Aku Shaper software

Industry Talk
21

Forget the new thread…

My view on the machines:

I have had experience with preshapes from the APS3000 machine with toolpaths from both APS3000 and Shape3D softwares and also I’ve had experience with the new Akushaper machine and the Akushaper toolpath software.

I had the same board cut on both machines and I have spend considerable time in the factories to be able to comment.

At first sight the two machines are much the same. Only the experienced eye can see the slight differences.

The Aku is only ~6 month old but has been down a lot. Often I could not get my boards done in time so I had to go to Newcastle to have them cut there. They have the APS3000 running with Shape 3D.

On both machines, operator care and experience shows in the final product. The Aku made some nice stringer cuts with the new blade. Later, as the blade was worn in, there was no more difference.

The APS3000 in Sydney cuts with angel wings, the APS3000 in Newcastle uses Shape3d and there are no angel wings. The Aku in Sydney makes small angel wings but on boards with rounded tails and wider noses the angel wings become massive. There is no difference in regards to rail symmetry, contrary to the marketing bs.

Loading a blank on the machine takes a lot more time on the Aku, I was told that it is much easier to make mistakes so operators have to be more careful. Around the Aku are enough trouble blanks to tell the story.

The full version of the Shape3D program is much advanced, a different world actually. Shape3D allows for manipulation in 3D, design of the concave by changing the stringer curve (not just pulling the rail down), the insertion of fully interpolated slices, the rermoval of points while keeping the curve… just to mention a few. The toolpath is a lot more sophisticated, super reliable, very smooth and provides all imaginable control for boards with multiple stringers, ghost passes, different cutting directions, smooth winger cuts and so on.

The Aku tries to solve problems with high tech hardware but there are still issues with burning EPS and XPS. The spindle motor is very quiet but obviously not powerful enough.

The APS3000 solves most issues with the design and toolpath software, blank setup time is much faster. Cutting time on both machines is much the same.

I did my diligence quite well thanks.

Flavs.

22
  • 12000USD
23

Well, if you know the real facts about the Aku machine and you take a look at the website you will laugh, its a fair dinkum pack of misleading info. It is still not reliable and costs alot. APS with Shape3D is the way I would go no doubt, you really get better cuts (when using Shape3D), more reliable, cheaper too.

It seems your software issue could be a commercial crime. I hope they are able to fix it for you, I don’t see why not??? you payed for it, you still have the machine, and most importantly, you need it. Don’t matter how good or average the software might be.

What’s up guys?? at least give a reason to “meanshapes”.

Maybe it was just a mistake or something went wrong with the file server?

24

yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me… yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me!!!

25

I smell something stinky!!!

26

keep on rockin in the free world!

27

What about the Thermwood 3 axis cnc machine? I have access to one at work, and they are real nice. Also, the software out there like shape 3d and others are garbage. Autodesk, Solidworks are some better choices and if you are serious about 3d arch software, Catia is the most superior.

Maybe worth looking in to !

Take care

28

soildworks is good. i am studying to get a B.S. in Computer aided Product Design. so we get to use soildworks, ProE, and all of autodesk. i like inventor the best for designing 3D objects. plus if its going to be used on a machine. it almost does it for you.

but for just doing shapes and what not. i like aku for now.

29

This situation is BULLSH*T, its hard enough to keep things going in the surfboard business right now and this crap has essentially shut us down. When someone pays $12K for something up front, where is the right to take it away? Can’t access files for custom boards, can’t send PDF’s to customers, can’t get boards cut. I’m ready to lose it, this is thievery and what is the reason? WTF did we do to him? Meanshapes is being a lot nicer than I feel like being after getting the rug pulled out from under us…

30

Actually I think it was more like $14000USD but I gave them a 2k benefit of the doubt discount since I still haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS in a FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLDDDDDDDEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

31

What about the Thermwood 3 axis cnc machine? I have access to one at work, and they are real nice. Also, the software out there like shape 3d and others are garbage. Autodesk, Solidworks are some better choices and if you are serious about 3d arch software, Catia is the most superior.

SurfCam & Rhino are also good programs that I like, however Shape 3D does a fine job for board building.

I use the complete version (Design, CNC, Scaning, Eport) and have my own 3 axis machine with a digital probe. (made in usa)

Next time your in California come to my shop and show me how to run a board building business with Autodesk, Solidworks or Catia?

