I used a Shaper Origin once in 2018 and I posted about it for ski and snowboard building here:
That group is public, so the post is visible without a FB account. Go check out the FB post for pics and videos, but I'll go ahead and copy the text here:
tl;dr: the Shaper Origin is a solid option for CNC for molds and templates with minimal space requirements and very good accuracy.
https://shapertools.com/
I spent a little time today with a buddy who just got a Shaper Origin, which is billed as "The world's first handheld CNC machine". This thing is very, very cool and I can't wait to see it get into full production. It's a game changer in terms of space for a CNC machine, and I think it's really applicable to our space.
I worked up a model of one of my nose blocks in Fusion 360, which you can find here:
https://a360.co/2pCwsLA I shared it with him and he used the Fusion 360 plugin for Shaper Origin to generate the files for the tool and tossed them on a USB memory stick.
This is basically a laminate trimmer with CNC control in a handheld unit a little bigger than a normal full-sized router. The movement of the cutter on the X/Y axes is about +/- 1". You guide the cutter along the tool path, keeping the path in a circle on the screen, and the machine adjusts to keep the cutter true to the tool path as you do so. It keeps its position via computer vision and "domino" tape on the work surface. This is pretty easy to do, though it takes some practice to not move faster than the machine can keep up with, and the more steady you are the better the results.
We kinda screwed around cutting my part. My buddy slipped early on and gouged the part faster than the machine could emergency-retract the bit. We changed bit sizes half way thru and re-cut part of it, which made for a bit of a rough cut due to climb cutting thru half-cut material. All that said, this came out so well that I believe with 30min more of practice I could cut near perfect parts with no cleanup afterwards.
You can see from the pics that the end of the mold section hit 0.75" within +/- 0.0005", and the half-inch hole was 0.5005". That's stellar, frankly. I didn't expect it to be that accurate.
The software on it is surprisingly good. Easy to pick too paths, set cutter size, decide to cut on, left, or right of a tool path, etc. It even does auto touch off for Z to get the tool length, and you can touch off your stock in X & Y and it will lay down a grid you can use to place parts. Lots of built-in tool paths for hobbyists and woodworkers (letters and numbers, patterns for bowtie inlays, etc.)
This started as a Kick Starter, which my buddy backed. The tool cost him $1,800. They've shipped out the first run and are getting feedback before doing a second. Apparently Festool has bought them, and it even came in a taller, blacker Systainer
I'd expect productization by Festool to be quite good, and I've added my name to the list to be notified when the next round is available. I have no idea when that will be, though.
This feels like a perfect alternative to a large gantry router for 2D work associated with skis and snowboards: molds, base and core templates, even cutting base material and til/tail fill directly. Only thing lacking is you can't profile with it, though you could of course make profiles for a planer/sander setup.
I'd expect productization by Festool to be quite good, and I've added my name to the list to be notified when the next round is available. I have no idea when that will be, though.