Metaza status check

Is the Metaza MPX-80 still alive and well? I’m reading the user manual for it now, hoping to make some pet tags if I can get checked out on the machine.

My understanding: it is NOT.
@dougemes was the last to work on it, to my knowledge.


He might jump in here with more.

Sigh. Yeah I found that after. And the model was new in 2011, 10 years later it looks like they’ve discontinued making parts for it.
@dougemes
Is there another cnc machine at the space that could engrave aluminum? The shapoko? I don’t mind getting custom bits for it.

The Shapeoko can definitely do that if you’re wanting to engrave vector text, lines, etc. If you’re wanting to do a raster engraving (like a photo), the shapeoko can’t really do that.

1 Like

Lol. I want to make ‘rabies tags’ for my friends that have had the Covid vaccine. Not high art.
.
I know the shapeoco is a cnc drill, while the Mataza was an impact engraver, but I don’t think it all matters that much for this little project.
.
I wasn’t sure if metal was ok on the Shapeoco, because I know I’d get (rightly) run out of town if I took metal into the woodshop’s cnc. Metal dust has no place in there.
.
I’ll see about training for the Shapeoko as soon as my vaccine schedule is finished in mid april.

1 Like

Actually, it’s a CNC router. Drilling is not one of its strengths.

Thanks for asking. You can machine metal - the restriction on the Shapeoko is that you can’t use cutting fluid/oil. That pretty much restricts you to aluminum or brass (or copper which frankly doesn’t machine very well). What you’re going to do will make so little metal dust it wouldn’t matter. Again - the concern isn’t the metal chips … it’s the oil.

While you’re waiting for your vaccine to kick in, you could download the Easel software (free) and start playing with your designs. It’s fairly self-explanatory. I think you will have to set up (i.e., identify) a machine type in order to get started. If so, we have a Shapeoko 2. Our wiki page links to Easel.

2 Likes

Lol. Words mean things!
Sometimes I drop nouns, which is really not helpful in a technical discussion. Yes. Router was the word I was fishing for.
.

Great. I’ll get started on the software and reading wikis!

1 Like

Hey gang. While the metaza remains down for the forseeable future, we do have a couple of options. If you want to go about the “Rabies” tags, we could ceramark / dry moly lube laser them with very clean results. Depending if it is all lettering, we could also stamp them with careful pressure of the super thin blanks. There are some drag style “engravers” that we could purchase and install / user on the cameo.

Unfortunately the last 2 options will not produce the detail of the prior photo impact style of the metazza.

1 Like

What happened with the Metaza?

You could also dye sublimate dog tags with full color images to make a “rabies tag”.

1 Like

The stop switch for the bed retract extend stopped working / broke / no longer functions. So we need to super duper careful disassemble and see if we can repair, and until I get my new glasses, I’ve got 0 business taking anything apart.

I don’t mind taking it apart and helping fix it. A CNC machine is a CNC machine if you can get parts.

2 Likes

Actual answer / permission has to officially come from @jrkriehn but you have my blessing and best wishes on giving it a shot my friend, thank you.

Mitch: if you feel like sourcing whatever is needed, go for it. You know the purchasing rules. I hereby bless the committee-chair-Max of $200 if it can come in under that figure. If it’s more, then you’ll need to slap together a request for the committee to consider/approve.

Just know:
(1) my reign of terror ends after the election next Monday evening (or end of April if nobody runs for the job)
(2) Roland no longer supports this piece of equipment, so parts sourcing might be un-fun.

3 Likes