Been doing 3D print related stuff for some time, but really want to get into CNC for future projects around the house, mostly, just moved into a new home with a large 3 car workshop and finally have the space to do more at home.
The LowRider V3 looks to be a great starting point, very interested in pursuing this. But I have some questions.
I want to build the base table out of 8020 or similar. Has this been done? Any suggestions? My floor isn’t perfect, so 8020 with adjustable feet is what I’m looking at.
I see a torsion box is available for the LowRider, does anyone sell precut torsion box kits for the larger torsion boxes so new CNC’rs can get a great start?
Same as above, but for the strut plates.
is there a good premade config and coding for any of the boards included in the hardware kits?
Some high dollar commercial CNC machines have their tables made out of big aluminum extrusion. Most of us either can’t afford the materials for that or opt to strive for more affordable materials, but if you’ve got access to the extrusions, you can do a great table that way.
Several makers have used parametric Fusion 360 work by either me or Ryan to build their own torsion boxes like mine, or somewhat like mine. A couple of makers have hired me to cut theirs and do freight shipping to get it to them. It’s kind of stressful for me, because it’s kind of expensive, and I don’t want to let them down, and I really don’t want to botch a cut job and ruin sheet good they paid me for. I had to obtain the materials and load them up and transport them, haul them in, cut them, stack and fasten them together, use a bunch of other materials to try to protect them enroute, and hope nothing goes wrong in shipping and that the client is pleased. Like I said, kind of stressful for me, and not a big fan of doing it.
Cutting strut plates can be done with a table saw and a drill, or certainly can be a nice first cut on a new LowRider v3. It was designed to cut its own struts, by use of temporary braces.
Absolutely. All control boards sold by Ryan come preloaded with firmware based on your choice of intended machine purpose.
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your upcoming LR3 build. Enjoy the journey - I’m certain that you will learn lots, have a few frustrating (learning) moments, and have a lot of fun along the way.
Sorry, I can’t help you here, but I’m pretty sure that someone has used aluminum to build the table frame. Maybe do a search of the forum
Not that I’m aware of, but there are plans available on the forum to build your own (here). Many people have used their LR3 to cut out their torsion box table, and it brings a certain satisfaction to cut it yourself)
No, nobody sells them, as shipping would cost way too much. Again, it is very satisfying to cut your own with your own machine, and there are lots of customizing options available.
Are you talking about the XZ and YZ plates? There are DWX (CAD drawings) files available, but you have to do your own CAM to create the gcode. EstlCAM is a great tool to learn
Edit - LOL, I see that @DougJoseph beat me to the punch and answered all of your questions better than I did.
Doug is a great resource on this site, and has created a lot of customized remixes for certain parts that are really useful. Check out his Printables page.
perfect answer, and actually saw your torsion box links and videos before posting.
Awesome job. Table looks great.
I have a pile of 2x4s, 4x4s, and a dozen or so sheets of plywood laying around. Are there any premade plans for a full sheet table? I believe I also have a 3/4" thick sheet of MDF sitting in the workshop too. Im just not confident in my woodworking skills, and prefer the security of adjustable rails with a wooden top bolted to it. That and 2x4s are always out of spec.
Is there a full sheet supported table plan people use? I could probably convert that to extrusions
There are some premade plans for the torsion box (top) portion of the table. However, a caveat. The torsion box’s half lap joints are supposed to be cuts of a width at the exact thickness of the sheet goods used, and the thickness varies from product to product, so I used a common thickness, but if your thickness does not match, then the difference has to be accommodated in one way or another. One way is to edit the Fusion 360 file, right click on each sketch that corresponds to a DXF file, and export it as DXF, and replace the vectors in the premade plan with the new ones. Another approach is to manually shim to account for gap, or manually widen the cuts to account for not being wide enough.
When I first planned to build a LowRider (which at that time was version 2), my efforts to get a full-size table made were the most challenging wood working project I had ever tackled, and my results looked good, but suffered from some slow constant sagging type action that made the result frustrating. I’ve been so much happier since I reinforced the structure of the initial base effort, and slapped the new torsion box top on it.
