A project starts as “I’ll just print one part” and somehow I’m moving stuff back and forth between the printer, laser and CNC. Every switch means re-clamping, re-zeroing, checking the origin, cleaning up dust/smoke… then redoing half of it because something shifted.
The actual print/cut/engrave part is usually fine. It’s the stupid setup/reset crap in between that eats the whole evening. By the time I’m back at the printer I don’t even want to finish the project lol.
I’d buy separate machines in a heartbeat if I had the room. I don’t. One bench, already full. So now I’m looking at combo setups even though idk if that fixes anything or just puts 3 different headaches in one box.
The reasons the combos haven’t been great is differences in what they optimize for.
Printing: moderately lightweight effector. Optimize for acceleration of the effector. Produces small amounts (volumetricly speaking) of small plastic dust.
CNC: rigid effector, not affected significantly by cutting forces. Very low acceleration, comparatively. Optimized for rigidity. Produces substantial small dust, even with vacuum collection.
Laser: needs very rapid acceleration, very lightweight effector, good dust control to avoid both artifacts and fire. Wants at least as much accuracy as printer with much higher acceleration to reduce rastering artifacts. Produces potentially corrosive fumes.
The trade-offs to combine them are such that you can’t get remotely best in class on any when you combine. Most of the similarity starts and ends with “an effector on a motion platform” but the details are not particularly similar.
Combining them in a way that mitigates the trade-offs is likewise either expensive or limiting the available uses. That makes the niche really vanishingly small from a market standpoint.
Yeah, I feel this I’m still a total noob with CNC. Half my time is just figuring out why something isn’t working. And Fusion 360… man, that thing is way over my head sometime
I’m still a total noob with CNC. Half my time is just figuring out why something isn’t working. And Fusion 360… man, that thing is way over my head sometime
