Yes it does look great I must admit. Would you cut it with the LR2 do you think, or just have it laser cut at enormous expense?
I have a vague plan: am going to go with MDF for the xy plates for now, because I need the practice making things with the LR2 and I’m happy to explore some boundaries, but that doesn’t mean that it will be that way by the time it’s finished. 
Well i myself would have to cut it with the mpcnc. As i have yet to make a lr model. Someone here mad alot of it with acrylic, said they get it free from work.
Here is one i found: Laser Cut Steel LR3 Build - #36 by jjwharris
Free from work is exactly the best price too!
I was lucky enough to have a friend who laser cut the XY Plates then I cut the struts with the LR3, it was a bit touch and go cutting the plates, I’ve got a leaky garage, cold damp winters and hot dry summers, so that was my main reason to go acrylic over MDF…I’m glad I did tbh.
We have hot wet everything - so MDF needs to be well sealed. I’d like to play with acrylic, but perhaps not quite yet.
Yeah, 39° in the room where my printer is today - LR3 is officially on hold till we get a long enough stretch of weather cool enough to print PLA! (I like to keep the printer temps below 30 for that.) But it’s OK, I have a backlog of PETG printing to do for the camper (yep that same rush job which got in the way of the LR2 - it’s finish it now or bust. See you in a couple of weeks!
My Friday update is a bit late, which is symptomatic of my life at the moment! Suffice to say I’ve been having a little bit of fun with the LR2- if it wasn’t so hot and sticky I probably would have cut the flat parts for the LR3, but MDF dust and sweat saturated tee shirts are one of my least favourite mixers. (Photo taken while leaning against the poor thing).
None the less, the van (yes that very same one that got in the way of the LR2) is now in an advanced state of disassembly, the shed in an advanced state of mess everywhere, the tv cabinets and kiddy chairs on the back burner once again. Perhaps next week… 
And I’m posting this for the benefit of all of those out there who have other things to do, who see all these “instant, trouble free builds” and get discouraged! Don’t be discouraged take your time and enjoy the mess!!!
Ohhh my favorite pictures ever! I love to see the shop.
It’s Friday already, and in life, not every hobby gets to be attended to every week.
This week, in unrelated stuff - work on the van progressed, we ‘had’ because we haven’t had time to celebrate it yet, a VERY big wedding anniversary and I did muck around a bit more with Kiri:Moto and the LR2 and remain very impressed with both.
Since our next anniversary is one of those designated with a particular precious metal, I did suggest that I should find some Gold filament and print the LR3 out of that as a gift to us both. The fact that suggestion was met with the merest hint of rolled eyes is probably an indicator of how she’s stuck out the last 49 years!
Anyway, Kiri does contours easily - waiting to clear the bench to take a better pic before adding to the “basics” web page.
I often have to cleverly frame the shot to avoid showing all my mess. Sometimes it shows.
Well @DougJoseph I guess that’s why “proper” youtube “stars” have studios, and their mess stays behind!
It’s another week and my shed is now under cover while I spray contact adhesive in and around the van the interior of which is starting to look like a reverse fur ball! 
LR3 progress is happening slowly though - @AJG Anthony has very kindly been in touch and has sourced a local manufacturer of aluminium parts. By “local” I mean “local” to him, which is a 9,000 km round trip if I want to pick them up in person! That should spur me on, but it might actually slow me down a bit as I have a few little things in mind for the LR2 before it falls to pieces.
Another week and things should be back on track. (Three or four till the plates arrive and by then I might have started printing too.)
On an entirely different note - the Rambo board from it starred in an art photo this week - I’ve called it “life on the grid”.
I actually built myself a studio, but I never seem to use it. I always just record wherever the work is actually happening! 
Cool bit of photo work there!
That is slick!
That really messes with my head. Really cool.
Well it’s been a couple of weeks since the last update.
25 days on, the van is still parked in the same place, but I’ve only got a couple of days of detail work till that’s out of the way. It’s been a back to bare-bones job but it’s looking ready to roll (which of course will once again get in the way of my “proper” project!
More importantly Anthony’s @AJG package arrived today filled with little metal bits! Thanks- so much Anthony they really look fantastic - I guess that’s it - it’ll be an aluminium build!
Sadly for me the printer still has a week or two worth of backlog once the van is finished, but that’s OK my brain is not quite as good as it once was at keeping multiple projects bouncing along and it will take that long for me to decide whether to print it in silver or black!
Fun looking van!
Well the van’s almost done, but there’s still a lot of other stuff to do before I get serious.
None the less I’ve had a bit of a preliminary crack at polishing one of the bits - not too bad, but I need to go down a few more grits before I call it done I think. It does however point out one of the big issues with laser cut metal.
Let’s be clear, I knew what I was getting and @AJG Anthony was very clear about the tolerances before I bought - so please no mistaken thoughts about that! Having said that, I didn’t really think through the ramifications of the tolerances - I don’t think they are an issue, but would appreciate anyone with serious metalworking experience chipping in before I make things worse!
I intend to drill out all of the holes as close to size as I can - I expect that even clamped down in the drill press some will wander off where they are supposed to be. I think that if I drill those slightly oversize I won’t have a problem, and for reasons of (stupid vanity) I am planning to print a 6mm thick part backing to correctly locate any minor drift, and to make the gadget “look” a bit stronger!
here is the old machine reflected in the new machine. I haven’t cleaned up any of the holes yet - will wait till my plan to move forward is clear.
That’s a nice polish job.
I am a little surprised at those holes. I would have expected them to be … rounder?
That said, if you can drop the screws through those, I think they’d probably be fine, assuming that the machine that cut them is reasonably calibrated. The tolerances aside, I expect with stuff like this that you end up with generally larger holes than smaller, so additional drilling should be unnecessary
What I usually see with laser cuts is that the top surrface under the laser is usually quite accurate, but the bottom surface “flares” a little, and what is cut is a bit larger. Kind of like an exit wound is larger than the entrance, and for similar reasons. The material diffuses the cutter somewhat, making it a slight cone shape
Anyway, if you can get the screws through the holes, chances are that it’s good enough. If not, don’t enlarge the holes any more than you need to. If you start from whichever side has larger holes, it will probably push the drill pretty close to the intended center. A 3D printed hole guide can’t hurt though.
