Hi, so I have a design in gcode, the image is just one of the sheets, and I have had a quote from a company to cut them for me.
However, I thought it would be far more fun to produce this myself.
So my question is the usable material out of a 1220 x 2440 sheet. I understand that it is more accurate near the centre, but realistically what is the waste border of the workable sheet size?
Can you get 15mm to the edge?
I just want to know before I purchase and waste some sheet finding out , or if I need to use more sheet by centering the items.
The stock design of the Maslow has the best accuracy in the center of the sheet, but the full size of the cutting area is configurable however you would like (meaning with a big enough machine, that best accuracy area could easily cover your full sheet). Also, with work, people have achieved excellent accuracy (millimeter scale) over the whole range of their cutting areas.
You may want to spend some time perusing the forum to see what you are likely to encounter for cutting accuracy and ways to improve it. As for utilizing the whole 1220x2440 sheet, that is dependent on how you build the machine.
You should understand, though, that you will probably go through a sheet or two at least in the initial stages, and mistakes in CNC are all but inevitable (even for professional shops, but they figure those losses in to their costs).
In the end, I think you will have fun if you do it yourself, and depending on how much the quote is, you could save a bundle of money. Not to mention being able to tweak your design and cut it again, and all the other stuff you will find that you never realized you needed to cut!
One thing (I may have missed it but didn’t see mentioned) is that you would need “skirting” around the workpiece that is flush with the surface of the workpiece. This way you can make use of the entire stock without the sled absolutely falling off without being held manually.
For instance, if you have 0.75" waste board and 0.75" workpiece (typical)… You could simply mount 2 x 6 with brackets or scrap from the back of the waste board. (1.5" thickness) hope this makes sense.
You will probably have issues with the bottom corners, at least that’s where my maslow has problems cutting straight lines, and where I’ve seen other people have issues.
You might be able to get it all on one sheet if you have the ability to slide the sheet over to the right and cut the 3 shapes on the left with them nearer to the center of the maslow, then shift it the other way so that the remaining work area is centered and do the remaining cuts.
thank you all.
I suppose the trick is getting used to (by practice) centering the gcode in the correct position in order to move the sheet.
I’ve also got to see how big I can make my frame, my work shed has a beam 2m high across the middle , I might have to move the workshop around to make use of the gable end.
I suggest running a test cut in a foam sheet from you local home improvement store. That is ~$7 so see what it looks like before spending $$ on “real” peice of material.
if you will be making dozens of these shapes it might actually be cheaper to farm it out. But do not get overly ambitious. I had 100 items cut out of aluminum 2 years ago and I still need too sell 30 of them. At the time the laser cutter charged me about $20 per 1.5x8’ shape,but if I get stuck with these 30 cabinets by not being able to sell them, my real cost would be about 1/3rd more. I probably just need to clearance them out because I am getting tired of them taking up space.
it all has to do with where the center of gravity is on the sled. side to side,
the CG is about the center of the sled, so if the chains are pulling at the
center of gravity along the Z axis, there is very little force trying to tip the
sled, so you can cut almost to the edge as-is, and only6a couple of inches of
support are needed.
But top to bottom on the sled, the CG is low (deliberately so, the bricks make
it low and we want the sled to have a resistance to rotation) but this means
that the CG is several inches below the bit, so it needs significantly more
support or it tips away from the workpiece.
