I’m currently speccing up for a LR2 and have a CR10S ready to print the printed parts, however I have a bit of a dilemma with the flat plates, which I’m sure has very likely been asked before but I cant find a topic/answer anywhere.
Is anyone using aluminium or stainless steel for their flat plates? And if so, what thickness material was used?
I have a local company I use at work for various laser cutting applications, they are reasonable pricing-wise and I’m more inclined to opt for Alu/SS plates for rigidity sake. I’m also in the UK so shipping/availability of MDF versions is an issue.
If anyone has experience please share it would really help me out here.
I think we found out that half inch mdf is about the same stiffness as quarter inch aluminum. So minimum quarter inch aluminum. Steel would be alright for the Y parts, but might be too heavy for the router plate.
I don’t think the rigidity is a problem on these parts. Use metal if you like, but if you can find a wood solution, it will work great. These parts aren’t flexing at all.
I realised after I had posted that its pretty clear that the MDF thickness will have been calculated to not allow any flex, so I was being a bit daft there really. In reality I just like things done in metal (used to it at work I suppose).
I can get ali cut to 6mm, steels can be done thicker. I’ll see what comes back price-wise from the quote and report back, if I can get a decent batch deal I may open them up to supply the plates over here (UK/EU) for anyone wanting metal plates and struggling to find a solution.
Otherwise I’ll just cut the plates from MDF and try be as careful as possible to get them dimensionally correct.
NP. I just like to clarify these things to someone reading this doesn’t think, “I want rigid, I need metal!”. It will still happen, but this makes me feel better :).
Your first set only needs to be close enough to cut a second set.
Please email me before you pursue this, the parts are released under a international non-commercial license. I currently have a flat parts licensed distributor, if you are interested in doing it on the side of the globe email me so we can work something out.
No problem Ryan, I had noticed that Dan’s parts were sold under license so naturally we would need a conversation about this between us (and maybe Dan too - I don’t want to be stepping on anyone’s toes). This is a fantastic project and as far as I can see the only price ‘barriers’ left are carriage and import duties to builders in the UK/EU.
I’ll be in touch should anything look to potentially materialise.