Completely new to the cnc world but I am looking at it for another avenue of revenue production in my side hustle. I operate a portable sawmill turning timber into lumber. I am working on expanding the business in effort to go full time. One of the items I sell quite regularly is wide big slabs. These slabs need to be flattened after drying which is why I’m looking into cnc routing. Along with that I see it as revenue generation making signs etc. Now to my question is the LEAD expandable to get a work surface of say 4’x8’? Is that type of frame sturdy enough for heavy routing, 1 1/2” carbide cutter taking 1/16” per pass? If the answers are no that’s fine. The price is still right for learning and making signs etc. If the LEAD is not going to work, can I get some recommendations on what will work? Is have seen the $20k options but that’s not in the budget right now. Thanks
Realistically, the LEAD 1010 is stretched as far the materials will allow. The main issue is the screw drive with a TR8x8 screw maxes out at 1000mm. Beyond that the small diameter 8mm screw really has a problem with whipping. Sure you can adapt larger diameter screws to give more length but even these max out around 1500mm. If you want 8' you're going to have to go with belts. And they will be fairly big belts to deal with stretch over that distance. The next issue is the size of the extrusions. Beyond 1000mm you get a lot of twist in the main gantry axis due to the eccentricity of the router hanging off the face, causing the router head to bob up and down which is not good for results. There are solutions for this but then you start getting solidly into a custom build. And a custom build of a relatively decent 4x8 system is possible but you can expect it to run upwards of $3K. Honestly though I wouldn't recommend it for something you want as a moneymaker. Great for a hobbyist but not much more. The main issue would be speed (or lack thereof). You're obviously welcome to give it a try, we love to see such systems but you'd probably be happier with a $10K system from cncrouterparts.
Rick thank you for your honest reply. As a totally uniformed person that is what I am looking for. I am still looking at the LEAD to learn on.
