I was briefly emailing back and forth with Ryan tonight concerning mixing the MPCNC and the LR2 parts to create a router sled. My thinking was to use the frame of the MPCNC and the router sled on the LR2 and create basically a unit that a router could be utilized in to go back and forth to MANUALLY plane wood.
I have my LR2 built and it works fairly fine but a little slow for some planing I need to do. I am building the MPCNC now for a different type of smaller more rigid work of small items.
Are there any interested parties that would like to be able to brainstorm together and potentially come up with a design that Ryan could again either build or collaborative build and open a wider door for him and V1?
Something that would allow for more rigidity would be important and maybe setup for something of a full size router that can be mounted and used on a rolling slide. My theory was instead of the tubing/pipe as rails to use something more like angle iron that is more rigid.
I think this is very doable with the right folks involved and could well be a new product. I’m willing to help build and beta test.
Oh definitely put some video up on this please. Maybe just a modification on my unit might do the trick. Frankly I think it’s a bigger issue than this for me but let’s see where it goes.
I can’t help but try to automate this every time I think about it, then I end up with a LowRider without a fixed table.
I keep considering, first the rails are of the utmost importance, they need to be as parallel as possible, so you don’t want to be moving this around. The box the routers typically slide in, that rides on the rails needs to be ultra rigid…only because a human is (can be) putting there weight on it.
So this leads me to take the human out and automate one axis so it can be made with rails…then the person still needs to be there to move the box over and the router deeper.
Then I end up automating those two chores and you get the LowRider with a large bit. It -Might- be slower but it can work while you do something else (nearby).
The only thing that gets me away from that is cost, but then it comes down to 2 rails, 8 wheels, and a rigid box. This really is kind of an all or nothing deal in my head. I am not seeing a middle ground compromise on this one.
The rails from the first picture are not a great idea, any axis skew and the routing plane is completely off. Better to do one side like that and the other on a flat.
Maybe some sort of increment gear that can be pushed to increment manually (based on a bit width) the unit and potentially lock it in place or something.
I hear you on no perfect solution- it’s something that is built every single day in the woodworking world. So if there is a way to come up with something that would work I think it would be a pretty big deal.
Still trying to figure out a way to do it too… Not a simple answer.
Realize there is a lot of forgiveness and the unit can be moved back to run again if there is some skew. So perfection isn’t necessarily the goal in this kind of roughing tool.
Something like this, with a big bit and loads of router power is going to be hard to beat. Anything shy of that, and I wonder if just using the MPCNC isn’t a better compromise.
Also, if it fits in a planer, then there’s another easy choice. If it doesn’t fit in a planer, does 1/2 of it fit in a drum sander?
The reality is these are very clunky and take up a lot of room. Pain in the butt to deal with as a whole. Also, they don’t slide smoothly along rails. so you get a type of jitter when trying to use these things even with a nice size router.
If there were a bearing mount like the LR2 that slid on a rail (even if it were thicker to be more rigid) then it would have a smoother cut. What would be ULTIMATELY nice is to have the router mounted to the router tray on bearings and a nice handle to be able to push and pull the router carriage with.
The external rails can pretty much be anything that is rigid. You could go with angle iron and bearings for that matter and still be reasonably able to move the units back and forth. Yes there is some human weight involved in pushing etc, but frankly I think that could be designed into a robust unit.
I built a router sled out of angle iron tha really doesnt take any room and a little wax will smooth out any friction problems. It sounds cool but seems like a bulky over engineered machine to do what a lowrider would be amazingly capable of doing. In my opinion not having to be bent and stretched over a router sled is well worth whatever extra time a lowrider takes.
We’re building a big ass router sled right now, using a 5hp electric motor, variable frequency drive (to allow speed up/down of the motor (not to mention 110v power) and a 6" wide flycutter (think giant router bit). That 6" flycutter will also double as a 6" sander with an attachment plate. None of it will be automated, a person will always be operating it, there’s too much that could go wrong with that sort of power. We’re essentially building something akin to the Aussie WoodWizz or Slabmaster.
I’ve got some block bearings and rail, and some CNC slide tables (to manually control the Z-axis) ordered from ebay. Once they arrive we’ll head to our machinist and put it all together.
In about 2 weeks, I’ll let you know how it all works out. It sounds like you’ve got a number of slabs to surface just like me.
HOLY CRAP! Now THAT is intense. If I built something like this my sig-other would bury me … AFTER she made me make my own coffin! Super cool I might do something scaled down … big time scaled down. 6" cutter. astounding.
Wanted to bump this thread to ask - Any success with building a slab flattener? Would the LowRider have the strength to produce a reasonably smooth finish? My cousin and I fell into a deal of huge slabs - 40" x 120" or so.
I think we need more than a router sled, would love to build a lowrider if it would get the job done.