Hmm, an extrusion base would need to basically hold the bottom of the torsion, right? then it would expand out from there to the full size? So I would need to plan on the table being the same size as the base of the torsion, with plenty of anchor points, hmm.
How high are people making the top of their table, without the sacrificial layer? seems like the lower the better to avoid having to lift the sheets high onto the table.
I notice on your table you are using some aluminum rails on each side, do you cover that mod in a video? Seems like a good solid upgrade
The height totally depends on your situation and intended uses. Some people have their table double as both an assembly table and/or an outfeed table, and re. handling full sheets, there are sheet tote carts that can flip the sheet material for sliding it onto the table, and they are sometimes made to be adjustable. I use mine often as an assembly table for projects, and I have it high and like it that way. I work on projects standing up, and I don’t have to bend over and have aching back.
I’m not as young as I used to be and the ergonomics of a low table would be bad for me.
Lifting a sheet to countertop height isn’t difficult, and allows me to work with the machine. The material needs to be held down, and I always watch the machine work. I have a chair in the machine room that lets me keep an eye on things.
Reading this I went out and measured my table because I couldn’t remember
Mine is 43" to the top of where the LR3 rides. And that was all so I didn’t have to bend over LOL. My Grizzly table saw is also sitting on 6X6 for this same reason LOL
Those rails that you noticed are actually steel rather than aluminum. They are sold affordably in big box, home-improvement stores under a couple of name brands. One is unistrut, and the other is superstrut. They are C-shaped, and I position the opening toward the outside, and I use the inside of each strut as a place to run my belts so my belts are hidden away. I am in hopes that I can find a way to do that on each future iteration of the LowRider design. if not, I may hang onto the version 3 LowRider design.
There are basically two aspect ratios of the unistrut type stuff, a mini version that looks like a rectangle shaped C, and a full version that uses a square shaped C. Mine is the full size version. The side opposite of the opening is lined with holes for mounting purposes. Some of those holes lined up with ribs of my torsion box, and some did not. Where they did not align, I had to drill additional holes.
If you are seriously considering going with aluminum extrusion, consider whether the torsion box is absolutely necessary. Check out the aluminum extrusion table sold by Avid CNC. They have big strong aluminum extrusion around the top, and down the legs, and they bolt the MDF spoil board directly to the top of the aluminum extrusion. The key to their way of doing, is the squareness of the end cuts, and assembly that results in a completely flat plane at the top where the MDF goes. If you don’t have spot-on squareness of the end cuts on each piece of aluminum extrusion, and you cannot get great flatness on the top, then the torsion box becomes the better approach.
for the full sheet setup, whats the distance between the unitstruts, that would define the entire size of the width of the extrusions. Then my only decision is the length and height of the table.
Now I’m wondering if I can use extrusion in place of unistruts, that would make mounting the rail easy. I would just need some modification to your existing belt and rail mounts on that one side, and a smooth extrusion for the other side.
I plan on using a sheet of 97 x 49 MDF as the top plane. I plan on using the CNC to learn basic cabinetry for future home projects
I would probably put something on top of the extrusion on the wheel side (side opposite of the rail) Those 608 bearings riding right on the aluminum extrusion will wear into it and cause you leveling issues down the road.
after pricing the aluminum framing. I am back on the torsion box frame, provided the CNC can cut the remainder of the table, it will be significantly cheaper and better in the long run.
To get started, to let the CNC do most of the precision cutting, whats the best starting top setup so the CNC can cut the torsion box and remainder of bench?
I just measured using a tape measure that only has imperial inches, so pardon the lack of metric mm’s here.
Also bear in mind my non-rail side runs quite close to the outside of that unistrut. So you could easily add 1/4" or 1/2" onto these numbers. If I had it to do over again, I probably would add some.
The distance between my struts is 55". From outside edge to outside edge is something like 58 1/8" or so.
Could be doable, but if the extrusion has a rail groove in it, you would have dimension things carefully so that your 608 bearing wheels are not in that groove.
The first link is the older of the two, and is linked from the latter. The first link is where I show my modified version of the overhead drawing with dimensions, in which I added the extra 25mm:
