Lowrider2 advice please

LowRider CNC Advice
2

Hi there Simon! Welcome aboard! :sailboat:

If the Makita has a fixed base that you can attach to the sled, you should be OK.

Really, any of the boards Ryan offers will serve you well, but the Rambo and mini-Rambo probably have the most hours (and therefore experience) behind them. But there’s lots of exciting things going on with the SKR and Archim boards (if you’re in to exciting things happening with your controller).

As for 3D milling, that’s a bit of a loaded question. Build as designed, none of the V1 router-based machines do “real” 3D milling. They can do a really good bas-relief style of 3D milling, and are excellent at 2D milling. 3D milling on the Lowrider is a little tricky, depending on the size of your build. If you’ve got a 4’ Y axis, even with the two rails, it’s going to have some flex. It can still be done quite well, but you have to know your machine, and know your CAM.

As for software flow… Hoo-boy. Read the milling basics page for the bog standard workflow. You can generate your artwork in anything you are comfortable in, as long as you can export it as either DXF (for 2D or 2.5D), or STL (for 3D). Once you have your artwork, you get to do your CAM work, where you actually turn that art into the gcode that the machine understands. The default workflow is to use ESTLCam, but there are too many different programs to list that can do CAM (a lot of design software now includes CAM, such as Fusion 360 and OnShape [via Kiri:Moto]). Note that this can get troublesome since there are different “dialects” of gcode, and you need to make sure your CAM software is creating the correct version for your machine. Once you have the gcode, you have to get it to the machine. If you have an LCD (or a new-fangled TFT), you may have an SD card reader you can simply move the gcode with. Otherwise, you’ll need to use a gcode sender/machine controller like Repetier Host, pronterface, CNC.js, or even Octoprint (the last two are also on the v1pi image created by Jeffe for running your own Raspberry Pi print server).

That’s a lot of information I just dumped on you. Take your time to read it, and ask questions. We really don’t bite. In the meantime, I have a question for you: What are you wanting to do with your CNC? It would help us understand your needs better, and give you more appropriate advice.

I strongly urge you to poke around the forums, read a lot, like helpful or entertaining posts, and generally join the collective. If you have any questions about actually using the forums, just ask @discobot, who is here to help.

1 Like
3

Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.

4

Cheers thanks for the information, helps a ton.
Just trying to keep the questions as simple as I can to get the best information input.

Its a makita palm router RT0700CX, so equivalent of the DeWalt.

I was personally looking at the Archim board, so if things were to change with that board is it a matter of updating the software to keep it current ?

So for example, I would make my project in CAD then transfer it to ESTLCam which the machine understands and then should mill as I designed?

What would be your recommendation software to use for designing and gcode programme?

And is it possible to use LR2 as a laser?
If so, are there certain lasers that people use with the LR

As for your question:
I’m looking at using it on carpentry projects.
Engraving Cabinet door edges, doors, table tops, smaller items such as chopping boards but also slabs of wood. Cutting out molds which can be used for a plunge router. Logo’s. 2D lettering. Engraving.
As for 3D, its more like 2.5D. Let’s say a mountain for example.

I hope that makes abit of sense what im looking at achieving.

Thanks again

5

As for the LCD you mentioned, is that the LCD option thats available as part of the package?

6

I did write a docs page for software workflow. Let me know if we need to update that or if we can make it more clear.

The low rider router mounts to a flat plate using the manufacturer’s plate. There’s not an infinite amount of room, but if it fits in the area, it should be easy to mount. You don’t need an enormous amount of power. I think that router should be fine, but I didn’t lool too closely.

The archims are in a tough spot now and I wouldn’t recommend them. Not unless you are an embedded software engineer and can help fix some of the recent software issues. The rambo is my first choice, the mini rambo too. Or the skr pro.

Estclam.

There aren’t any common mounts. It is still the wild west because the 2.5W lasers seem to worl well, if you cam mount them. But they do sometimes need 5V PWM and sometimes 12V PWM. If you can find a 12V laser, 2.5W that uses 12V PWM for control, you can just connect it to the fan port of any of these boards and start burning stuff up. There is a page on lasers in the docs. Stay safe.

