Vectric Customer

Zeropoint wrote:The other matter that no one tells you about is to make sure that the face you are milling for text is true & level.

NextWaveAutomation, who make the CNC Shark line of CNCs designed and presumable have a patent on the "Virutal Zero" feature in their latest version of control software. Quite nice. It maps the surface using five points (4 corners and the center) then alters the G-Code to account for variations. A software solution rather than a hardware solution.

Hmm - I think I'd still prefer a flat surface. 5 points can't really accurately map a large surface.

I doubt Nextwave has a patent on it. The technique has been used for years on industrial lasers. They sure as heck did not think it up.

Standing with SS on this one, doing a software solution to compensate for flimsy construction is no solution at all.

BTW, it is really, really, REALLY difficult to patent anything done in software. Copyright is the usual method.

On a google search for patents by Nextwave I haven't found anything referring to their Virtual Zero feature, but an interesting trademark for "CNC Piranha" did show up. July 2013. A new model/different engineering for a CNC than their Shark line perhaps? I'm hoping for an all-metal model that eliminates every flaw the Shark line has. The competition is heating up for CNCs in the $5K or less range.

4D, don't know if you caught an earlier post I made about NextWave. A number of years ago I was one of their early customers. After two days of playing with the machine trying to get it cut within reason, I made a 6 hour one way trip to his house to return it.

After that it became very clear to me that building a machine is not all that complicated. It has become quite easy using 8020 extrustions and some off the shelf hardware from folks Fine Line Automation and CNC Router Parts. I now have a machine that is very accurate, easily achieves speeds of 800 IPM, uses a standard piece of control software and I know what to do if there is a problem. Which is rare.

Cost? Under $3000 for a 48 X 36 X 8.00 machine. Time to build? Less than a week, I am more or less retired so have time for these projects. It has a solenoid to turn the router on/off from the program, auto tool touch with a second pad for multiple tool jobs and on the front I created a recess so I can easily do tenons on a piece. Very accurate tenons since there is no flipping the part over and relying on how thick the piece was cut.

Quality costs unless you have the time to do it yourself. I am not surprised by the cost of a machine at 5K plus. If I had to build my machine on a production basis it sure would not sell for 3K.