Regarding my benefit for having it centered with the router’s cutting bit along the X axis, I have really liked being able to drop the pen down, and then slide the router assembly until the pen nib is directly over the edge of the material I’m about to cut, and then “Home” the X axis, knowing I’m as spot on to actual zero as possible without a touch plate. My designs (below) are intended to “leave in place.” My latest one (last in the links) had to be created to accommodate my custom vac assembly for my 2.5" vac hose.
Version 1: worked but put the pen too far out front
Version 2: an improvement on ver 1, with the “push off” distance placed along the X axis instead of extending the pen so far away from the router base in Y axis.
I know it’s a few days early, and I know it’s “Holiday” time in other parts of the world, but in Australia you can tell it’s Christmas when a ceramic gingerbread star with frosting shaped like melting snow turns up on top of your sandcastle. So Merry Christmas to you all.
Thank you once again to all of you - specially those who haven’t seen this thread but have asked a question somewhere else and will never know how much help they provided!
Having just got back from a time away, I am about to go again - but I’d like to place an order from Ryan’s store for all the things I’m going to need to make some sawdust.
Can anyone suggest a sensible starter pack? I’m thinking a drag knife, 1/8" collet, variety pack of end mills - do I need more? The postage isn’t trivial but adding more just amortises that cost over more items and yes I know I could get them cheaper probably, but it’s Christmas!
I know I can expect to break stuff, but am I right in thinking that I’d be better off with better than el-cheapo quality in the first place?
Yes you are right, getting halfway decent endmills does help. Now you can get some decent ones from aliexpress, but you can also get drill bits that have been pawned off as endmills. Hopefully someone more locally can let you in on their supplier though. On the same token buying a $30 endmill right off the bat might not be the best idea. I just fired up my most expensive bit and 10 seconds into my cut found out my MDF had a small pebble in it and chipped my super fancy O-Flute. I had been saving that thing for months.
So a month has gone by, and I’ve done nothing about finding a local source - so ordered from @vicious1 which is quite possibly the sort of irrational decision that the Booster shot makes one do! (No disrespect at all Ryan - far from it, but I think next time I’ll find a local(ish) supplier and just send you the postage dollars - that way it’ll cost me the same and you’ll get some benefit!)
I actually have a small project in mind - nothing fancy just a job that requires a shaper and I don’t have one of those - so watch this space. In the meantime, tragically for those interested in more macho pursuits, I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole designing buttons.
If you were paying attention at the beginning of this build, you’ll recall that the MDF I used for the flat plates wasn’t all that terrific and was “temporary” so I sealed it with gloss in case “temporary” became “a couple of years”, which somehow seems to have happened.
A decision has been made. I have a project for the machine so it’s not going to lie idle like some shiny decoration in my shed. It’s going to make the new bits for the LR3, before donating it’s organs to said project.
Don’t get excited, ahead of us we have a whole northern summer of doing things other than hanging around making stuff, but I think it’s fair to say that this will be the last post on this thread.
In the meantime - if you live in Australia and would like a full set of flawless only used once LR2 printed parts, flat bits and a few bits and bobs that won’t be needed in the new build, and you don’t want them till say… Christmas give me a shout, and I’ll send 'em your way. Heck I’ll even pay the postage rather than see them wasted.
I had been saving that thing for months.
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