YZ plate questions and others :)

LowRider CNC Advice
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I started printing parts last night and trying to organize my own thoughts on how to get everything done. YZ Plates: 1/2 inch mdf seems to be the standard. I don’t have a way to cnc them. So my options are to laser cut 1/4 inch mdf on my k40 and glue two together, 3d print the plate, or 3d print a router template and rout it out of 1/2 inch mdf. What is the feasibility of just using 1/4 inch plates to get up and running then cnc routing the 1/2 inch plates?

I see a lot of people using unistruts on the side of their tables. is this just a v2 thing or is it something people are doing for the v3 as well? I like the idea of not having to build a 9.5 foot long table for full sheets :slight_smile:

Thanks! I’m sure I’ll have more questions as things progress.

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I would at least glue two 1/4" plates together to make the temporary plates. iIRC, some of the pockets are 2.5D (partial cuts). So you probably will need different patterns on the two halves. Use the screw holes to align and clamp the two halves. You may not need replacements.

The v3 has a rail on one end. So you need to be able to screw that down into something. You can make rails from wood, or use aluminum, but the steel unistrut might be difficult to work with. The LR3 also needs a wider table, because the v2 hung off the side. The overall footprint is close to the same, but the v3 needs more table for the same workspace. So the unistrut or whatever rail is going to have to stick out from the workspace a bit further.

I also think that a full 4x8 LR is bigger than most people need or want. You can make it half length, and use some outfeed rollers to fit a full sheet into the machine if you really want to not break down material. You could also go a little skinnier and still fit a 4’ wide board, but not be able to cut the whole thing.

But it is your machine, and everything is an experiment.

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Don’t know anything about K40, but can you fit 1/2" MDF in, cut what you can with the laser and then finish the rest by hand.

Or, still use laser to cut top ~1/4" of the 1/2", then flip the stock over and have laser cut (mirrored) the remaining 1/4" from the bottom side. This requires having really good reference.

I regret not painting my YZ plates when doing initial assembly. Installing the final YZ plate you want to use mid-long term will save you a few hours.

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I appreciate the help. I’ll ditch the Unistrut idea. I think gluing two 1/4" pieces together would simpler than trying to cut a 1/2" piece from both sides.

I’m on the fence between full sheet vs half sheet build. Slightly leaning toward half sheet. I want the full sheet build but I will most likely not use that capability often and there are ways to index and move a full sheet in a half sheet platform easily enough.

Thanks for the guidance.

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I was on the fence too, but figured out a way to have both 02:43 Pick your own size, or sizes even

Will share link to a small mod I made allowing Y Tensioner to be inserted midway through the belt when assembling your Lowrider in small table mode.

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This is a neat video. In the middle, he shows off his new 4’ square cnc and how he uses it on bigger stock. It is pretty convincing to me.

That extra 4 feet seems pretty silly if you only use it a couple of times, and you could have worked around it.

7:30 or so for the impatient.

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I def need 48x48 cut area :slight_smile:

There is even a way to pin the ply wood and re index it when you move it so you can continue cuts that go past the half way mark.

Ok back to printing parts and working some overtime to get the rest of the parts needed :slight_smile:

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Just started watching this guy’s videos. He’s funny.

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Yeah. I really like the digital counter for number of days since the last dumb.

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I have the same question. My existing CNC is only 9" x 9" and I need at least 9.9" to make the YZ plate. I was thinking about doing it in 2 steps but was concerned about alignment. Any reason not to 3d print it and then replace it with MDF later? I have the MDF.

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If you can get it to print, it’ll work until you can mill out a wooden one.

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I agree with Barry.

I know myself though, and I would probably leave the “temporary” plates in for a while. The two layer 1/4" stuff seems like it would be stronger than a 3D print.

But a 3D print should be strong enough to go slow and cut some permanent plates. That is how Ryan intended it to be bootstrapped.

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Ah, I knew that was the case for strut plates but not these. Thanks for the guidance! I’ve got 2 Ender 5s making parts and the hardware kit is on order.

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In both version 2 and version 3 of the LowRider there is some infrastructure that needs “edge-supported” out beyond the Y position of your bit. In LR2 this overhead was more evenly distributed in the Y- and Y+ directions. On the LR3 there’s less of it on the Y- side than the Y+ side, as the gantry and hose holders and control box are all group together on the Y+ side in relation to your bit. Nevertheless using the unistrut/super strut approach still can help you to have room for that infrastructure to be supported without needing to have your table be quite so long. In my case for my initial LR2 I used the wooden rail approach to accomplish those extensions, then later switched to super struts, and I maintained the super struts even after I upgraded from LR2 to LR3.

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Humm this is interesting, I think I may like the idea of the 4’x’4’ with the option to do full sheet. It will be nice to not take up the extra space in the shop for occasional full sheet use.

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