Thanks for designing such a cool CNC! I finally have mine built and on a flip up table top in my garage. I have a couple of questions.
1.) How should I secure the LR3 to the table in the upright position? I am just not quite sure what the right way is to do this.
2.) I built the X longer than the Y and I am wondering how I can manufacture the struts. Can I put the strut gcode on an angle to cut them diagonally across a piece of hardboard? I built it with specific size constraints in mind and hopefully I dont have to take it all apart and cut them on the ground.
I have added pictures to show my build. Any advice would be immensely appreciated!
It’s perfectly fine to cut the struts on a diagonal. Hard board doesn’t really have a wood grain. Not like wood with grain in one direction so to speak.
I have not really looked at the prospect of a LowRider being supported at a 90° angle to normal. I don’t think that it was designed with that in mind. However, I think some people have come up with ways of adding temporary support that is in place when the table is flipped up and then removed when it comes down.
It’s mostly sitting there by gravity so I’m not sure it’s practical. It might just be easier to remove it from the table. You might be able to clamp the side to the Y rail but I’m not sure what to do about the other side.
Yes, you could cut them diagonally. You could also just cut the strips on a table saw and drill the holes for the screws. The triangle cutouts aren’t necessary. Alternatively, you could tile them so cut one half and move the sheet to cut the other half. That’s a bit tricky and requires some planning.
I’ve been thinking about making my build easily flippable.
Today I found a table design I like and will probably use.
For securing the LR3 while it’s flipped, I was thinking of making three changes:
I was going to add a mounting hole pattern on far sides of the X axis strut plates so I can attach an anchoring bracket.
I was going to figure out a way to place a similar hole pattern in the spoil board to recieve the anchoring bracket. This plus the X axis mounting hole pattern gives the two interfaces to secuure the X assembly to the table.
I was going to remix the Y rail mounts to make a some number that straddle both sides of the rail, again with corresponding mounting holes in the table.
I’d install all of the above before going +90 or even 180 on a flip table.
(All of the above is just noodling; I haven’t yet finished my build.)
I cut mine on the diagonal. I built a temporary extension on the far X/Y of the table and cut the struts. You can see the setup in my built thread, towards the end (Feb '23 posting)
I have a tiltable table (using electric actuators). I simply remove the belts by pulling on the rear belt holders (the ones with the screw at the back), fold the belts up and tie them with an elastic band or twist tie, then lift the gantry off the table. Whole thing takes less than a minute, and putting it back on takes about the same.
I store the gantry on a shelf at the base of my table legs.
To me that adds so much complexity, and would require some real intrusive changes to the table. I think that just removing it is simpler, cleaner, less likely to have things go wrong, etc.
But I’m sure there is a way., and I would be pleased to see someone figure it out!
Thank you!! I was worried about that and I get analysis paralysis a lot! This table and the CNC took about 12 months of me analyzing and wanting to figure out the bugs before actually doing anything first! The CNC took like 4 hours to just build lol.
this seems like an elegant solution to that problem and I will probably have the space for that! I thought about using bungee cord to tie it down with force but was worried that I would bend the x gantry rails. Also thought about gagging the XY end plates somehow similarly through the Z rail hole.
If you do go the route of removing the gantry each time, just take extra caution that you don’t snag the end stop levers when handling and moving it (especially the Y end stops). They are very delicate, and can get pulled off pretty easy (ask me how I know…). But it is possible to re-install the levers if they do pull off (and if you can find where they landed).
