Hey all! Hello from Canada eh! Ive been watching you guys build for about three years. I'm a CNC tinkerer as a hobby. I ran a mill and lathe to help out a buddy about five years ago and got the bug. I've built my own 3D printer, retrofitted an oxy/acetylene pattern cutter to plasma and recently retro fitted an Xcarve for a complete stranger who found me through the grapevine. New project, a buddy of mine owns a wood shop and he's been doing routered signs by hand and he wants to step it up. I saw the Phlatprinter (PP) on YouTube about three years ago and always wanted to build one (or loosely cloned). Real estate is at a premium at my buddies so he wants a small storage footprint when not in use. I will be building a 48" PP for him and I'll try to remember to keep you guys in the loop with some pics of project as I go! Keep up the good work!
Remember that the PP was designed for cutting foam, moving wood may take a lot more engineering because of the weight. Have you looked at the machine bundles in the Part Store ? Small footprint storage ... not the only way, I have seen other solutions like hinging up against the wall or raising to the roof with pulleys.
Yes David thanks. Showed customer options, preferred the Phlat. Will be built very robust, all ball bearing construction with dual 450 oz on the roller. I'm leaving room in design for gear reduction if need be but my calculations are within reason. Planning running 1" shaft with 12 roller blade wheels for minimum deflection of both shafts.