I dropped hints in a few of the other topics in the last month that I was going to part from the Ghostrider and build another CNC. It all started with the closed loop driver on X which made me want more. More power, bigger motors, bigger everything. I surely wasn’t going to shell out a few thousands on a Onefinity or an Altmill, because those are still made of aluminium extrusions or rails.
I did consider the Volksfräse by Uncle Phil, but again: lots of aluminium, pretty expensive in the end. I had had an eye on the PrintNC for a while, but I didn’t want to drill all those holes in straight lines. Ugh. Not a task for impatient me without a drill press… I got a bit lucky because I Chinese guy just had started offering the beta for a kit (who has now gone MIA for a month with a lot of people still waiting on their orders, I am also missing a probe and tool length sensor…). So after ordering it at the beginning of May, I received my shipment on Friday, a 145kg box, and then spent the next four days assembling it. The new CNC is called Blue Steel (as you might remember, I did consider that for the Ghostrider, but this CNC being steel and me loving Hammerschlag Blau… that was a no-brainer) and this is what it looks like assembled (the endcaps are missing, but that’s just optical).
I did my first cut today and the speed and power of it are incredible, but come at a hefty pricetag of around 2500-3000€. That does not include a fancy aluminium spoilboard, a spindle, toolchanger or whatever you want to add.
You guys all know the chart on the PrintNC wiki that paints the MPCNC in a pretty bad light, claiming its accuracy to not be that great, which I absolutely do not agree with. You can achieve a very high precision with the LR as well, which my inlay projects prove quite well.
Would I recommend a PrintNC over a LowRider? Well, firstly, I haven’t cut any of my normal projects with it, so I can’t give an educated answer, what I can definitely say: No, I can’t recommend it unconditionally over the LowRider. The PrintNC is great if you want to step up your CNC game and have some experience with a CNC, but as a beginner or someone who needs a full sheet machine, the LR is unbeatable.
I would never have started with such an expensive machine that you also have to assemble yourself.
The LR is also much more beginner friendly in a series of ways:
- The LR comes at 700-800€, the PrintNC comes at at least triple the cost for some gain, but not as much as to recommend it for someone just starting out.
- You can’t really break it. I had the LR jump off the rails more than once. Had that happened with a fully constrained CNC I would have broken parts badly.
- The LR also assembles a lot more easily. You basically plug the steppers, endstops and power into the Jackpot board and are ready to go. The electrical cabinet of the PrintNC is much more complicated and needs a lot more know-how.
- Ballscrews are loud. Wow. The belts are much more quiet.
- The max size for a PrintNC is 1275x1275 with the ballscrews as the limiting factor. So if you need a bigger workspace, you need a LR.
- There is a Wiki and a discord, but since the PrintNC is mainly community driven, there is no one who really takes charge of the Wiki, so it’s a mixture of outdated articles and different sets of instructions. Some of them are good, some bad. With the LR you have Ryan watching over all of it.
- The forum is just the best place to hang out and learn something. Yes, the PrintNC has got a Discord, but it’s not comparable to the forum.
- The LR has an easy to source kit (just buy it from Ryan) with brilliant support at every stage. The PrintNC has to be either fully self sourced or bought from the Chines vendor who has now gone missing for a month (and I would not like to gamble with nearly 2000€). Also, it takes over half a year until you have the CNC…
As I stated in another topic before: I am going to stick around here, because you guys are the best and I am up to more beta tests from V1, because I really like this community and the CNCs Ryan builds. I also need a school CNC at some point. 
I also promised @Michael_Melancon and @Jonathjon to not become an arrogant douche now. So that’s also settled.
and your bits will last a lot longer 