Hello - I am looking to buy the Shapeoko to carve on existing furniture (nothing fancy). My question is:
Can I carve deeper than the base of the Shapeoko?
Actual Problem:
I have a Desk (old), I need to carve on the surface of a desk. Can I make it happen? I dont have the luxury of removing the top of the desk and put it on the Shapeoko table. I could achieve the same with a Laser engraver but I don’t want to burn the surface (I wont have the ability to sand or finish it). So I need the carving to be as close as to final.
Note that you’re going to need a longer endmill than the normal ones to get the cutting side to reach super low, and … the newer Shapeoko 4 / Pro have a aluminum bed that makes this a heck of a lot harder compared to the older MDF bed
(the aluminum beds are a lot more robust and that is awesome. except when you want to cut a hole through it )
Your answer is maybe. The Makita and c3d routers have a shorter body than the Dewalt. Secondly the Z-plus has less travel than the belt or hdz. You can get longer bits but about 4 inches ate about the limit for runout and availability of certain types of bits.
So your answer is maybe. Without the Shapeoko base the Shapeoko is not as stable and will need to anchor the machine.
One more issue is the base structure of different models. The so3 standard and xl the structure is free of obstructions but the xxl has a brace in the middle. The newer machines have more bracing that would limit your cutting area. So pick a machine and look at base structure and depending on your design you may have to move machine around and tile your design. The tiling leads to complications for aligning depending on your design.
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