Hello everyone, I am new to OpenBuilds, so hopefully I am going about this correctly. Our company has a large 5' x 20' CNC router that we use for flattening large wood slabs and cutting wood countertop shapes / custom routing and engraving, etc. We have learned that it is best to leave that machine for our big heavy bulk work and employ a second CNC for more finesse work and even laser engraving. So, I'd like to ping the community regarding the LEAD 1515 to see if my requirements are in alignment with this machine or if I should be looking at different models. Here goes... Major Requirements Modular - it seems this can be achieved by placing the 1515 on the appropriate sized rolling tables that OpenBuilds provides Spoil board when sitting on the rolling table, but open framed (bottomless) when removing the CNC from the table and placing it on top of large work items (ie. conference table tops, etc.) - This is the one I am unsure of. I have no concern about the spoilboard when on the rolling table, but I'm unsure if the 1515 can support only having two connector frame pieces out at the ends instead of having the typical cross members. The idea is to have a complete open bottom so that routing and lasering can happen on top of the work item without interference from the CNC frame. Laser mounted to or beside of router - I am most interested in the J-Tech laser option but am open to recommendations / best practices for making a two-in-one router / laser production machine. I would love to be able to program the router tool path and the laser tool path in one design / G-Code so that both operations can run fully (back-to-back) without needing any re-zeroing, etc. (I am assuming this could only be possible if offsets could be permanently stored for the laser as it is mounted beside the router) Increased Z-axis height by raising gantry - is this an option? Camera (photogrammetry) add-on - is this an option? I appreciate everyone's feedback as I try to determine what the best approach towards our build is.
I doubt, based on my experience with 1500mm extrusion, that a gantry router would do well with so little support. I've built a machine designed to be removable from its base, but it's only ~2ft square and it's a laser, no cutting forces involved. Do I think you could make a portable 4x4' router from OpenBuilds parts? Sure. Could possibly even start from the 1515 kit, but I suspect it would end up looking so different and beefed up around the outsides that there may not be much point. You'll have to build it so that it can be basically used held in mid-air with no issues; the base on the rolling cart is almost an afterthought. It has to have enough rigidity that a) the cutting forces don't distort the frame, b) however it's clamped doesn't distort the frame, and c) literally picking it up and moving it doesn't distort the frame. I'm not aware of a similar off-the-shelf product out there- from an engineering perspective it's not the best idea, obviously- so I think whether you get this may depend on your company's DIY/R&D policies. Constant G55 laser offset is fine, though you might run into an issue with grbl unless you set it up correctly- it can only handle one spindle and one spindle speed parameter output, and if you switch with say, the coolant port, then you get no airblast. Maybe if you rig a vacuum in line with your spindle, that's no problem, but it's gonna be little issues like this that get you. Photogrammetry is doable but will be DIY through the control/sender with grbl. bCNC may have some options there, I forget.
