I live in uganda, east africa, am interested in acquring lowrider cnc for making wooden products and signs, i dont have any knowledge of 3D printer but i own a chinese cnc machine 3040.
i have read from lowrider forums that to use the lowrider, i have to be with a 3D printer parts,
kindly advise if i can purchase the entire system including the parts, i need the full list of parts i need and their price, such that i can pay for them
Lastly, am grateful to Ryan and team for the technology that will make cnc affordable to us.
Robert - almost all the parts can be bought from Ryan. If you look at the Lowrider CNC/ Lowrider Parts in the drop down on the top right of the page it lists everything you need. Ryan also sells a Lowrider Kit which comes with pretty much all the parts you need in it (that’s how I bought mine). You can buy the 3D Printed parts from Ryan as well. The only thing you need to make yourself is the “flat parts” (the wood parts, which you can either use a CNC router to cut out or just make paper templates and cut them by hand, which is what I did). You will also need to get the X Axis and Z Axis tubes locally - usually from a metal supply shop. Stainless steel is best as it won’t corrode.
It’s a great project and an awesome machine. I love using mine and can’t get over how accurate it is and how low the cost of it is (compaires to other CNC routers).
If you have any other questions - these forums are a great source of info with very helpful people on them.
Thank you so much for the elaborate explanation, am looking forward to having the lowrider cnc.
Thank you too Ryan for the support plus other forum members.
Can i confirm that the following are the list of items i need to purchase (as in images below);
LOWRIDER2 CNC PRINTED PARTS 25.4MM-1" WITH MINI AND LCD CASE @ USD80
LOWRIDER2 CNC FLAT PARTS 25.4MM OD @USD85(These I can also make)
LOWRIDER2 CNC BUNDLE MINI RAMBO @ USD326
STEEL TUBES I WILL PURCHASE FROM A LOCAL HARDWARE STORE, PLUS RAILS, ETC. THE WORK BENCH/TABLE AND SPOIL BOARD,
In my country we use telex transfer or western union, is it possible for me to get a formal proforma invoice for telex transfer or i pay using western union, with shipping via UPS or DHL
Thank you once again Ryan, Jeff and forum members.
The mount (that I’m aware of) works to mount on the MPCNC. It would need to be mounted on the Low Rider for it to work. The low rider can move it’s gantry around, it’s just a question of attaching the knife to the gantry so it will cut the vinyl.
As far as “support” I don’t think either are technically supported. I’m not sure exactly what is technically “supported”, but the forums are always here and there’s a lot of people who would help if you needed it.
The Lowrider Bundle with the MiniRambo is the best place to start. Get the LCD screen as well. Also need the printed parts. I think that’s all you need from Ryan.
In ordering the printed parts, make sure you get the correct ones for the size of the steel rails that you can locally. It looks like Ryan has the 25.4mm ones in stock but are also ones that are 25mm. The 0.4mm really does make a difference.
You will need to get the steel rails and router locally and then cut out the flat parts yourself.
Yes, it’s very important to start with what rails you have available locally. You really don’t want to order parts and then find out they will not fit.
Am visiting the hardware store for the technical specifications of steel rails and tubes that are available, I will return with details tomorrow.
I will purchase the router locally, plus its bits,
Yes, the Flat parts I will cut with my carpenter.
Jeff,
You mentioned “ The Lowrider Bundle with the MiniRambo is the best place to start. Get the LCD screen as well. Also need the printed parts. I think that’s all you need from Ryan.”
So what I technically need are the following;
Lowrider Bundle with the MiniRambo @ USD326
Printed Parts @USD80
LCD screen / Full graphic Full Graphic Smart Controller, Big @ USD14.99
Drag Knife / vinyl cutter and its mount (though not technically supported, am curious about it) @USD 9.9
Advise on the other items like ( I want to ensure I order all the items I need, plus possible spares incase of breakdown);
Emergency stop button
GT2 6mm Belt
.
As Jeffeb3 stated, and While Ryan may not be supporting the drag knife function, am just curious to try it out, and am thus interested to have it too as part of the package I want to purchase
Can I confirm its all I need, more advice is very much appreciated.
The GT2 6mm belt is for the MP3DP. The Lowrider uses the 10mm GT2 belt. Enough comes in the kit for a full sheet table (able to cut a full 4’x8’ sheet).
The calculator that is linked to form the Lowrider page will let you know how much tube you need to purchase based on how big of a cutting area you want. The calculator will also show you the overall dimensions of the table itself (which is large then the cutting area).
What you are listing seems right. The emergency stop button is nice to have, but I just have all my electronics plugged into a power switch and I use the power switch to shut everything down if I have too (I have an emergency stop button, just haven’t wired it in yet).
The only other thing I can think of is an SD card to put your gcode onto and then put that into the lcd. You can run the Lowrider off of a usb connection to a computer but that can sometimes be problematic as usb connections don’t have the “timing” or data throughput that we need. I was having some weird issues with using usb and once I started using the SD card those problems went away.
Sorry I can not do western union at this time, or anything other than USPS. Both offer me and you protection and insurance that I can not afford to not have.
I have been the hardware store, they confirmed they have 25mm tubes, so that is what I will be using.
As regards developing gcodes, i am used to cambam to create a gcode, of recent i downloaded and installed estlcam for generating gocodes, that is what I plan to use for cnc machining, as you have advised, i put on SD card, and transfer to machine via LCD, that is all i need.
As regards payment options, If telex transfer is not acceptable, I will try using my visa ATM card, if that fails, I will need to send money to someone in USA to purchase for me and ship to Uganda.
Am also interested to know if I can have a formal proforma invoice, or advise what I need to do to purchase online.
Regards,
As i make a final decision on which machine to purchase,
what is the difference or pros and cons between Mostly Printed CNC and the Lowrider, I have been looking through youtube videos, and am seeing MPCNC doing wonders on aluminium plates,
Does the Z axis for both MPCNC and Lowrider have the same travel? Kindly advise, if am interested to also do some aluminium milling, which machine should i go for?
Both can do Aluminum. The biggest difference, is size. The MPCNC is limited in size by the design and the use of light weight conduit for the structure. The LowRider has no real Y axis limit. The X axis is kinda limited to a usable 4 feet just by the materials (the stainless steel tubing - things start to flex too much on longer, unsupported lengths). The Z axis could be made taller by using longer T Screws but you really are limited by the length of the router bits as to what depth of cut you can achieve. As designed, the approximately 1 foot of Z travel is usually more then enough to cut sheets or planks of wood. Functionally, I think the depth of cut is limited to around 1" (maybe a little more) just by the shank of the router bits that go into a spindle router.
I think this is the drag knife you were looking for.
I’m not for sure what people use as a holder to mount it to the lowrider. I found the drag knife in the mpcnc shop category but I think the extra tool mount item is made specifically for the mpcnc.
I found this 3D printed part holder by searching the forums. If Ryan was okay with it I would be happy to print them for you and include them in the flat part order for no charge.
