MO machines!

Seems like I’m posting off topic more than anything else these days, but…
I’m taking down the teeny tiny burly. I should have made it a few inches bigger each direction, not a lot of use around here for cutting metal right now (at least not until I get my Welder back into service) and it really deserves to be a primo anyway.
So until all that happens, I kinda miss having my large format laser diode (when I used to have a lowrider). So, burly laser it is.
I also ordered a bunch of stuff to upgrade my corexy printer (from Anet parts) and my Ender 3 (sweet sales in the shop!). The idea is to have a printer for fast and functional parts and another for better detail (smaller nozzle).
But my wife got a few requests for smaller engraving jobs over the last week. So I started thinking…
Do I buy another anet and laser and turn it into a laser engraver, continuing with the upgrade for the ender?
Do I salvage the 24v hotbed from the ender and turn IT into a laser engraver, then build another corexy (either mine, or Aryn’s excellent timberbot)?
The ender isn’t a bad printer, but it’s not particularly special, either. The moving bed makes it difficult to enclose(which is important now that they live in the garage with the cnc and the dust) and for engraving the speed of the bed singing back and forth isn’t an issue.
Actually, if I make the ender 3 a laser, there’s no reason for the upgraded main board, which I can hold on to for the second corexy.
So it looks like there isn’t even a question in here, lol. Convert the ender and hold on to parts for another corexy! Thanks everyone!

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I’m looking to build a corexy but can’t decide on which one lol. Was thinking a railcore then I saw the one Jeff did then the timberbot. So many choices.

As far as I can tell, the railcore is a no-compromise machine. I think the one I built is about as cheap as it gets. The timber bot represents a really great balance of diy, performance, and value. Hope that helps.

I’m glad you guys were able to figure that out! :laughing:

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Love my railcore, but plan on some tinkering. You’ll have to build it from parts. Project R3d has their own corexy that they sell as an assembled printer, but it’s pretty spendy. I got my railcore kit from them when they still did the kits. I think Filastruder is still the only one doing full railcore kits at the moment.

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Lol spendy is right. I chocked on my tea when I saw the price. I’m leaning towards the railcore. My son said he would take the ender off my hands when I get the new machine built. He has also already said he was taking the primo to school when he goes back. Guess I’ll be building a small lowrider then also

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that is a lot of machines, i think you should tell your son that he needs to build one himself XD. i really like the design of the TimberBot. after my Primo build i plan on using that as a base but modifying it to use a remote drive cartesian system i have been toying with for a while now.

as far as an ender laser, i think it will work well, just really tall for a laser. also if it is dedicated to lasering, why not change the board out for a board that runs GRBL? i think you would get laser results (at least from what i have seen).

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I actually did think about that. Pretty sure I’ve still got one kicking around somewhere. Probably easier than trying to figure out what all I need to change for the ender board configuration, and then I get another display, too, since grbl doesn’t play nice with displays. At least two people wanted her to engrave on top of a box, so the height would be useful.

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Looks like I’m going to start with the ender3 getting the laser. At some point, maybe I can get a removable mount and swap it back and forth with the large format burly. We’ll see.

I can hook the laser up with the power supply it came with, but I’d rather have one PS for the whole thing (on the ender). But the ender PS is 24 volts. Pretty sure that’s bad for the (12v) laser. I’ve got a 12v power supply on the corexy, but the heated bed is 12v and I really don’t want to start a fire.

I’ve also got a box of goodies waiting for me, including a control board for the corexy, so maybe I should just wait until the weekend and take it ALL apart. Move the 24v bed and ps from the ender to the corexy with a new board, the 12v ps to the ender (for the laser) with my uno/cnc shield and grbl. That will give me an excuse to make a non-heated bed for the ender.

The other power supply I have for the mpcnc is the one from the shop…6amp. Should I use that one on the ender/laser instead, and put the 12v from the corexy on the mpcnc? Or would 6a be enough for all 5 motors and a 5.5w laser? I think it’s close, right?

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Well, i didn’t get Half that list done, lol.
But I did get some, and I had a LOT of projects going too.

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