The low rider can do all of that, but there are some caveats. You won’t cross a line where it’s impossible, but as it gets harder, you will have more to think about and more failures. This is true for every cnc machine. Similar to the way a table saw has easy and hard projects (acute miters? Tenons? Compound cuts?). Here’s my basic scale:

Easy to hard:

  • Through cuts
  • Pockets (flat cuts, not all the way through)
  • Surfacing (flattening a cutting board)
  • V Carves
  • 3D carving

Compounding that is size. V carving a small 6"x6" pattern is not very hard. Pocketing 18"x18" is going to take a really long time and it can go wrong fast. V carving 18"x18" is pretty tricky, but will work well after you get it set up right.

Compounding that is height. The longer the Z, the less rigid either machine is. The low rider is rigid where it is short. It gets weaker as it raises up. This means it will be stronger carving a 3/4" thick door than a 2" high cutting board. Anything up to about 3-4" is probably fine.

3D milling something like a mountain is possible. It will take several passes and remove a lot of material. That will add up to very long cutting times even for small projects. But they end up looking amazing.

The wheel house for the low rider is something like making flat pack furniture. If you’re interested mostly in carving and 3D milling, then starting with a smaller MPCNC will be more forgiving on a beginner. An MPCNC over 24"x24"x3" is not great for beginners so you really need to pick between size and ease of use.

1 Like
7

It is possible though.

8

I use the Makita router on mine using the Makita gantry plate that someone designed. Check the Makita thread here in the LR subforum.

2 Likes
9

Awesome thanks, this is the kind of process I’m looking for

10

Thanks Jeff, awesome information.
The software workflow page tells me what I want to know! So knowing what I wanted to know.

I’m just waiting on the control board to come back in stock to be able to order a complete bundle.

So that being said, if I was to order:

  • Rambo control board
  • LCD
  • Printed parts

25.4mm OD tubing would be the only thing required to complete the build ?

Cheers

11

You also need the flat pieces. The Y-axis mounting plates and the X-gantry router mounting plate.

The Makita router uses a different bolt spacing than the DeWalt unit. The DXF file can be found here.

The Y-axis plates are what the Y steppers, the Z bearing blocks, and the Z screw nut attach to. You can order the flats from the V1 store, but the X plate is for the DeWalt unit.

I 3D printed the Makita plate, and then milled a new plate once my LR was up and running.

1 Like
12

Awesome thanks, I might just get them off thingiverse and get them made out of aluminium

1 Like
13

Any advice on the SKR V1.3 control board, TMC5160 v1.2 drivers and the TFT35 LCD screen?

Would this be a good combo?

14

We don’t have that combo in our preconfigured versions. We have an skr 1.3. But Ryan isn’t testing that one (he doesn’t have that).

That is the config from teaching tech. His firmware is a lot older and needs a tweak for the more recent library changes to build.

But if you had it configured, there’s nothing wrong with that hardware. It will work fine.

15

If you get the tft35, try to get the tft35 v3 e3. That is the one Ryan sells and we will be trying to keep that firmware working.

16

Awesome thanks Jeff,
I see that there’s a skr v1.4, or is the rambo better than that one? Or the skr pro you mentioned?

What are the recommended drivers if I was to purchase the parts separately?

17

-435645740-1104839246
-435645740-1104839246960×960 299 KB

Is that this one ?

And abit off topic but im looking into getting a 3d printer aswell so I can print my own LR2.

Any advice on printers, I’ve seen abit about the Ender-3 ?

18

I won’t advise you on a printer. I only have weird ones.

Ryan sells the skr pro 1.2, tmc2209s, and that screen tft35 v3e3 with the knob. You can buy from him and it comes preflashed with the software and helps pay for his design time and firmware testing time.

I would assume the skr 1.4 would be a one line change from the skr 1.3 build. The names and version numbers drive me nuts on these things. We have a skr 1.3 not pro config, but Ryan won’t be testing that particular setup.

19

Alright, I’ll look around some more for printer advice.

Yes I saw Ryan’s pack with the 1.2 pro, I was just trying to find out what the advantage would be to get tmc5160 drivers.

Just hope it isn’t too hard to setup as I want auto squaring setup and being my first mpcnc build

20

5160s are similar to 2209s. The 5160s use spi and the 2209s use uart. It won’t be any different once the machine is running. Uart is a little easier to wire in a hand wired situation. You won’t notice a difference.

21

Sounds like ill be getting Ryan’s 1.2 pro pack then

2 Likes