Re:The Polar Bear – Open-Source, Multipurpose CNC Machine wi...
by Turing_Machine on Thursday August 19, 2021 @12:02PM
(#28235531)
> Meanwhile this machine consists of one big aluminum extrusion and a thin extrusion.
With long cantilevers (i.e., supported at only one end) on both, to boot. Long cantilever, thin material = slop.
Even a small bench top lathe has hundreds of pounds of cast iron in the bed and ways, as you said.
That aside, a lot of the jobs they show in the video (pen-plotting, wood-burning, 3d printing, etc.) don't really demand a huge amount of rigidity. I wouldn't want to try any serious milling or turning with this machine, for sure, but for those jobs it looks like a totally reasonable design.
And I do like the fact that it's designed to be 3D printed itself (other than the extrusions and stepper motors, etc.), so well done on that.
With long cantilevers (i.e., supported at only one end) on both, to boot. Long cantilever, thin material = slop.
Even a small bench top lathe has hundreds of pounds of cast iron in the bed and ways, as you said.
That aside, a lot of the jobs they show in the video (pen-plotting, wood-burning, 3d printing, etc.) don't really demand a huge amount of rigidity. I wouldn't want to try any serious milling or turning with this machine, for sure, but for those jobs it looks like a totally reasonable design.
And I do like the fact that it's designed to be 3D printed itself (other than the extrusions and stepper motors, etc.), so well done on that.