Hey guys, first post for me here.
I’ve been interested in this project for a couple months now. For Christmas I got the DW660 for my spindle so now I pretty much have to build it! I just priced out all the parts individually (cost is important to me) and it doesn’t seem worth it, I’ll probably end up buying the kit on this site.
I primarily wish to use this machine for cutting carbon fiber/garolite/aluminum plates for use in simracing to build custom steering wheels(this kind of stuff http://simsteering.com/uploads/3/2/2/5/3225045/1580428_orig.jpg) though I’m sure it will be used for other things as well.
I will probably start small (2’x2’x6" ish is what I was thinking) since I think rigidity and speed will be more important than volume. Would it be worth going smaller than this? For my intended applications I could probably go down to just a few inches of Z and 12" square if it were really worth it. As I understand the Z-axis is by far the weak link regarding rigidity, maybe it is worth keeping the X and Y large but going small on Z? It makes sense to me that you can get close to equal results using a long Z axis but running really close to the gantry vs just designing a shorter Z axis.
It seems very easy to scale up or down, just a matter of changing conduit/belt lengths?
Next week I will start making parts, just waiting for a couple spools of filament to get going. Parts will be done on my FolgerTech 2020 i3 which is churning out pretty nice parts now, a couple months into ownership. I have an E3D Volcano/eruption pack so I hope to put that to good use speeding up the print times. I was thinking about using the .8mm nozzle and .4mm layers, does that seem reasonable? Seems like a decent compromise between speed/strength and resolution. Is there any parts that I will struggle to make with such large nozzles? Seems like all the features on something like this will be big enough for my nozzles.
Thanks for all the work done on this project, it is so cool! Amazing that I can have a bench with a 3D printer and CNC router on it for ~$700! Technologically this is an amazing era for makers.