After I finished my MPCNC Primo this past winter and learning some CAM and milling basics, I decided to put it to good use and start making parts for a Lowrider 3. It’s going to be full sheet capable with a cutting area of 49x97”. I started with hard stuff and after many busted cheapo end mills and tons of trial and error I ended up with 2 very nice XZ plates milled out of aluminum diamond plate. (Some diamonds needed to be removed afterward for proper assembly.) Next I cut out my YZ plates from .750 MDF/plywood combination material:
Then I decided to attempt the strut plates even though they were going to be longer than my Primo’s work area. Using dowels and locator holes in my wasteboard I was able to cut them out of .250 lauan. It took breaking the file into 3 sections and relocating 2 times after the initial cut, but they came out at 1423mm while the file was from the ‘Calculator’ was 1424mm.
Then I decided to start building a parametric torsion box table (Doug Joseph’s version) doing the same relocation method. I got 4 of the 7 x-ribs completed today with similarly encouraging results:
The XZ and YZ plates and the struts were all cut on my 28"x28" MPCNC Primo.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to press pause on the project for a bit until I I finish a few house projects. I’ll still be checking in a couple times a week to see what you all are building.
Is it just me or does it seem like the Primo is a more rigid design, albeit with lower size limitations? Not that it’ll make a difference especially after seeing some your videos of the LR3 plowing through .250 aluminum. Jonathon Jones thread on the building of his current V5 video comes to mind!
I think both machines have different strengths, but both are generally very capable.
There are some things that I find easier to do on the Primo, but I find myself using the LR3 more and more for general purpose. I believe the fully captured rails on the primo make it feel more stable, but I dont know that it makes a difference with a properly loaded cutting tool.
Both machines skip steps when I do something I shouldn’t.
I do think the LR3 is more prone to small amounts of shifting. I bought an SBR captured rail that I want to change the non-captured rail out for, but it isn’t worth a lot of extra hassle to do just yet.
I also somehow feel the Primo is more stable at higher loads and you guys know I like to push it. Maybe I also didn’t care too much about it when on the Primo a few years back since my woodworking and expectations got better/more with time. So maybe it’s a look back that is to be taken with a jar of salt (not just a grain). Would be interesting to let the Primo actually mill wood again.
