Short story long, I have made the decision to rob parts from my Primo to build a LR3. I use the Primo but I primarily cut plywood and I sooooo wish I could just throw the whole sheet on there. I thought about keeping both but I dont really see a time when I would end up using it. From what I have seen on the LR3 it’ll do everything I want. I saw a lot people recommending making it a laser but we already have a boss laser. So the only other thing would be a dedicated aluminum machine. I’m not sure its really worth it. Haven’t done alum up to this point. May never. Doesn’t seem logical to save it. To small I think to be a useful plasma cutter. So yeah. Tried to sell it. Didn’t get any bites. So robbing it, it is.
Question 1: My main question after all my rambling is I believe my primo has 70oz steppers. Is that adequate? Not far off from the 84oz in the LR3 kit. And saves $60 or so.
Question 2: I am going to upgrade the board from the Rambo I currently have. I was going with the SKR, but now the jackpot is available. Is that the way to go? My understanding is that it would be controlled through a computer connected via wifi, bluetooth or USB? In other words a headless unit? Am I right on that?
I’m in the process of comparing the parts list as I haven’t found one done by anyone else unless I’m missing it.
Question 3: Speaking of missing something, anything else I should consider?
I used 60oz steppers for three years, first on the Primo, then on the LR, because I didn’t know I bought smaller ones… So yeah, it does work. I now bought 84oz steppers as well because knowing that mine were less strong than they should have been made me feel inadequate. I am going to put the old ones on the Primo again now (that I also never sold)… The kids need a plotter.
Yes. The Jackpot is more or less a dedicated CNC board unlike the SKR and a cheaper alternative.
I have a list in my build thread: Der Froschkönig - Lowrider 3 in Oldenburg, Germany There you can roughly find what I had to buy to upgrade. If it has a price in the second column it means I had to buy it, no price means taken from the Primo. The screws are bundled together though, I didn’t differentiate them by sort.
I was too. Had a few pretty good ones saved, but then got to thinking I could do it a bit cheaper by converting a Primo…
But then got to thinking maybe that’s one that’s better not to be cheap on lol… that strong laser bouncing off mirrors is a bit different than a diode pointing straight down
I’m not sure quite what i want to do yet. But at the present moment I think I will follow closer to this one than the one you posted. I think for me the more in depth helps a lot. Now I don’t plan to copy his electronics. I will just run a Jackpot from Ryan unless someone says thats just a bad idea. Cant see why it would be. When I get a little closer I will start a thread for it. For now I’m extremely early in the “thinking about it” phase LOL
I know peiple have put the CO2 lasers on a Primo, but it scares me a bit.
One of my friends has some Epilog lasers. (He cut my acrylic YZ plates for me.) They range from 40W to 120W. The 40W got switched on accidentally while it was being maintained, and there’s a nice deep scorch mark in one of the shop benches about a half inch diameter where the laser missed a mirror. It is fortunate that no person was in the path of the beam. That’s on a commercial product with safeties… On something home built, I shudder to think of the possibilities, particularly with something like a Primo which could go off square in multiple ways. Invisible beams of death at waist level? No thank you.
That said, I also have been looking at the possibility of a CO2 laser berween 60 and 100W, in order to be able to cut acrylic for myself.
A couple features I’ve decided on:
CoreXY motion, since a motor, driver or wiring to a motor failing will not drive it out of square. (Nor a grub screw lol.)
Fume extraction, and an acrylic cover for stray IR reflection protection.
Now a diode laser? Perfect for a Primo. I would probably also consider a Z probe (like a BLTouch) for auto focus, too. That feature on the commercial lasers is a very nice feature.
I for sure agree on the diode laser side. Its perfect for a primo which does raise a little pause because there are things you can do with diode laser that are quite the pain with a CO2 laser. Plus having lower wattage isnt all that bad sometimes. Hmmmmm
Having played a lot with the CO2 laser from boss I dont think I would want to put one on a primo. Certainly not 105w. Its a little scary sometimes.
So yeah, it does work. I now bought 84oz steppers as well because knowing that mine were less strong than they should have been made me feel inadequate. 
I am going to put the old ones on the Primo again now (that I also never sold)… The kids need a plotter. 
