Hi Everyone I'm new to the forum and I've joined as I plan to buy and customise a workbee type CNC router. I'd like to be able to put full 8' x 4' (2440mm x 1220mm) sheets of plywood in my machine so my plan is to get a 60" x 60" (1500mm x 1500mm) kit and extend the x axis travel by 40" (1000mm) My main concern is deflection in the C beam aluminium extrusion in the x axis when having a 8' span (2500mm). I've wondering whether to double up these C beams on each side to minimise the deflection. I'm also thinking about mounting my machine upright to minimise the floor area required. At the moment I picture the bed 30' off vertical. Any advice, guidance or resources that would help me with this project would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Nathan
Get yourself a LEAD1515 solid and a beast OpenBuilds LEAD CNC Machine 1515 (60" x 60") 2500s would need some engineering underneath and a different drive system. Most jobs will happily fit on half a sheet of plywood, worst case, join them up after the fact: see for example the huge heart I made for a sign, on a 1500x1000 old Ox a couple years ago. A little glueup (45seconds into video below) makes for unlimited final result size - just plan it into the projects
I don’t think OB supports tiling does it? I mean I know you can donut manually, but that can be a pain to line up correctly on the second cut.
I've done plenty of tiling and find it pretty accurate. What method are you using to line up the second cut?
Vectric > split toolpath > run both Tiling is not easy yes, but a few months into the hobby, totally attainable. Secrets in the prep. - use your CAM to cut the dowel pin holes in spoilboard, and use them to add dowel holes to the tilling (that gets cut during first half of the sheet) - build pass through tables. Much easier to slide stock when you do not have to balance it precariously at the same time
The application I plan to use my machine for should be able to work fine by splicing two half's together. If everything goes to plan with the sale of my milling machine I hope to place an order this week with ooznest for the 1500 x 1500mm machine. Due to the size of my workshop ideally I'd like to mount the machine so that the bed is approx 30 degrees off vertical. I'm going to create an easel type frame to mount it on. Can anyone see any issues doing this? Would it work better with the x axis or the y axis on the slope?
Merely extending the rails does not make for an 8’ system. You have to extend the drive system too. What were your plans there? A 6mm belt is going to stretch a fair amount over 8’.
If I decide to extend the bed for a 8' sheet I will swap to ball screws which I can get in 2500mm lengths
