The 'Black and Blue' LR3 build

My apologies to all as I recently ordered some gear, then had a thought that I should have asked others if they needed anything.
For reference, my order was US$107.50, $40.60 being freight, and exchange rate made this Au$168.

So, ouch, but I bit the bullet and brought my wire extenders, touch pad, micro switches, and some router bits that Ryan recommended.
I decided that I shouldn’t mind as I got some good deals, and paid over the odds for others, as well as wasted plenty of filament with printer issues, and having to mod my printer.
I should hopefully have my bench ready for when parts arrive from Ryan.

3 Likes

Cant wait to see some progress, keep it up!

1 Like

No need to apologise!

I am just waiting for things to go out of stock so I can have an excuse for further delays! :rofl:

Hey guys

Sorry for the absence- been getting raked over the coals recently with illness and injury. In the past 2 months I’ve had :

Covid
Strep throat
Lingering Covid cough (2 months now)
Back injury- 4 herniated disks bedridden 4 weeks
Constant migraines, 2-3 a week each lasting 12-18 hours

Last week was my first week healthy enough to get some stuff done, other than the cough, and I have a spine surgery consult today.

Looking forward to catching up on the threads I’ve missed

2 Likes

Had a request to mill some elongated holes, 1/8” in 1/4” acrylic for an aquarium project.

Any starting points to look at for milling acrylic on the LR3?

Thanks

1 Like

Hey Neil, found this topic helpful for my first acrylic cuts First Acrylic cut - Advice please, am using down cut single flute bit, trochoidal when holes/pockets/contour are wide enough. Down cut isn’t pulling through material as quickly as upcut, discovered my core needed tightening too, so I slow down Z mm/s a bit and over cut hole depth more than usual. Hope that helps, am still new to cutting acrylic, but happy with how cuts are turning out (getting chips not molten plastic around the bit) for my enclosures and MP3DP V4, have only cut 1/8" thick, so no experience with 1/4" thick material.

5 Likes

Thanks for the tips!

Appreciate it

2 Likes

@Neilp any chance you have some plans (or any information) on how you built the folding table? I’ve scanned through this thread and have picked up some bits here and there, but curious if you have some compiled details/plans or something.

Sorry if this is in the thread and I missed it.

1 Like

It’s good you summoned him, he’s been missing for too long. :frowning:

3 Likes

Hi there

Sorry for lack of response- I just got back from vacation. Been dealing with some major health issues post-Covid, and it’s summer vacation, so kids are home. Not much time for hobbies right now.

Plans- kinda did it as I went along. Nothing written down, unfortunately.

But If there are specific questions you have, I can answer them here.

The base is basically 2x6 rectangle box with wheels, the uprights are laminated 2x6, and the hinge is basically just a length of 1” metal gas pipe. I had it all laying around.

The top is a made out of 3/4” plywood, 3” strips (again, repurposed from a different project) skinned on bottom with hardiboard, and on top worh 1/2” plywood (given to me by uncle). On top of that is a 3/4” mdf spoilboard

The LR3 actually runs on 3/4” mdf strips, so that the spoilboard is flush, so as not to lose any Z depth

Hope that makes sense. Again- specific questions are much easier to address

Thanks for asking, and hope you enjoyed the thread!

3 Likes

Thank you, I’ll be taking a stab at building something similar soon (next week or so hopefully).

1 Like

And back again. I have an official long Covid diagnosis, so yeah, that fuxking sucks.

Have been building out the shop, getting things going, but the LR3 has been quiet for a while. That changes this week- doing some foam 2.5D tests in anticipation of carving some Halloween props.

Also got 3 custom business signs on the books that I’ll be carving over the next few week- nothing nuts, just some 60degree vbit work.

Looking forward to catching up on the threads, exciting to see so many new builds!

4 Likes

Hehehehehehhehee

That was so fun!

3”x3”, 1” thick Pink foam, 1/4” rough, 1mm ballnose finish. Both 60mm/s (could definitely go faster). Need some work on the safe Z etc.

Final depth was 0.85”.

Next one is going to be 12x12, with a 1.85” final depth (if my math is correct- which it probably isn’t). Need a couple new bits for that though


Happy Spooktember!!

8 Likes

4 Likes

Ok

Running up three flights of stairs from basement to my office just so I can change a 5 to a 10 in a text file is becoming old.

I run the lr3 using the wifi chip (I think it was the third or fourth to do so) and a fire hd7 tablet, and a little BT keyboard. Happy with it, no need to change

My office computer is a 8 year old, i7 based win 10 machine I built myself. Runs carveco, lightburn, Firefox and import into my 3d printer- also downstairs- via octoprint. Runs a little call of duty occasionally too. Have all my ‘business’ and design files and CAD etc

Not looking to move that

Startled looking at a refurb laptop, around the $150 mark, and saw a bunch of $130 i5 8gb mini PC with 20” LCDs. At that price, for a full key or and big screen, I think I might grab one and keep it in a dust proof pull out/ pull down cabinet, and use it only when stuff is off. I keep my YouTube filming gear (canon T4i and a tablet field monitor, running Magic Lantern, along with my lenses etc) in a drawer in a rolling cabinet I built and it doesn’t get dusty in there with the drawer closed.

This would be for running a second instance of carveco so I could adjust models quicker, and for doing text edits in gcode whm I want to change a few things. I still haven’t fully cracked the code in regards to file naming when using the sd card, I still very occasionally have to run to the office because a file won’t run. So that’ll help too. It’ll also give me a place to watch YouTube while I’m doing menial stuff

Anyone got any shop computer pics to share?

Thanks!

3 Likes

I have an HP Elitedesk G5 mini laying if you want one! As long as you pay for shipping, it’s yours. Got a bunch from work, cannot sell them, so I have to give them away :nerd_face:

1 Like

Whaaaaaaaattttt!

Specs? I just googled and they are $$$. You can’t just give it away. I’ll need to see if I have a screen available, but that would be amaze-balls

2 Likes

Well - they were swapping them out with a newer model. The three year plan was out, and they’re changing suppliers - so the obsolete ones are just laying in a huge storage space. A terrible policy if you ask me!! I asked the IT-guys if I could have some, and they gave me a big pile. I can’t sell them, that would be a bad handling of their trust. I’ve explained that I’ll use them for homelab and tinkering projects, a thought that they enjoyed :smiley:

They are 9th gen i5 CPU and 16GB ram. No disks or power supply. Seriously, I’d love to make your day a little brighter, thinking of all the hassle you’ve been through over the last years!

3 Likes

I am glad to have you back. I made some inlay projects while you were gone, so you’d have a little challenge upon your return. :smiley:

2 Likes

Challenge accepted. I’ll crank one out in the next couple weeks. Got one in mind. Been meaning to do it but never get round to it

Do you do end grain? I think I remember some of yours being face/edge grain, which is nuts.

You use carveco,right? If I remember correctly?