Do folks who have one or more of 3d printers/CNC mills have opinions on whether this device performs all 3 roles well or is it kinda marginal at all?
Performance will likely depend on how they chose their components to work across these different processes. From what I understand, 3D printers and lasers require less powerful stepper motors because they experience little to no resistance, whereas a CNC mill requires more due to the fact that you’re pushing a rotary tool through material. If the motors are powerful enough for milling and the attachment holders are precise and secure it should work pretty well.
I think the key factor with this unit is scale. The build envelope looks to be the size of a standard Makerbot-style 3d printer. The laser is significantly weaker than you’d find in many standalone units (I thought 2watt laser was a typo at first), especially larger ones, which make sense at that scale but for those of us used to working with more space and power it wouldn’t be a great option.
The combination of CNC tools is a very logical approach that I hope to see implemented in a larger scale in the future, with noise suppression and dust collection/ventilation features considered.
Now instead of endlessly fiddling with three machines, I can endlessly fiddle with just one!
My only complaint is that it is just a 3axis milling machine, but looking at the design, I can see why. The interchangeable head idea is interesting, but I wonder how durable the mechanism that locks everything in will be.
Also: the open-air chassis means the laser cutter will need to be operated in a very well ventilated area. (Or is it just a laser engraver? A standalone unit might be better in that case…)
But! It looks like a neat product, and the fact that so much of the machine is made out of metal (with heavy duty ball screws) is a good sign. I’m just super-salty cuz I have to do all my 3D printing at work.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
