Hello all, I am completely overwhelmed by all the projects on this site, and all the build ideas and .... hulp As an electronic engineer I am confident building a mid-size system without making too much of a mess of it. What I am after is a sturdy, friendly CNC router that can be expanded in X/Y once experience and budget improve ;-) But... I would really like to be able to use it for 3D printing too - I don't have the space to set up two systems in my garage. I saw something that looked great but when I tried to find it again I could not. I am hoping that one of you can give me a helping mouse pointer and tell me which builds would be suitable for me? Many thanks! Hamster
The Builds tab above may have some inspiration In general though, CNC and 3D printing have different requirements that make a 2-in-1 kind of a compromise on both. CNCs are slow, heavy and torquey. 3D printers are light, fast and nimble. Compromising on drive systems to match either result in a very slow 3D printer or a very weak CNC
Thank you Peter! That's the place I got overwhelmed by choice ;-) I appreciate that, otherwise all systems would be dual-use. In my mind, 3D printing is exploratory, and not something I'd do in a hurry. A bonus, in a way. What I was not sure about is whether the precision of a good 3D print is possible in a torquey CNC frame? Many thanks! Hamster
Yes, in fact probably better precision (stiffer frame, less deflection, leadscrew drive, etc) - just the speed drawback (heavier components accelerate slower)
