Hello All. Great info in these forums and excuse me if this question is too basic for you guys. I am thinking about building the lowrider CNC version 2. I am very new to the makerspace world, I am a welder fabricator by trade very interested in the plasma CNC machines, and thought this would be a great project to start learning by doing. I spent a lot of time money and effort building a Maslow and am extremely disappointed, to say the least. I am curious why the lowrider kit does not use the Rambo 1.4. It seems like there are more options with this board to expand to in the future. Is it strictly a cost issue or are the added features unable to work with the lowrider?
Biggest reason is, I believe, the cost difference. The gain from a full sized Rambo is in the ability to attach another stepper (E1), which is not needed in the Low Rider design.
What issues did you have with the Maslow? I am not sure it is all that different results wise, but I have never used one or kept up on there progress. Just trying to make sure these machines are capable of doing results up to your expectations.
Ryan- The accuracy of the Maslow for cutting full-size sheets is the real issue for me. It really loses itself in the lower corners, the stepper motor attached to the factory height adjustment of the ridgid router (z-axis) has way too much play. The Z- axis is not that accurate but will work okay if thru cuts are all that is needed. It is also extremely slow and as a result to locate bits to match the feeds and speeds is challenging. It works in the background so speed is not a huge deal but the quality of cut tends to be. Don’t get me wrong considering how it started its gains are impressive, it takes up limited space and the community surrounding it is great. I am glad I tried it out and would encourage others especially if space is an issue but I am ready to move on to other machines. These are only one man’s opinion on a machine that I am sure others absolutely think is great and works for them. I purchased it to really try and start learning about the CNC world, stepper motors, ardunio etc… considering that it has been a huge success. Not looking for a production type machine but some repeatability is important for morale at least if nothing else lol. I have been following the lowrider design for some time. I am super excited to try and build one and see what it can do… time to stop youtubin and start fabricating. My expectations are open and based on what I see and read this is a build worth doing.
I guess I need to look into other machines more. I really really try not to, I don’t know why. I am proud of my designs and confident in there abilities. Even as compared to some fairly expensive machines, that I have seen.
I just know sometimes we get an industrial user in here and they want $500k type performance, just making sure that wasn’t you.