Greetings everyone. I recently discovered the LowRider v4 and wanted to get some feedback about how well it might work for my use case.
Background: I’ve been a hobby woodworker for over 15 years, and I have a workshop at home with a decent collection of tools. I’m also mechanically inclined and love to make/build/fix things. I’m computer savvy, but not a programmer or coder, and I don’t have a 3D printer.
I was an early backer of the Maslow 4 Kickstarter project, and I have had the machine for about two years now. Although I have successfully completed a number of small projects with my Maslow, I’ve spent more time adjusting, calibrating, and fixing the machine than I have cutting with with it. The Maslow 4 was my introduction to CNC woodworking, and it has been a steep learning curve for many reasons- including teaching myself CAD (OnShape) and CAM (Carbide Create).
I’m not here to bash the Maslow 4- I have tremendous respect for Bar and the machines that he has created. Many Maslow users continue to create impressive things with the M4, but I am convinced now that it is not the best tool for my current needs. Specifically, in the past couple of years I have gotten into building large PA speaker systems, and in my opinion the M4 does not have the accuracy needed for building speaker cabinets.
So…I’m looking for my next CNC machine, and that’s when I discovered the LowRider v4. Woodworking and speaker building are only hobbies, I’m not looking to make this into a business and I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a commercial CNC machine. The LowRider fits my budget (<$1500) and appears to do everything I need it to do, but I wanted to ask for a reality check from current LowRider users.
I need a machine that can cut full sheets of 3/4” (19mm) plywood. The cabinets I’m building have sides with rabbets (rebates for my friends in the UK), dados and sometimes chamfers. I’m looking for +/- 1mm (or better) of accuracy over a full 8-foot sheet of ply. I’m not doing production work so the machine doesn’t need to be fast, but faster than the Maslow’s sub-1000mm/min feedrate at 6mm depth with 1/4” mill. Are these numbers achievable with the LRv4?
I am grateful for any LowRider users who can provide some feedback, and look forward to being part of this community of makers! Cheers
I have the LR3, although I’ve modified it, so it’s probably pretty comparable to the LR4 for stiffness.
I’m currently cutting full sheet, 3/4” plywood with a DOC of 6.5mm and a feed rate of 3000 mm/min. I’m getting accuracy of <0.5mm on those cuts that I’ve measured (92.5mm holes). This is using a 2 flute 1/4” end mill. A single flute mill would be preferred, but I haven’t found one yet that has a cutting length that allows for a single finishing pass in 3/4” plywood.
Greetings, and welcome to the V1 community forums!
We won’t bash on Maslow here, there are many users doing great work with it. Not every machine suits every purpose.
LowRider 4 can do this.
It’s up to the builder to build a good machine, but those are reasonable tolerances. LR should be able to do this. You’ll need to think about the cutter radius and whether you want to have dogbones or a bit of post-cut finishing if you want super tight fit joints.
That’s 16mm/sec. Well within the capabilities of an LR4.
Neither of my LR4 machines are full sheet size, but we have plenty of community members who build that size, and even a few that are doing real production work at that size.
If you already have the Maslow cutting full sheet, you can even use that machine to help bootstrap your LR4. You can cut strut plates, and even table parts with it if you so choose.
What type of 3D printer do you have, and how experienced are you with it producting dimensionally accurate functional parts?
I have a machine with a full span and have already run it with 3500mm/min at 6mm DOC in plywood. It isn’t pretty, but it works. It also lost steps in between, but it was the Beta and I was trying to get to know the limits (don’t be confused by the very slow tabs, that’s between me and Estlcam… :P):
P.S.: If you don’t have a printer: I am the official vendor of printed parts for the EU (though I am not sure about the UK acutally with taxes etc.).
I also have a full sheet machine (able to cut a little beyond a full sheet of MDF. I run 40mm/s standard speed at 4mm doc with an 1/8” bit and 6mm DOC with 1/4”. I could go faster but that has been a real smooth speed with no hiccups for a long while now. In the last 2 days I have put 6 full sheets through the machine with no issues.
Don’t have one yet, so I will be ordering the printed parts.
Getting a 3D printer is on my wish list, but I want to focus on my CAD/CAM skills and get my wood milling dialed in before I jump into the world of 3D printing.
Greetings from Bellingham, Washington State (USA)!
Thanks for the reply…Love the cargo bike project! Not related to my CNC projects- but a few years back I converted a Gazelle Cabby cargo bike to electric. Fun project, and learned a lot about batteries, motors…etc. Cheers
Thank you for sharing this information. 40mm/s would be a significant improvement over my current feedrate. I’m starting to think that the LRv4 might be the most logical next step in my CNC journey.
So correct me if I am wrong, the maslow is upright or maybe angled, our platform does not really do good that way. It does best if flat, so if you have the space for it the lr4 is AWESOME!!! I do not have that room or I would have it so I could lay a piece down. Mine is close to 3 x 3.
Howdy fellow Cascadian! Good to know that there is an experienced LR user in my area, perhaps we can get together for a beverage once I get my machine up and running.
The Maslow 4 can operate both “vertical” (almost) or horizontal…I have always used mine flat on the shop floor. I will use the same space occupied by the Maslow to build the LR, but up on a table. The LR would actually have a smaller footprint because the Maslow 4 belts extend significantly further than the spoil board.
I’m just south-west of you in Canada (what a rare/odd thing to be able to say)
Also building a LR4, went the printed route. A modern 3d-printer makes the process very easy. I bought a Bambu P1S and printed out everything over the course of a week (14 plates). Everything came out perfectly.
Totally up to you of course, but I just wanted to reassure you that you don’t need much experience at all to go the 3d printing path, and it’s a great way to justify the cost of what I’m sure will become a staple tool in your shop.
Thanks for the replay, and the helpful information. We occasionally visit the island for mountain biking and camping, and hope to make it back out there this fall. Cheers!
I build my lr4 end of last year complete newbie to cnc, my table has cut area of 1260 x 3000, added the extra length so i could surface any slabs also when needed,
I found building the lr4 fairly easy , even while dealing with major concussion issues , its been really well designed
recently did a job cutting 3m sheets of 10mm pvc signboard in to strips 190mm wide for big door frames , they cut well within the 1mm tolerance at 3m , only cutting at 2800mm/min due to my crappy router
It’s 11 ply “Birch” (made in China), although I also did some test cuts in some 6 ply factory select grade ply.
Everybody’s build is a little different, so just because one person can get results at a certain speed, doesn’t mean that another person on a different machine can achieve those same results.
My LR3 is heavily modified, with extra thick (0.120”) stainless steel rails, 21mm wide strut braces (6mm wider than stock), additional strut braces, 6mm aluminum XZ plate, 9mm aluminum YZ plate, 5mm 2 ply aluminum struts (2 x 2.5mm), along with a bunch of other mods.
I have also bumped up my stepper amps from 900 to 1050 (SKR Pro) to help prevent skipped steps (the motor temps seem to stay in the 40-45 C range).
Even with all that, 3000 mm/min (50 mm/s) is pushing the upper limits of my machine, at least for this type of cut (I can get much faster in 1/8” MDF, and did my surfacing at 6000 mm/min (100 mm/s) with a very thin DOC of 0.2mm).
With the plywood (1/4” 2 flute w/ 6.5mm DOC), I had to bump up the router speed to level 5 of 6, otherwise the router would stall (causing skipped steps as well). Even then, the router and the machine seemed to be struggling in a few spots, while in other spots it seemed to hum right along.
