No its quite cheap to get sheetmetal lasercut and CNC bent, speak to ClockWerk https://plus.google.com/112804366993013346159/posts =- usually if we get 5 or more okes he can sort you out.. Al least he did for the Freeburn2 Lasers: http://openbuilds.com/builds/openbuilds-freeburn-2-mini-v-slot-co2-laser-40-50w.1657/ at about a 5th of the cost of the commercial places. Dont try and DIY it you need a proper bending brake to make those sharp corner bends too
Very cool concept for plates @openhardwarecoza this technique could be used for all sorts of machines. Thanks for sharing! Mark
Thanks Mark. I think the cutting bed out of v slot will look awesome too. And adding bends to any thin part drastically increases stiffness while keeping weight down
Just 3 wheels on each side of the Y-axis? Would not do that, well, at least make some extra holes for future upgrades. V-Slot can be used for reinforcing sheetmetal perfectly, that's what I do with the gantry plates from OpenBuilds . ___ As a tip for others: Ask the workshop if they have a fiberoptical or C02 laser cutter; Co2 is slow and you will end up paying 3x the price as when they have a fiberoptical laser cutter. Steel with a galvanized or powdercoated finish will be cheaper although you might need to re-drill the holes for the wheels again (or sand them out). -Ronald
Good point on the laser, see the discussions on the FREEBURN2 thread, been down that road before. Also uploaded some vids of the factory I use. With Freeburn2 we hunted pricing for a month, Clockwerk Mech is sympathetic to the Maker community and did an excellent job for really cheap More wheels: Yes, and no. This is "pocket ox" and all it will ever do is mill PCBS and engrave acrylic. So nah, don't need more. Plus, see the reason for the build: Reusing leftovers I had. The sketchups are there, add some holes, longer carriages if you get one made. I wanted to maximise the 500mm Y rails, and still have easy belt routing.
I have to agree with Punto. Adding two more wheels does not detract away from your idea of a compact light weight OX. The way it's set-up currently has the least resistance against cut and motor forces. I'm betting the first upgrade one makes to the pocket OX is two more sets of wheels for $15. Joe
Was just perusing your build and I sure do admire it. I just finished a 48x48 of 8020 extrusion. Tuning it up now and will start some projects soon. However I'm still in need of a smaller footprint machine and have been looking at the Openbuild parts and machines for some time now. I was thinking that I could make the plates that you've made of sheet metal from plain aluminum plate say at .25 thickness and just machining the parts on my maching. What would be your thoughts of my idea. Not to worried about weight but definately require a stout machine. Also have you made up dxf's of the parts you've designed? Is so would you mind sharing them? I'm not at all familiar with Sketchup. Regards, Lee
Very nice for cutting PCB's and such. And the laser below is a nice touch too. Which freeburn is that? I've got to add a laser to my shop but I'm concerned the small one is too small, power and size.
Thats a FreeBurn2 (400x600mm work area, designed for a 40w tube but I am running a 60w tube in there now, poking out the side) If theres demand I can stretch the Freeburn2 to larger size?