I am looking for a CNC that would fit in the back of my Kia E-Soul (seat folded, 105cm(w) X 135cm(d)) that I can take to makerspaces and set up and take down often, by myself. When I searched for “portable” here, I see mostly people trying to save floorspace in their garage, not transporting it by car (not truck) daily. That adds many new issues, such as how robust is the accuracy?
How to detach and re-tension belts quickly? How heavy is it? (Does it need to come into pieces or can it be lifted as a unit by an average-sized man). I put this query in the LR2 forum because I think that would be easier to disassemble than an MPCNC, and could cut larger projects for a given size of car to fit in.
Perhaps you can point me to older discussions I missed, or just mention your ideas about whether this is even possible for the LowRider 2. Thanks!
I haven’t seen any one talking about that. You could definitely build a simple torsion box (or at a bare minimum a spoil board) that could fit in saw horses and the low rider gadget could fit in. Or if you were just using a table there, then skip the sawhorses.
A 24"x24"x3" MPCNC would also fit and it isn’t too heavy. You could maneuver it onto a cart yourself, but it would be easier to just get a hand and carry it together.
There are a few different belt holders. None of them are fast enough for a pit stop. But you aren’t really doing anything that fast with CNC. Removing a screw or two won’t slow you down.
I spend chunks of time at a second location away from my shop. Over the last week I’ve been musing about a portable MPCNC…more of a thought experiment than a real plan. Here are some random thoughts. Some are related to my musings on a portable rig, and some my reflection on your question:
- With the Z axis removed (it just slides out), the MPCNC (primo) is under 9" tall (measured from the bottom of the feet). If the cross bars are slide out of the trucks and the core, the height can be reduced another 2+ inches.
- There are tradeoffs with a bigger machine. Smaller machines are going to have an easier time of things like cutting circuit boards, milling aluminum, and fine V-carving. When going beyond simple contour cutting, bigger items take significantly more time…often geometrically more time. And due to fire risk and other potential traumatic events, MPCNCs should not be left unattended.
- For weight reasons I was exploring making the base out of 2020 T-slot aluminum extrusions with closely placed slats. I’d expose portions of the slots in the 2020 through the spoil board to be used for clamping.
- Detachable wheels will make moving either a LR or a larger MPCNC a one-person job.
- CNCs are noisy (especially when using the recommended routers) and messy (without a vacuum). An enclosure helps with both problems. Aluminum extrusions could be the basis for an enclosure that packs small and could be assembled quickly.
- Wandering around Home Depot, I saw a stack of “budget” butcher block countertops and wondered if it would make a good base for a smaller LR2. It should take a lot of abuse and remain flat.
- I don’t know if you plan on traveling to different makerspaces and/or manefaires or always the same one. If it is the same one, perhaps it would be easier to raise the money and help build a permanent CNC installation. I wouldn’t be surprised if the maker community using a makerspace already has “surplus” parts that could be used.
Similarly, I was searching for a portable MPCNC on these forums. Didn’t find too much. In my case, “portable” would mean moving it from a shelf to my workbench. I think that would be easier to do with an MPCNC Primo than an LR2. My thought was mounting it on a piece of thick MDF with some 2020 alu track underneath the MDF for some added rigidity. Don’t know if any of this is helpful to you, but in the coming weeks I will be putting my plan together for a transportable MPCNC.
I have a Handibot, which I love, for small, precise work like circuit boards. It is nice and portable at about 20kg, but only has a 150mm X 200mm working area. It has good leadscrews and steel rails in all axes, can do soft metals. I have done a few big jobs on my Handibot by tiling and that is a huge pain and there are always artifacts at the junctions of the tiles. That is why I am yearning for a bigger CNC.
Regarding my definition of “portable”: I will be taking it to a wide variety of locations across Ireland and Northern Ireland, not the same place every time. However, that suggestion of getting the makerspace to build one will likely follow on naturally after my first visit to one. I can’t be sure what benches/tools will be at locations I teach at, so I have to be self-sufficient. I like the idea of using light ply to build a light weight torsion box as the base on saw horses (a mini-Paulk bench). Any thick MDF, heavy plywood or butcher blocks as the base are probably not feasible for my old back to lift in and out of the boot. I am not at all keen on doing a lot of assembly and calibration every time. It has to really be quick and easy, like 5 minutes. Every moment spent getting something to work right is students losing enthusiasm about CNC at the crucial first impression stage.
Please keep the random thoughts and suggestions about TRANSportable CNC coming!
I wondered, given the size of the back of your car, how big a rig you could build. According to the V1 calculators, you could stow an MPCNC with a cutting area of 680 x 950. You could stow a LowRider of 670 x 1100. Note that on the MPCNC the trucks and motors stick out 50mm beyond the shadow of the feet on each side, so if your wheel well and/or the break between your seats falls in the right place, you can increase the size of the MPCNC up to 780 x 1050 and still get it in your car.
I expected a bigger advantage for the LowRider in terms of cutting size for a stowable machine. On the other hand, it will be easier to stow stuff on top of a LowRider when traveling vs. an MPCNC.
Maybe you could make a dedicated version of a small Teardrop Trailer? It would be light enough to pull with a car and allow you to store it fully assembled with room for all of the accessories/tools.
Dang. Someone beat me to it.
I was going to say to build it into an enclosure and mount it on a small harbor freight trailer.
Excellent points, Robert! I will need to bring other things and to be able to lay them on the CNC would be helpful.
Gato and David, thanks for the trailer idea. That sounds like a good one when I get an electric truck of some sort. The Kia E-Soul 7-year warranty prohibits towing. Also, I would have to make a trailer very rainproof (Can’t predict when it will rain here in Ireland, only that it will) and theft-proof. It would be parked in some dodgy neighborhoods overnight. Covered stuff in the back of my car with tinted windows attracts less attention.
How about heat? There was an mpcnc left under a clear tarp and it worked and half melted being in the sun. I know the plastic is fine until at least 50C, but it may not hold is strength for much higher than that.
Yes, Jeff, that is one to consider! I will likely use ABS or Styrene instead of PLA anyway for the stiffness. I hope that will be less prone to distortion in a warm car.
Pla is more stiff than ABS. It is one reason we don’t use petg or abs. PLA is beittle, but rigid. So if you are using PETG or ABS, then add some perimeters to increase rigidity.
Maybe a dumb question, but why not use 100% infill, instead of more perimeters, for maximum strength?
Regarding stiffness and heat deformation resistance, I found a good table of properties here:
[https://www.simplify3d.com/support/materials-guide/properties-table/]
It looks like HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) is the stiffest, and more heat resistant than PLA. Do you know of anyone who made their MPCNC out of HIPS?
I wonder if anyone has any experience with PLA advertised as ‘high heat’ such as: (1) High Heat PLA – GL Robotics (glroboticsusa.com)
and whether it would be a worthwhile substitution?
Cost and print time. I can’t imagine how much print time the core for the mpcnc would take at 100% infill.
I don’t know of anyone that’s used HIPS.
I was kicking around the idea of printing parts with an extremely low infill percentage and then filling them with epoxy resin. Could be something to think about to possibly improve heat resistance for storing it in your car depending on the temperatures extremes in your area. I may try it down the road but I’m going to see how the spec printed parts hold up to Texas garage heat first.
100% infill can also be challenging for beginners.
Has anyone ever build a low rider on a trailer frame? I have one available and am considering it.
Someone on the forum built one on a metal steel frame. I think he ended up using it for metal cutting using one of those “torch thingies” (my brain isn’t working and I can’t remember what it’s called. It’s where you have to touch off on the plate before cutting)