Hello, my name is Marcelo, I’m from Brazil and I decided to start here my construction diary. First of all I would like to congratulate Ryan on the project, which is incredible!!! The LowRider 2 will fulfill my dream of having a CNC that cuts a whole sheet of material. In Brazil, a machine with this capacity, ready for use costs something around $ 5,000. Impossible for me right now.
I will briefly summarize what I intend to do with the machine. I work making kayaks and stand up paddles. The sheet of plywood that I use are 4mm thick (0.15 ") with a dimension of 2500mm by 1600mm (8.2’ x 5.24’). I have space available and I will make a machine of this size on the X axis, even though I have read a lot about the advantages of making it smaller. I am considering that in the worst case I reduce the size of it and move on!!
Unfortunately the freight to Brazil is prohibitive and I will not be able to buy Ryan’s parts so I started to make purchases of materials from china yesterday. I had at home an Arduino Mega 2560 board that was iddle, so i put the firmware in! So I already have the “brain” of my LR
This morning I bought a pair of used roller skates for $ 8 that has 64mm wheels.
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I have read numerous posts that have answered many of my questions but I still have some that I will list:
1 - I have available in my city 1" SS tubes with thickness of .059" and .078 ". Should I invest in the thicker one to improve machine stiffness?
2 - I am thinking of using the RAMPS 1.6 card with the DRV8825 drivers. Will I have to make any modifications to the firmware?
3 - How many drivers will be needed? I’m asking becouse from what I understood the Z-axis and Y-axis stepper motors are connected together serial in the same driver. It’s that correct?
You’ll need at least 3 drivers. One for both z, one for both y, and one for x. Either of those tube thicknesses should be alright. Not sure about the steppers though. Someone else will probably chime in on them.
Finally some news! The parts I ordered had arrived. I ended up doing it in ABS. It was the most economical way I found. I’ve never had contact with anything 3d printed before, and I confess i’m impressed by the quality and strength of the pieces. Not to mention the HUGE pleasure that was to assemble it. I knew all those years playing with lego were not in vain!!! Once again, Ryan, thank you so much for the project !! I think by the end of next week i’ll be with the rest of the pieces. And I’ll start building the table next week, too. :):)
So if i don’t have a 3d printer, i can’t print the parts?
I read about the shrinkage of ABS. So i tested the fitting with a 1" aluminum tube i have here, so far so good. Or do you mean that the ABS will continue to shrink over time? D:
You could buy them from Ryan. This is how he pays for the forums and the time he spends on the design.
You could also find a local library or makerspace with a printer. It’s either diy or buy from Ryan. Ryan made these files and he grants us the rights to print them ourselves, but not the rights to anyone who makes money to print them. There are links to the license at the bottom here and at the thingiverse page.
I agree 100% with you. But things are not so simple. Let’s do the math:
$ 67 for the pieces
$ 71.95 for transportation
Over 70% of the total value in import taxes totaling $ 236.21.
With all due respect, but in my place would you pay that amount?
Unfortunately, there are no libraries or makerspace with 3d printers available to the public worldwide. And even if they existed I doubt they will not charge for the service.
I hope I have been able to show how my hands were tied
I only have as a viable option the direct donation
Today I finished the Y plates. Since I do not have access to anyone with a CNC to cut for me I ended up doing by hand with a drill, a belt sander, lots of sandpaper and elbow grease! I am very satisfied with the result
Ao meu ver é o melhor custo benefício de todas, tanto que decidi adquirir uma impressora 3d especificamente para fazer as peças.
Vou montar com motores de passo Sonceboz suiços de 5,5kgf/cm nos eixos duplos e no simples um de 8kgf/cm Nema 23 adapatados as peças que são especificas para Nema 17.
Bah que máximo!! Vai ser muito interessante ver o resultado do teu projeto… Esses motores parecem bem mais robustos. Tu vai postar aqui no forum mesmo? Pura curiosidade. O que pretendes cortar?
Cara… a minha ideia é montar multi-task, vai funcionar como router com um spindle de 500w (posteriormente vou por um maior refrigerado a água.) para corte de chapas leves tipo acrílico e ACM e madeiras compensadas como OSB e virola.
Futuramente vou implementar um corte plasma pra chapas pesadas e um laser pequeno pra gravação.(vou analizar ainda se vale a pena por nela ou montar uma MPCNC mais leve dedicada para o laser)
Vou postar aqui no fórum o andamento (in english) pra não deixar o pessoal boiando no nosso dialeto…kkk.
I strobgly suggesr you try it with the nema 17s. They really are better for this machine. The nema 17s that are coming out these days have a ton of torque and they are much lighter than the 23s. If you do your cam right, you won’t be using nearly the full torque available of the nema 17s.
I agree whit you at all, but this motors i bought for a fraction of the price, they was disassembled from industrial machines in Manaus, Amazonas.
This babes travelled the entire country north to south (2.800 miles)and i have a special feeling for them…kkk.
They not so heavy for the torque they have… La précision suisse, bien sûr.
How is your build going? I was considering building a LowRider 2 for the sole purpose of stitch & glue style Kayaks. I was hoping someone already has experienced with it and can comment on the long fluid lines involved in cutting the hull panels with decent accuracy.
so I started to make purchases of materials from china yesterday. I had at home an Arduino Mega 2560 board that was iddle, so i put the firmware in! So I already have the “brain” of my LR 
