2022 Product Showcase/Shaper Origin and Hub

The Shaper Origin has been in the marketplace for a while now. I don't know what year they actually wrote that up. I remember being at the show where it came out, and it's every once in a while you run into stuff at woodworking shows, where it's a show-stopper, and you wonder what's with the big line around that one spot at the show. And that year, it was the Shaper work. I believe that. So, if you're not familiar with this tool, it's a handheld CNC, And the way this works is that this tape is put down on the surface that you're gonna machine. When we turn the Origin on, it's gonna read that tape and have the opportunity to find out where in space it is. And then, using that, it's gonna help you locate the tool path and do whatever work it is you're trying to do. One way to make that happen is the way we've got it set up here, which is I put tape on this board. You're about to see that in a video. In this case, this is the workstation, and this is crazy cool. The dominoes are here. They're built into the surface, and then I would use the Origin over here. So it's a little bit, think of a mortise jig, a dovetail jig. That's basically the system we've got here, except it's way more than just mortises and dovetails. So, one of the things that intrigued us with this is that you find that, especially with CNC work, people are maybe a little bit stumped or intimidated by the fact that they've gotta do the design work. They've gotta figure it out. And you've got a laser in your shop, but no CNCS? Right. So, Paul's got some level of comfort with this, but for people who don't wanna have to do a bunch of design from scratch, the thing we really wanted to highlight here was what's called the Shaper Hub, and Hub is a hub of information. It's incredible. So there's all sorts of stuff in the can, and you're gonna see it on the video in a second. I think it was, do you remember, was it 1,600 projects in the hub? Huge number, and growing. Yes, something like that. So, you can access those online, and then amazingly, this is on Wi-Fi. Of course, my computer is connected to the Worldwide Interwebs, and I can just send that file to the Origin, and I can make the cuts. It's inherently in this hard drive. So, instead of me talkin' about it, 'cause I'll go on and on forever, let's have a look at that video, and then we'll come back and we'll talk some more about this. What I really like about the Shaper Hub aspect of the Shaper Origin is it overcomes the question of how do I design my projects? What if I wanna make a table? How do I get started? There are so many projects. In fact, looking at my screen here, 1,564. There are a bunch of projects that are already available to you online, and all you have to do is find that project, get the file to the Origin, and we're ready to cut without you having to do any design work. This is a wonderful shortcut. So, let's have a look at what's goin' on here. One of the things I wanna point out is I'm already logged in to my Shaper Origin account. And as we go through here, we can look at different types of projects that are available. We can sort. We can search. So, let's search for tables. What'll happen is, once we get into the zone that we want, we're in Tables, when you click on that, there's a picture of what the finished product is gonna look like. The files over here are the files that we need in order to cut that. So, someone has already figured all of this out, so this whole aspect of how do I get a design to then talk to my Origin, it's already been taken care of here. We're gonna see it in just a second, how to get these files to your machine. Another item in the dropdown menu here is Hardware. So, when I go there, look at this furniture connector, furniture connector. So, what this is all about is hardware that you might use in your projects that, rather than hand cut mortises for this quadrant hinge, we can go to that file, grab the Origin file that goes with that hinge, and use that to cut the recesses, the mortises, that are required for that quadrant hinge. And, what a great service this is. There's all sorts of stuff included in this hardware page. Just some examples there that are really gonna simplify you getting hardware installed in your projects by doing that with your Origin. And again, it's all available here for you in the Shaper Hub. So, for us, today, simple sample project. Let's do a push stick. In projects. Have some to choose from there. Let's go with this one. Once we're in that project, we can see the files that we need. Don't sweat those too much. I'm gonna show you how to get those to the origin. There's some more pictures of what it is that we're about to do, so you have a good idea of what direction the project's gonna go. Now, when we know that we wanna do this, here's an amazing aspect. Remember I said earlier, I'm already logged into my account. I click on Sync to Origin. Our work here is done. These files, because my laptop is on my Wi-Fi, my Origin is on my Wi-Fi. Those push stick files are now there. What a simple way to transfer data. Now, if you want to, you can download the files, put 'em on a flash drive, and bring the flash drive to the Origin, but, if you don't have to, why would you do that? Let's get a little more setup done here, and then we're gonna come and run that file on the Origin. Remember that, thanks to the beauty of wifi, the file from the laptop has now found its way by syncing into the Origin. Here on the Origin, I have already taken the time to scan the dominoes, so the Origin knows where in space it is. I've set my parameters for cutting. We're gonna go a 1/4-inch deep using a 1/4-inch diameter bit. I've already Z-zeroed there. Now here's the gee-whiz part. If you didn't have enough gee-whiz already. Import, there's my push stick file. Within that folder, we could do one of the push sticks, the other push stick, the other push stick, or you can do all three. So what it's done there is it's grabbed that pre-designed folder for me, and all I have to do is locate it on my workpiece. You can see the plywood through the background here. That's where I want it to go, and now either touch screen or using the trigger, I place that file. Boom. And right there, we're ready to cut. What you can see on the screen there inside the bullseye is the tool path. And again, we've talked about the ins and outs of these details of cutting with the Origin before, so we're not gonna hit on that again, but I am gonna cut out these push sticks, and we're ready to go here with round one. Get rid of that. That is so cool that you can grab one of the nearly 1,600 projects that are on the Hub, sync 'em to the Origin, and you don't have to sweat the design aspect, 'cause that heavy lifting's already been done for ya. It's such an easy way to import projects that are turnkey and ready to go. How do you see the Origin fitting into a woodworker shop? It really opens up the possibilities, lets you think much bigger than you otherwise would. I think that they have really nailed it, not only on innovation, but on user experience, and simplifying that experience of CNC and allowing you to take the CNC to the work and expanding the capacity of what you can do. I love the projects that are on the Hub, but the hardware aspect is maybe the coolest thing, 'cause some of that stuff would be, what's so cool is whatever you buy like a SOSS hinge or a Brusso hinge or whatever it is, and there's a great likelihood you're already gonna find that in the can there, and that's just the kind of thing where letting in that intricate hardware for whatever, a mortise-style lock, or a lid stay, or, man, that's where that kind of finesse that's gonna come from those already being in place. It's huge. Yeah, I love that hinge application. I also love you see guys taking these and doing inlay into wood flooring, and with confidence. And think about what possibilities that kind of application opens up. Yeah, it's a cool aspect that, with a conventional CNC you're gonna bring the work to the tool because you have to bring the work to the tool. And in this case, we're gonna take the tool to the work, So you could be in the middle of a basketball gym and using this in order to do that kind of work. So I do wanna do a little show-and-tell, because this is the board that we cut on the video with the push sticks, and it is just, this is a very simple application of the kind of stuff that's available on the Hub, but it was a great example of the kind of things you can do, and how easy it is to just sync that information in and and pull it into the Origin so you can use it here.