Shaper Tools T32231 - Shaper Origin - Anyone seen or used one?

[Mike W]

So was on Grizzly Industrial site taking a look at the G1026 3HP shaper, seems like a fair price and have been happy with Grizzly products thus far.  My wandering eyes caught sight of the Shaper Origin, thought I would ask around here if anyone has seen one of these in action personally or have actually used one personally and what your thoughts were if so.  Seems like a really fantastic tool with such a broader application then investing 5x or 10x the amount on more conventional CNC units and still limited to a rather small deck size, this system seems it could be set up on any size scale, just limited to the actual size of the material being processed.  Looked at a couple demo videos on it, seems super accurate for even someone like me without the steadiest of hands anymore.  A couple inlay demo's I saw were real sweet and super simple for setup for the different cuts between inlay and backboard.

[Texas Ranger]

I have an older non Grizzly shaper.  The gent I bought it from spoken about trimming his finger nails with, with (Tom) out that intent.  It does the job, and is a powerful tool that keeps you on the edge of fear and anticipation.

[bluthum]

I have an older 1026 grizz shaper. It has done me quite well. It doesn't have a t-slot gauge groove, my only complaint. Newer ones probably do.

I also have a very old Delta HD shaper, they're in the same class.  The old Delta is under powered but has a much smoother height adjustment and it may be a little louder. Otherwise not a whole lot of difference. I mostly use the grizz mostly on account of the increased power.  

If you haven't used a shaper much just be aware that they will take away digits in a lightening  flash. Hold downs and guards are your best friends plus you will get better work results there too. Power feeds are nicer yet but over kill for casual use.

[Mike W]

Thread title is a bit misleading I suppose, yes shapers are good at keeping digits from too long on you in quick order, have owned an older Delta as well for a couple decades now.

Was really attempting to see whom if anyone has seen this in person or used this "hand held CNC" for lack of a better description as I hadn't and it caught my attention while I was looking at the Grizzly shaper to replace the old relic I currently have.

I didn't post a video of it or web links as I'm not 100% on those rules here.  I'm lacking in forum etiquette and typical protocols, as this is the only forum I belong to.

Google - Shaper Origin    Shaper is apparently the manufacturer or make of this unit.

it was just real intriguing to me, then again that's easy to do with me ;D

[farmfromkansas]

I have a Grizzly 3hp 1026 also purchased the 1hp power feeder, makes using a shaper a lot safer than using your hands. I just adjust the wheels so it is about 1/8 to 1/4" closer on the end the direction of the feed, so it keeps the wood against your fence.  Need to get new polyurethane wheels for mine, came with rubber, and had been slipping a lot, but last time using it I waxed the table and that helped.  Still better with poly wheels.

[Don P]

Wow, that is cool!
Other than the steep price tag I'd love to play with that.

Here's the link take a peek;
Shaper Tools

[Mike W]

Yea, we had a rather large live slab to carve a banner sign into for old western wares sales area, think the slab was roughly 10' long 20"+ wide, we had to hand route with a laid out pattern which was painstakingly slow and nerve racking, they didn't even want the slab flattened, just left so this would have been the best of CNC but following the contour of the piece being milled which was cupped of course.  Looks like its set up to make real sweet and easy mortise and tenon or dove tail joints as well.  It showed making some intricate inlays that was rather impressive as well.

Oh well, as you mention, the price tag will keep it an unknown for me for quite some time I'm afraid, still cool though.

[low_48]

My Shaper Origin arrived on December 30th. Used one 2 years ago at an open house and decided this year was the time. I've just been playing with it. It's a lightweight trim router, 1/8" and 1/4" collets. I bought the SO and the Work Station on their holiday sale. I don't plan on doing major work with it, mostly craft items and things for our 5 year old grandson. I know it's a big expense for that work, but after 48 years of woodworking, I've got about everything and I'm looking for fun activities. There is no code for the software to write, it works from SVG files. You can do a lot of simple geometric shapes with the software on the router. I'm really impressed that offsets of even just .001" can be programed on the machine. Really nice if you are doing inlays. Lots of SVG files on the internet for free. Also a lot of shared files on the Shaper Origin site that are shared by other owners. It also has a simple font design in the router. I'll be using Inkscape for the design work and other fonts. There are a ton of videos on the Shaper Origin website, from day 1 unpacking the machine, to 30 minute videos on techniques. They started doing a long video presentation every Thursday, but not since the holidays started. My first test cut in 1/8" hardboard. Really fuzzy, but lots of fun freehand cutting something like this.

