Hey everybody, i see the sizes tubes you can use are 29.5, 30, 32mm… was just chatting to our local pipe shop here in New Zealand… And the closest they have is 31.75 OD… with a thickness of 1.5mm… will this pipe work?
Cheers
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I believe the pipe dimensions are specified as ±0.2mm on the nominal dimension, so 31.75 is considered ‘close enough’ for the 32mm size. There are a few other people around who have used 31.75mm pipe and been fine.
1.5mm wall thickness should be about right. There are a few suppliers around that can do that in steel or stainless.
Sounds like your local supplier has it sorted but if you’d like I can bust out my ‘list of suppliers’ that I put together when I was helping my Dad source some?
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The pipe I got was marked as 31.75OD or 1 1/4 inch I think and it’s a snug fit in the 32mm parts.
I printed a Y block and brought it to the metal place to check before I bought it
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Have you gotten your LR4 assembled? How’s the fit of the core on the gantry?
Me? Yeah fully assembled and the core was snug as I put it on and I didn’t need to tighten down the bolts at all. They’re stainless 1.5mm thick I think.
Although it’s only fair that I say I’ve only done some lasering, engraving and drawing with it so far. I will have more free time after this week so fingers crossed I can sort my table out and make some chips soon.
Also worth pointing out I used different tube for the Y rail - it’s 32mm thinner walled stuff from my local bigbox store since I reasoned it didn’t need the rigidity. So I have enough of the heavy stuff to make another LR4.
I mean, I never will, but I could 
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Yeah, smaller for the Y rail makes a lot of sense. I think we’ll end up with the same tube just because of needing to buy it in a 5.8m length.
What are those XZ plates?
Could always do a 2nd gantry on the same table. Like an idex but weirder!
Not smaller just thinner. The plates are 10mm - the fabricators scrap bin only had 5mm and 10mm. I think I asked at the time and it’s 6mm minimum, can’t remember,
I bought a chunk of 10mm, used a little less than half on the plates, and enough 5mm to make the strut plates. Then tried another place that had 3mm chequerplate so used that instead.
He asked for tenbux for the 10mm, gave me the 5mm for free and I gave him 20 and still think it was a good deal.
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Your machine looks great, did you cut out your plates by hand?
Im still waiting on my PLA to turn up, then will be putting the ender 3 to the test with these prints…
Has anyone put a spindle on a LR4, as i dont see a file for a mount?
This is my modified LR2…
Thanks. I cut my plates on my LR3 before I stripped it.
Not perfect but it was only the second thing I did in aluminium and they work fine
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The tool mount on the LR4 is 65mm so it does fit the smaller size of spindles out there. Quite a few people have gone that way.
The larger 80mm spindles are not recommended due to the extra weight and the tool being so much further from the rails leading to more deflection/chatter under the same cutting loads.
From what I can tell, the 65mm spindles are actually way less grunty than a trim router when operated at lower RPM. They are definitely a lot quieter, though, if that’s your goal.
Making a spindle dynamometer is on my to-do list…
Oh its the small sized spindle, was just wondering as they are taller, would think it would need a different mount… why i have 2 levels on my LR2… and yes far quieter than a router…
I think the mount points are much more fixed. They shouldn’t need to be further apart with the taller spindle, all the force is at the same point, the cutting tool, so the mounts are in the same position regardless. If you had a ton of force applied to the top like cable drag etc. that’d be different, but that’s best avoided where possible.
And todays question that i cant see an answer for… i can only see one file for the core… wouldnt there be different files for different size pipes??
And it looks like i can cut out the plates with the old LR2… very slowly…
Wish i could buy the plates, but by the time it gets to New Zealand it gets $$$$…
Nope, because the braces make sure the rails are all the same distance apart, no matter which size you choose. So the core does not care. 
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