Augmented reality power tools - the next revolution?

[sammy.se]

https://www.facebook.com/cnet/videos/10154590848762275/

What do people think? an amazing revolution, or just a tech fad?

I personally think it's great.
To me, it could mean the end to certain types of jigs (like small hinge jigs) or allow us to do some really intricate inlay work really easily, and affordably.

 

[Rorschach]

Not a revolution, but not a fad either. It's a specialist bit of kit but I can see it having moderate appeal. I am certainly thinking of getting one, as someone who does not have the space or resources for a large CNC machine I can see this giving a really wide scope and the portability and almost limitless footprint is a big selling point to me.

 

[Biliphuster]

That looks really clever, it seems like you only have to get close and the motors will move the router the last bit to get perfectly on target.

If they could hook that up to a chisel and a saw I would be sorted.

 

[Grahamshed]

I have just checked.

It's not April 1st.

 

[Nelsun]

Looks great... but carries a RRP of $2099. I'll wait* for the Festool version!

*No, no I won't

 

[novocaine]

If you think it's a router, then yep, it's expensive, if you think of it as a CNC then it's cheap.
it's very clever, I think it's got a good idea and will only get better.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

The big footprint has amazing potential.

Where do you you get the templates from - can you design your own, or will you have to buy them / buy the software that allows you to make them?

 

[Stanleymonkey]

The big footprint has amazing potential.

Where do you you get the templates from - can you design your own, or will you have to buy them / buy the software that allows you to make them?

 

[sammy.se]

I'm not sure if this is anything more than a proof-of-concept at this stage.
I think - like a lot of tech innovations - if it finds appeal in the market the concept will get refined over time, and get to a decent price point. If I were festool or Bosch, I'd snap this tech up quick smart. I think it has huge potential.

Even simple stuff like drilling shelf holes would no longer require a jig..

It's like having a CNC wherever you want one!

 

[transatlantic]

It's clever technology, but I'd say it's of limited use.

 

[transatlantic]

Even simple stuff like drilling shelf holes would no longer require a jig..

It's like having a CNC wherever you want one!

But think of the setup time. I'm guessing a jig would still be quicker.

 

[novocaine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_wk3q8jWcs

gives a bit more information on it, it's been about on the american maker circuit for a while, with concepts on show over 2 years ago. they are now nearing the final production runs of it.
yes you can design your own layouts, they do not sell a CAD software solution, anything that you can produce and SVG file in will work.
the only additional consumable you'll have to buy is their propitiatory tape with markers on which the camera uses for location.

 

[custard]

It's clever technology, but I'd say it's of limited use.

Not to me it's not! I'd be using this almost every day.

 

[custard]

Even simple stuff like drilling shelf holes would no longer require a jig..

It's like having a CNC wherever you want one!

But think of the setup time. I'm guessing a jig would still be quicker.

Well for a start I'd be using this to make half the jigs I need! Let's say I'm making a desk or a dressing table with a curved profile, I'll probably need templates that are perfectly matching male and female curves. It takes me about four hours work to produce a perfectly matching pair of male and female templates, or it costs me about £60 to get them CNC'd. If this machine works to acceptable tolerances (they claim 1/100" but I'm hoping for an easy, fair curve it'd do better than that) then it saves me £60 a pop or reduces 4 hours work down to about 30 minutes.

 

[Rorschach]

The big footprint has amazing potential.

Where do you you get the templates from - can you design your own, or will you have to buy them / buy the software that allows you to make them?

That's what appealed to me, a CNC router than can handle an 8x4 sheet of plywood is a serious bit of investment both money and space, this could handle that with no trouble at all and then sit on a shelf when you are done.

Regarding templates I watched another video where they said you can use whatever software you like to create vector files and then import to the device, they are not providing any kind of proprietary software for design, just the built in software for it's use. There is also going to be some onboard design software for basic shapes like circles and rectangles, you can also draw direct onto the workpiece and it will scan and create a template for that. I could see it being great for something like a wedding, guests could sign a big board and then you could engrave over it for example.

 

[Rorschach]

Even simple stuff like drilling shelf holes would no longer require a jig..

It's like having a CNC wherever you want one!

But think of the setup time. I'm guessing a jig would still be quicker.

Well for a start I'd be using this to make half the jigs I need! Let's say I'm making a desk or a dressing table with a curved profile, I'll probably need templates that are perfectly matching male and female curves. It takes me about four hours work to produce a perfectly matching pair of male and female templates, or it costs me about £60 to get them CNC'd. If this machine works to acceptable tolerances (they claim 1/100" but I'm hoping for an easy, fair curve it'd do better than that) then it saves me £60 a pop or reduces 4 hours work down to about 30 minutes.

Superb for templates I would think. Probably slow to cut them out to being with but once you have made one then you could use it with a bandsaw and then a router and flush trim bit to make subsequent parts very quickly indeed.

 

[transatlantic]

Even simple stuff like drilling shelf holes would no longer require a jig..

It's like having a CNC wherever you want one!

But think of the setup time. I'm guessing a jig would still be quicker.

Well for a start I'd be using this to make half the jigs I need! Let's say I'm making a desk or a dressing table with a curved profile, I'll probably need templates that are perfectly matching male and female curves. It takes me about four hours work to produce a perfectly matching pair of male and female templates, or it costs me about £60 to get them CNC'd. If this machine works to acceptable tolerances (they claim 1/100" but I'm hoping for an easy, fair curve it'd do better than that) then it saves me £60 a pop or reduces 4 hours work down to about 30 minutes.

Yeah, I can see how that would be useful.

 

[beganasatree]

Looks good ,but I will keep using my pantograph untill the price comes down.

Peter.

 

[philipjdall]

That is an ingenius idea.

The same principle of digital stabilisation the film industry has been using for years, I'm surprised no one thought of it sooner! This has to be the future of the router.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Green]

I've seen a few of these crowd funded projects fall short but this looks very promising.