Would It at all be conceivable that if I start out with the LEAD 1515 for cnc milling that I could modify the design to allow for 3d printing as well? essentially turning it into a hybrid or multi purpose machine. Or are there aspects to the 1515 that simply prevent it from ever being modded in that way?
Certainly not impossible, but not ideal for 3d printing - feedrate and accelerations would be rather low compared to a 3d printer. You would probably find it more cost effective to get a stand-alone printer. Alex.
I'm thinking of a similar mod myself. I think there may be some corner cases where using a lead machine base would be advantageous. A lead 1515 provides a very large x,y print area provided you can maintain consistent leveling. What it gives in x and y it lacks in Z, however. In my case I need a big foot print but only about an inch of height on my 3d models. I will be doing low resolution printing with 1.2mm extruder spitting out a thick bead of plastic. I have not run this in simulation but I have a hunch it will print at an acceptable rate for my application. Anybody have a link on how to best control a hot end along with my lead's steppers? Currently I'm using an arduino running ramps. Maybe I should just have a separate electronics package for using the machine for 3d print mode.
