I started in the 3D world with a Printrbot Simple metal and after expanding the build volume I still think it is a great printer. While on their site earlier today I looked at the Crawlbot. It is real cool but not worth $3,999.00 they are asking for it. I would think it would not be all that hard to make the carriage to hold the router for the X and Z movements and use belts inverted as tracks to run on. How about it @Ryan can we see what your mad skills can come up with?
Mac only software??? Other than that pretty slick. I love it!
So 4’x8’x2" cutting area, under $3,999, what other stipulations? Can I use conduit? Does anyone really want to cut full sheets? I just moved so I have a larger work space…Tilted table?..interesting. The way they have it the z tolerances look to be reliant on the table surface and the hopes that no chips get under the wheels, I could be wrong. It will be plenty good enough for wood, I would still want to use a rail though. How have I not seen this in the last year?
Looks awesome. I agree, seems chips would easily get under the wheels.
I think side rails would be great. It could be made flexible enough to be 4’x 8’ but could be anything smaller. I am thinking “A” frames on the sides to support the X and Z but allow for the X to be moved for narrow pieces. It would not be hard to clamp the conduit on the ends of the boards to lock them in place. I am hoping this triggered a new project since you have done a AWESOME job on your other designs.
I had thought about this as well. In my mind, a combination of MPCNC and Makerslide was kind of what I envisioned, but that was prior to really looking into what was possible with the MPCNC and conduits.
I was imagining more of a dedicated table though, with 10’ conduit flush on the work table for the Y axis, and using the makerslide to get a nice and rigid X axis.
SOOO Many possibilities. Makes me wish I was better at doing design work.
Let’s see…
CNC some edge pieces out of MDF…
3d print mounts for steppers / conduit / etc…
conduit to hold the two sides together.
something similar to the mp3dp gantry but in conduit, with bearings as usual…
roller blade wheels…
sub $500, right?
Yes please!
Almost done… If it works. I drove it under its own power this evening. Minor z axis tweak I hope will finish it up.
Looking forward to the low rider… sucks that someone is ripping off your designs though.
Wonder if you could host the stl’s here behind a paywall and only grant forum membership to those that buy something. It’s probably a mess to do that though.