One thing you have to realize and it certainly was not clear to me at the beginning is that the Shapeoko with the standard mount will only have some 3in of Z travel under the gantry. The HDZ bring this up to 6in but if you have a model that is say 8in (Z), you would not be able to digitize on the Shapeoko and creating it would mean making two sides and gluing it together. There is a bit more room in front of the frame but it is restricted to a couple of in Y and would require special a holding jig. A 4th axis would further reduce the height available.
Thx Luc…yes, the 3" Z is a definite constraint that I have decided is not necessarily a deal breaker, as I will be using glued up bamboo and baltic birch plywood, so I can “slice” my sculpts into units and then glue up the finished piece and finish the joints by hand. What is your experience with the machine’s robustness ie how does it handle a material like hardwood?
I have an XL, I have done some 3D in hardwood with good success but I mostly do 2.5D work so far. If you stay within the limits of the machine, it provides very good results and if you are @Vince.Fab or @RichCournoyer, you get great results. I’m still wearing little boys pants compared to those guys
Luc…you mentioned the HDZ…first I’ve heard of that. Looks like a great potential addition but working with laminates, not something I would think I need to start with…
Hey Will…looking thru the topics, I noticed mention of “metal belts” on newer machines…could you explain what that means? I was assuming the drive mechanism uses fiber reinforced rubber belts…
Correct, the default core material for the GT2 belts used is fiberglass.
There has since been some experimentation with belts which use alternative core materials:
Steel:
Kevlar:
(you can search for more)
Carbide 3D has begun to switch to steel core belts for machines— I got a set for the SO3 I keep at my mother-in-laws for when I need to do tech support while visiting but haven’t installed them yet (something for the next visit).
I didn’t ask for a set for my XL since the belts on it are still in good shape, and I paid rather a lot for them from SDP/SI — they are actually Gates-branded, I believe made in the U.S. (and I’m trying to keep my XL stock/entry-level, while the SO3 is getting all the cool upgrades, starting with an aluminum table, and eventually heavy duty eccentrics and HDZ) — while I can understand the appeal of the alternate materials, I want to get my money’s worth out of these belts before I replace them.
“Carbide 3D has begun to switch to steel core belts for machines”…got it…if I purchase a machine during the Black Friday sale, will it be equipped with steel core belts? BTW…I hope your wife knows how awesome you are…furnishing your MIL’s crib with an SO3 so you can do family time AND support the Shapeoko community…LOL…good on you!!!
Check in at support@carbide3d.com — not sure how complete the changeover is — the only reason I mention it is because folks have begun mentioning getting steel belts on the unofficial Facebook group.
Hey Gary…so, 2.81 was released yesterday, according to the blender website. I think it would be a great fit for my projects…my current dilemma is buying a new computer to deal with Blender and MeshCam, etc. Could you give me some guidance? I have been spending days researching recommendations about CAD/CAM desktops/laptops/workstations…makes my Old Dog head hurt! As I mentioned before, my projects are total organic…no straight lines/planes…I realize that mathematically, this is not the simplest equation for software to define. What computer do you use for working with your projects?
I do use Blender mostly for 3d stuff. I just run in on my Mac and it does not stress it. I’d not buy an extra PC just for it. Here is the one I’ve just resumed working on now that cold weather is keeping me out of the shop. Aspirations for Art on my Shapeoko
Wow…very impressive project! Re: the computer…my 10 year old laptop is just not up to any modeling software and I’m not thrilled to spend $2-3K on a Mac…looking for some middle ground…anybody with PC knowledge out there, I would appreciate advice. Re: the HDZ…how does the clearance improve for deeper cuts …different design, I guess. Does the potential Z cutting motion increase also?
Based on the specs, the HDZ has about 6in vertical travel vs 3in for the regular Z plate. I have received mine but only getting prepared to install so I can’t confirm.
Assuming you want a Windows laptop, and you plan to do 3D modeling work in the future, you should get one with a good graphics chip like an NVIDIA GeForce. Integrated graphics are iffy for 3D modeling especially if you get into Fusion 360 and other graphics intensive applications, so that’s why I recommend the NVIDIA. Laptops with a good graphics will usually have the other features you’ll want such as enough RAM (16GB is good).
Right now Costco has a Lenovo laptop that fits those specs for about $800. Dell and HP are also good choices as well as others.
I will differ a little here: You don’t necessarily need the most powerful machine to run most good software, though with a lower power machine, some operations will not be practical.
I ran Inventor on a 4GB ran netbook for years, and presently use a bottom end laptop (8GB, 2GHz, dual core, $200 on sale two years ago Lenovo with integrated GPU) for Fusion, Inventor, and Solidworks. I have used Blender on lower grade machines yet with no problem, and done pretty involved raytrace work on it as well (primarily using POVRay) The $800 machine @rowiac mentioned is the highest end I would even consider unless I had a particular need, and you may be able to do a good bit better on a sufficient machine.
Fusion is laggy on all hardware. It and Inventor get some benefit for rendering from a higher grade GPU, but none for CAM (unless the latest updates have changed this). For most work, top of the line isn’t needed.
Other software will have different behaviour, so you do need to know what software you want to use, but I suspect that it won’t make a major issue.
Since @doctorwax kept his current laptop for 10 years, my recommendation was for a laptop that would last him that long. We have an older Dell laptop with an Intel integrated graphics adapter that, when we upgraded from Win7 to Win10, found out that Intel did not make a Win10 driver for it, so we had to use the generic Microsoft driver which will not work with many 3D applications.
So I would say that if you go with a cheaper laptop with integrated graphics, do not expect to be able to update to the latest OS in the future.
And I wouldn’t say that Fusion 360 is laggy on “all” hardware. It works well with my desktop system with a GeForce card and my Lenovo laptop that has a good graphics adapter. The higher-end GPU is good for rotating and zooming 3D views and a good amount of RAM helps as well.
I tend to treat the laptops as a consumable. I have run from $US50 to $US100/year amortized cost since the 1990’s, by going with the least expensive that does the job and upgrading every couple years. I do put a hurting on laptops, though. I put the power into the shop desktop— more power for less money that way, but not portable.
I went overkill and bought a Surface Studio 2!!
Having saved $ by building and buying computers for the last 30 years, I decided to splurge.
What a joy to bounce between gesture input on the screen with my fingers to stylus pen, to precision mouse, and even sometimes the Microsoft Dial. I can flow between Photoshop “prep” of source image to Aspire “vectorization” to gcode. Pretty fun.
My CNC on the other hand is taking gCode orders from a Windows laptop that I literally found at our local landfill. It only required some solder on the power switch!
Hope this helps in your rationalization for your purchase.
