CNCs can be huge, cumbersome equipment that eat up a lot of floor space in the shop. The Shaper Origin completely turns the tables. Rather than taking your work to the CNC, now you can take your CNC directly to the work.
How Does It Work?
The Shaper Origin might look like a conventional router, but has many of the capabilities of the much larger equipment that relies on rails, gantries, and drive systems. Shaper accomplishes this with a built-in high resolution camera that tracks rows of domino-patterned positioning tape to guide the tool.
You follow simply the path shown on the top-mounted 5” color screen. The CNC-controlled spindle makes automatic micro-adjustments while you trace the path to turn imperfect human movements into precise, flawless workmanship. Easy.
But where do these projects come from? The Shaper Origin uses SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) format files, which you can build in a CAD program and load in yourself via USB—or simply download a project from their curated collection on the Shaper Hub.
Here are a few great CNC woodworking projects to get you started with your Shaper Origin.
5 CNC Project Ideas For the Shaper Origin:
1. Joinery Workstation
Kick everything off by making all of your upcoming CNC woodworking projects a little bit easier. This essential wooden workstation will allow you to cut material on its end, as you do in joinery projects, much more easily.
2. The Chronic Chair
Wooden chairs are perfect CNC projects for beginners to start exploring the Shaper Origin’s woodworking talents. Shaper collaborated with Chronic Woodwork on this interesting, surprisingly simple furniture design. All you’ll need is a half-panel of ¾” ply and a bunch of ¾” dowels. The project is available on Shaper Hub for free.
3. A Hardwood Floor Inlay (12-Pointed Star Medallion)
Not all CNC project ideas will involve standalone furniture pieces. The Shaper Origin is also ideal for complex space finishing projects like this gorgeous hardwood floor inlay. Check out the Shaper Hub Project here.
4. Drill Rack With French Cleats
This drill rack debuted on Shaper’s Instagram and was so popular that they posted this behind-the-scenes video to show it off. Plenty of CNC woodworking projects will make use of French cleats, a popular solution for hanging cabinets and shelves, so practice with the Shaper Origin while advancing your workshop.
5. Bar Case
This black oak and maple gin box was made with Origin’s two recent Extensions—Text Basic and Box Joint Basic—which allow you to enter custom join parameters (pin count, stock dimension, and cutter diameter) and create your own cut files. This eliminates the need for equations, computers, and physical templates when designing your own work! On top of that, this CNC woodworking project on Shaper Hub is great for practicing ever-useful box joints.
If you’re interested in picking up your very own Shaper Origin to try out CNC woodworking projects like these, check out all of our Shaper options at US Tool & Fastener!
