I am wanting to make chess sets for family. Starting slow and 2 sets but will need about 12 in time if I live that long.
The question I have is what platform would work the best. I have a rotary the is 54mm bottom to center. Length at this point is not a issue. The primo seems good and lr4 but the new renewed gear driven that is intreaging. I would like 3 inches of clearance but only 2 to 2.5 Inch cut.
On X 12 - 18 inch
On Y 6 inches to allow material loading
are you thinking of attaching the rotary electrically for y and mounting it in an opening in the table, pinning the Y axis so it doesn’t move?
I first built an mpcnc and later converted parts of it into the lr4. The mpcnc has more z headroom. Really either would work if purpose built.
I want a purpose built unit. I was thinking the 6 inch y move to give me room to load square stock then lock it 0 y and cut on x. A primo I have most of a second printed so that will probably be the way I go for that.
Unless someone can give more guidance
the primo has that front bar for the x truck to ride on that won’t move, where the lr4 does not, but if you pin the Y axis on either, it won’t move. I’m curious to see how you secure it and then release that to move it for loading/unloading.
I’d be looking at this:
That looked realy good to me
Will it print on a old 8x8 3d printer ender 3 ?
My English isn’t great, but if I understand correctly, they’re thinking of the principle of a gantry milling machine. Isn’t the principle of a CNC lathe simpler? Just an X and Z axis.
I made a drawing to clarify what I mean.
Yes it could be but then I would have to design my own instead of resuming a working design. I’m not good enough for that
Do you want a lathe or an encoded rotary?
How about the LatheRider?
It is based on the LR2, which is slightly dated, but has some advantages in centering the machine over the axis of rotation.
this is not what I ment with my post. I mean a A axis with a stepper so the software can possition the material according to the gcode
Yes i like your suggestion it would be perfect except for the design
Could still work. Replace the lathe motor with a stepper. Or more likely, replace the lathe motor with a stepper tied to a belt with a 20T pulley on the motor and a 60T pulley on the drive to give it a 3:1 torque increase. The build itself remains the same, or very similar.
I was thinking of doing a machine this way. It would let me re-use the LR2 xomponents that I have. I could certainly manage well enough with an LR4 beam, but without the actual CAD, I’d be guessing a little (well measuring for real-world) for the spindle center, and at that dealing with some potential drift as the plastic creeps over time. The LR2 gives a more stable position for the router center, less prone to adjustment drift. This makes sense since in normal use the absolute position of the spindle for the LR4 isn’t critical. Only it’s tram angle, and that it doesn’t move relative to the core over the duration of the job. For this purpose, we want the spindle center on the Z axis to intersect the A axis along the length of the X axis, so we are imposing more limitations on it. As such we do want an absolute position of the spindle relative to the core. The LR2 design provides this where the LR3 and LR4 do not. At least that is my reasoning.
Dan, it will definitely work, but the problem is the software.
I’m looking for open-source/freeware software that works with ramps 1.4 or Mach3, and that rotates the object like a helix. Most software I know rotates from zero to 360 degrees, then backwards from 360 to zero, and so on. This leaves a line on the object.
When I find the software I am planning to build this dedicated machine using this for rail for X and Z axis and nema17 motors. With gt2 belts and for rotation different size pulleys (20x60 or 16x80) these motors are strong enough.
If someone is interested in building information, I am willing to share the stl parts and dxf drawings. But first i need to find the right software……
