Sweet!
I don’t know how I missed this, but there are some useful details here:
https://www.v1engineering.com/lowrider-cnc/
I made a sketch of the torsion box I’m going to make, I sketched it out assuming 12" extra on each length, so it will be a 9’x5’ table, @vicious1, is that close enough? I don’t want to be an inch short (I’m 5’11", so I should be used to it by now).
My sketch shows each table exactly 3’, but I might make one almost 4 and one just over 2, so that I can have it set up to cut more than 2’ with just the first table.
You can probably see that I have a double wide beam in the middle at one spot, that’s because I’m probably going to use more than one sheet to cover it, or else that will use/waste a lot of material. Plus, the smaller pieces are just easier to manage. The 2x wide beam gives me more surface to staple to.
You can also probably see the big holes in the bottom, and you probably can’t see where I made holes for the bolts, and the dowels. My plan to get two tables to “mate” is to but those frame pieces together (with screws, or hot glue) and drill bolt holes and dowel holes through both pieces at once. Then I will glue dowels into one piece, which should help me get the two pieces basically aligned, then I will attach bolts, with my hands/tools going through the big holes in the bottom to get the bolts tightened. I will do this while clamping something on the edge to make sure the top/bottom left/right aligned while I’m doing this. That should let me put it together, and store it in about a half hour, I hope. Hopefully more like 5 minutes, but a half hour is tolerable.
I know there are also some “ears” that hold the belt, or something. I’m hoping I can use the same bolt/dowel system to also attach those, so I can make them attach to just the 4’ table, or the whole 9’ table.
Overall, I could do this with some decent 1by material, but I’m going to use some of this 3/4" plywood I have, and just rip all the fame pieces to 3" wide on the table saw. Those should be super straight, and stiff. I also have a solid core door workbench in my shed, that I can use to assemble, so that hopefully each surface will be perfectly flat. With 2x 1/4" skins, that should put me close to 3.5", which should then let me attach a 1/2" spoil board. I haven’t figure out what to do for clamps yet, which is really the big flaw so far, but maybe the spoil board can be 1/2" plywood, and I can just clamp with screws, or attach some claps with screws. I could also try some kind of bolt system, similar to a T-track, but I doubt the 1/4" skin will have much pressure before it deflects…
Don’t build it yet. I’ll try and get up a bed calculator up this evening.
No rush, I still haven’t bought the tubes, and I just ordered the collet yesterday. I can handle just some numbers if the calculator is too much of a pain.
I am going to rip a bunch of 3" strips, but I’ll wait to cut them down. I need a good chunk of daytime to rip them, but I can do the crosscuts, drilling, and assembly at night.
I ripped enough frame pieces for at least the first big table. I had to rough cut a 4’x8’ sheet along the length with a circlar saw, and I cut them to ~9.5", that would give me 3x3" pieces, which I ripped on the table saw. One of them ended up curving, but it’s in the last 20" or so, and I probably just wasn’t holding it to the fence tight enough or something, but it’s no big deal, because I can definitely get around 60" from each board. I have another piece of scrap in the pile that is about 48x48, and I might use that for the 36" parts instead, and just use these 6 pieces for the wide parts. I haven’t decided yet.
Not yet, I have the lengths I used in the in the other thread.
I’m getting there. A new calculator soon.
.065″ is better for this. the 2 long tubes and 4 short ones for the z.
2×63″ish 4×11.5″ish
Thanks, I saw those the other day, I meant the calculator for the size of the bed, or some dimensions to use. I hope to get to assembling the first “box” over the weekend.
Thanks for posting that BOM. That will help me keep my head on straight.
I ran out (or nearly out) of black, so I switched to white, still PLA. I haven’t tested PLA with my MP3DP yet.
I have a bunch of parts that I haven’t photographed. They are looking pretty good, I’m basically going down the line, and I’m at the YMountLR, so about a year behind Barry :). Maybe if I actually printed stuff, instead of just breaking/fixing my printer over and over…
I cut a 4’x4’ sheet of 3/4" down to 3" strips. I wanted to get all the frame parts for the table cut before I changed my table saw’s fence. So now I have enough frame material to make the whole thing.
Are you planning on selling some of the LowRider parts before the beta testing is done? I think everything but the wheels, wheel spacers, and the GT16 idlers aren’t in your store, or in your amazon affiliate links.
My goal today was to get a few more exploded pics up and do the calculator, but Now I’m emailing all my vendors to see if I can save money (lower the prices) by tripling my usual order.
I think everything is in the store except the bolts and steppers, what have I forgotten to put up? The mpcnc wiring harness works except the single motor wire is about 1’ too short, if you route it along the vacuum hose Like I did. The new harness’ were supposed to ship before the China vacation but I guess it didn’t happen.
Oh, hah. I’m an idiot. I see them in the store.
Ordered.
I just realized I named this thread “Jeffeb3’3” instead of “Jeffeb3’s”… I need a vacation.
Anyone want to make some vicious s’mores?
@Jeff
You need to use these for Vicious s’mores!
Those look great! Where is the .STL?
Might taste funny though…
Grumble Grumble…
I printed all 4 of the ZMountLR pieces at once, and of course, halfway through, something fell off of the shelf above it, and made a skip in the y steps…
Then I printed just 2 today, and I ran out of white PLA filament…
So I’m basically out of PLA. (side note, the hatchbox on amazon is all messed up, like 2 month wait for normal colors, and $50 for some other colors, maybe chinese new year? I bought some more PLA from makergeeks, but it won’t be here soon).
So, I’m going to try PETG in my MP3DP. Shouldn’t be a big issue, but I have some more tuning to do, and I’m low on time, so this is going to be a bit more of a delay. I just hope this ZMountLR doesn’t become the cursed part for me 