We can do a tour of all the cutting houses in California that use Shape 3D and you can convert them to your methods.

Lead the way!

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AINT NO STOPPIN US NOW>>

33

I have 10+ years of experience with high end 3D modelers for mechanical engineering and/or organic 3D shapes… Unigraphics, Pro-E, SW and Inventor. To me it’s all “CRAP” for designing surfboards if you compare with Shape3D, BoardCAD or AkuShaper. It’s absolutely overkill, it takes too much work, time and knowledge to use them. You can achieve BETTER results, MUCH EASIER and QUICKER with the Surfboard Specific CAD/CAM apps available. And when it comes to the CAM part of things… If you use any of the many available CAM programs for general machining out there… MasterCAM, RhinoCAM, BOBCAD/CAM etc, etc… You won’t be able to create toolpaths as good/specific and as easy to what you can get for surfcraft with Shape3D. That’s just my opinion.

Flavio

34

You’re right.

I’ve been doing computer shapes for six years now and have found S3d produces a nice board quickly. I stopped with AKU the minute the software went online.

Of course there are issues because of the simplification of surfbaord design programs (noses and tails are particularly tricky, because too many (4) surfaces meet and the algorithm just can’t merge them (no CAD software would do well with this). But you’re talking about a 1mm bump on a 7mm thick tail or nose, so you’re not even going to see it on any of the shaping machines dedicated to surfboards.

Designing a board from scratch in Rhino or some other software is going to take you an age because all the surfaces are irregular in at least one dimension. I now use S3d to design boards and then export them into Rhino to check and clean up before exporting to a file to be cut by a 5 axis non-surfboard machine. We cut 4 at a time and do some other smart things so there’s margin in it for the machine owner.

35

Agreed!

36

TIMES UP AKU! NO EMAIL? NO OFFER? 4 DAYS and shut down huh?. ITS OK I WONT REST FOR A WHILE NOW. YOU PISSED ON THE WRONG DAWGS PORCH!!! TIME TO BITE SCRATCH KICK CRAWL… ITS ON!

MIKE >>>>>>YOU OWE ME $12,000USD

37

and so the word gets around, bit by bit…

Some months ago, a local computer expert/professor/surfer/software nerd found out that, in his opinion, Aku downloads a lot more than he expected necessary for an upgrade check. So he contacted Ralph Freese, asking for an explanation. The answer did not satisfy him at all and he investigatd deeper…

As far as I know he succeeded in stopping the AKU software from, as he called it, spying. He also succeeded in retrieving/separating the program and I was told the AKU machine version is available as a free download in Japan anyway. But I can not confirm that, I do not speak or read Japanese…

Get someone who knows Java and he can help you to retrieve/free the program from your computer. It is there, only blocked.

I had quite a few APS3000 machine owners contact me lately with exactly the same issue… you are not alone. As I do have a hard drive backup of each machine installation, I may be able to help with the original software. The AKU software is out of my reach, you do have a 2 year free upgrade contract with Ralph/Jimmy Freese but why would you fight for it? It is still the same old same old plus a couple eye candies…

Must be a scary feeling when you one day find out you are watched. All goes jelly and I understand your anger. I highly recommend Board CAD as an advanced alternative or, if you have lotsa money, Shape3D CNC.

Jimmy and Ralph Freese tried to delete the original software on your computer with the second AKU upgrade. If you followed my advice you made that impossible. I hope you did. I do have the original software agreement in case you need it.

With Shape3D and BoardCAD you get unencrypted files and no automatic “internet updates”. I have traded in a few APS3000 licenses for Shape3D and my clients are very happy. The Shape3D toolpath is highly advanced so you get beautiful smooth (and symetric) boards without any hardware change. Plus a lot of other advances. To my knowledge you are still part owner of the machine and as such have every right to use the software.

www.aps3000miki.com

38

come on guys this is not the place for this type of mud match

Peter

39

Well if the software was connecting or allowing open connections without the user knowing, it would also be advisable to install a ‘snitch’ program, a firewall that can be configured to watch for software trying to make or allow connections. Also with snitch progs you can configure it to always deny requests.

I’ll see if I can link to a freeware one once I find it.

Tyson

40

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

it is free and works very good.