[Erik A]

Just got one ! 
Although still in the box, maybe someone can start a thread to put project pics on here!

[Mike W]

low_48 - 

Looks pretty cool, have you tried any additional projects out with it yet?  I started this thread cause I thought it was really cool unit to as you mention to be able to cut such precision without templates, jigs, or cumbersome CNC machine to handle the larger projects.  Seems with this setup, the size is only limited to the material being machined, and regardless of how "flat" the piece is as the unit like a regular router follows the contour of the material and not off rails above.

Would really like to add to the arsenal a bit with one of these in lieu of the CNC deck system setups as limited on space and would need to be able to do micro project to mega signs to justify the cost of the tool to do such, this would accomplish both.

Did you the the table attachment for dovetails, mortise and tenon and such?  seems a bit high priced, for what one could easily set up for themselves for such a thing.  

Keep the feedback coming, it will only make it tougher to just say no to actually pulling the trigger myself



Erik A-  Done anything with it yet?  Like the idea of a new thread with something like "look what I just created with my new Shaper Origin" or something like that,  Not trying to be convinced by anyone other then myself to just pull the trigger and get one.

Thanks for the feedback, hope to see a bit more here shortly from those who are privileged to own one already.

[Erik A]

My wife ordered it and got the table also ( i think) 

It is sitting in a relatives kitchen out of state at the moment. 

When i drive up i hope to have room to bring it back!

[low_48]

I did buy the Workstation. That thing is real precision fixture. Lots of clamping surfaces, locators, and fences. Especially nice is the printed vinyl "dominos" surface, so you never has to use location tape when you're working on the Workstation. I'm making a larger table surface for it right now, and I have my file ready to cut an LED night light for our grandson. This will be an engraving in plexiglass. I did the file in Inkscape, and with the offset cut option on the Shaper Origin, I can just cut it out with an offset and not create a complicated cut line parallel to the engraving line. I'll have that ready in a couple days. If you go to the ShaperHub on their website and hit the explore tab, you'll have pages and pages of ideas. 

[Andries]

When my FIL passed, I was asked to make a container for his ashes.
I took burr oak that he and I had milled many years ago, and used my son's Shaper Origin to carve his initials in the front panel of the container.


 

[Andries]

At present a Oneida Super Gorilla is keeping me busy in the shop. 
I've fallen down the rabbit hole on air/dust handling physics.  :(
However, nearly finished with that, and this virus lockdown will give me a really good reason to hunker down (in a much less dust choked shop) with the Origin and explore the blending of graphics and a computer controlled router. 

[Erik A]

Look at how they put this table top together !!

Creating a Live Edge Table with Shaper Origin - YouTube

[low_48]

First project completed. Took a lot of experimentation to keep a clean engraving cutter for a clean line. Did two passes at .005" deep each. I think the 5 year old grandson will like his new nightlight! Bought the LED lighted base on Amazon. Less than $9 with a remote. Then did the outline on the offset option in Shaper software. That's a wonderful option.                                                                                                                  

 

[Mike W]

Nice job, sure he will love it.  It only makes it that more special when he looks at it nightly and knows Grandpa made that for him and just him.

[low_48]

Still working in acrylic for grandson's nightlight. One feature that I really appreciated in this scale is the auto cut. You can adjust the feed speed of the control motors and with these small details, you center them up in the target and push the button. The router does all the cut with the router stationary. Took about 1 1/2 hours for this one.

 

[Erik A]

I needed a plastic washer and did not want to drive to town even if I could find one so I made one