1 inch deep at 75 inch/minute and it all comes out ok :slight_smile:

so yeah, the HDZ is not going to give on pilot error. depending on the error, something else will.

Iā€™ve not done a detailed tramming since I put the HDZ on but the finish is already smoother than before (I suppose got lucky on the rough tramming)

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So I can see how this might be confusing.

We donā€™t want anyone to feel like they NEED to buy a HDZ to use their Shapeoko. Thats something I believed before joining C3D, I actually regularly told people not to buy one. The shapeoko can handle allot thrown at it and for most itā€™s overkill.

That said there is a benefit to some users. Users who make things day in, day out and push their machine. The HDZ is heavy duty, itā€™s overkill for the normal user. However in the pro makers space itā€™s a rock solid bit of kit that wonā€™t skip a beat, jump, or slip. As you point out the main downside is the HDZ is not forgiving. Send a bit into a metal baseboard and your gona break and end mill, not skip a belt.

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Absolutely! These are the type of things I get really curious about the business behind the tool. Thanks for explanation. I knew that the shipping cost was factored into the price before so I didnā€™t know that if it was taken out, would the price drop to account for that. I didnā€™t account for the production cost increase in that, I just assumed that if the price was $400 + $50 ā€œfreeā€ shipping in the UK, in the US it would be $400 + shipping costs, more an itemization of the price than reduction of it.

Not sure this helps with the confusion. I donā€™t use my machine heavily (a few times a monthā€¦sometimes more depending on demand. On the piece I just did (pine grave marker with 18 x 9.25" with two inch letters). After two passes with a 1/4" whiteside end mill the flat has raised areas in between the two lines of letters that need a fair amount of sanding. Most of the rest of the piece was milled flat as designed.

I had just tightened everything in the Z mechanism but this result didnā€™t shock me. I have seen random inaccuracies in Z a lot over the years. I donā€™t think its unfair to say this has always been a weakness in the design (which is probably what motivated you to design the upgrade).

Not aware of any compromise solution. New belt? I bought your special nuts (and now of course I canā€™t find them so I didnā€™t get them installed).

Eccentric Nuts? Went to your website and noticed the eccentric nuts have recently been removed from there?

Adding to Carbid 3D? Have to source our own?

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Yes those eccentric nuts are much better than the ones that come with the Shapeoko, I hope they will be available somehow.

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Beaver is now out of stock nowā€¦ again this is one of the products which might hopefully will be launched in the C3D store.

@johnelle - do you have a photo? You could try a new Z belt, but unless itā€™s damaged it might not make any difference. The HD eccentric nuts will help - they donā€™t come loose as easily and allow you to tension them a little more.

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Can anyone point me in the right direction to a comparable product available now? I am in the process of upgrading my machine to ā€œno worriesā€ production capability to use for business purposes (HD v-wheels from MrBeaverā€™s shop, HDZ, spindle & vfd, etc) and feel like I would be missing an important (and easy, low cost) component of reliability without them. I have adjusted my stock eccentrics so many times while learning the machine (and making many mistakes) they are worn from me banging wrenches around like a monkey. I use locktite, but every obstacle I can put in the path of a potential ā€œbreakdownā€ the betterā€¦

There is nothing that Iā€™m aware of comparable to the HD Eccentric nut that ships with the HDZ.

Other than blue lock tightā€¦

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Blue (242) Loctite applied to clean and dry parts, 24 hours time to allow for a complete cure, and a torque wrench to avoid any oops.

All very easy, affordable, and reliable.

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Where can I find 4.17 as all I get to is 4.16

Cheers.

Itā€™s available at unstable:

https://carbide3d.com/carbidemotion/unstable/

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If you look up M5 eccentric nuts, youā€™ll find a few options. I know Sienci makes some with long barrels.

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Thank you, Jonathan! HD eccentric nuts + blue loctite seems like a decent plan for peace of mind.

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Itā€™s also worth noting that shipping to the US from the UK is pretty reasonable. Almost the same as shipping across the US.

Shipping from the US to the UK however is very expensive.

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