[metalhead781]

It certainly is a viable design. My carvewright machine uses traction belts(sandpaper) and two rubber rollers. It also has a board sensor and tracking wheel to make sure the x is on track. A 1/8" fixed fence on one side and another adjustable fence on the other keep the board tracking straight. The only thing this machine really does well is V carvings in text. Other then that it's pretty much grandpa making the kids gifts. Not to let the cat out of the bag but i'm going to be taking an old ryobi drum sander and using it's drive system and belt to create my own version to get rid of the machine and still be able to do v carved moldings up to 8ft, hopefully. I'll still be restricted to around 12" width but all i'm doing for the moldings is vcarving text with dingbat fonts the length of dimensional lumber. Good luck and i'll try and remember to update you on what i come up with. Don't know when but i will be working on it.

Good Luck
MH

[brihoo2k]

How about making a setup where your y and z were limited but you x axis wasn't. What I'm talking about here it is whats used every day in the computing world in the form of printers. All you would need to do is replace the x axis with a set of rollers. This would allow you to have an infinite length you could cut with the x axis while having a relatively small footprint.

[metalhead781]

How about making a setup where your y and z were limited but you x axis wasn't. What I'm talking about here it is whats used every day in the computing world in the form of printers. All you would need to do is replace the x axis with a set of rollers. This would allow you to have an infinite length you could cut with the x axis while having a relatively small footprint.

That's exactly what the carvewright does and what i'm planning. Read Above.

Thanks
MH

[vger]

Wes,

I also have somewhat limited space (garage) and would like to be able to work with larger material sizes but still get the car in when not in use. I had thought of using a smaller machine, say 25" X 25" for the CNC'd part and have it mountable and indexable on a much larger set of rails. I thought of using some heavy wall aluminum tubing, 2" diameter or so, or even aluminum extrusions for the long rails and just have index holes spaced 24" apart that pins (tapered pins perhaps) could drop into for positioning. Perhaps use sand bags on the ends of the first pair of rails to hold them in position.

Still toying with the idea but thought I would share it with you.

Steve

[metalhead781]

Steve,

Check these out. www.art-router.com . The 24x48 4 axis is my next machine. Ignore the other two he's trying to update his site now. I've been told the current machine has the 4th axis on the long axis now and there's another, smaller version with a palm router on the way 24x24 4 axis. the price listed on there for the new 24x48 is accurate according to what Thom told me, the 24x24 was mentioned at $1900 but don't quote me. In the larger machine, due to the design you can slide 48" wide sheets through the machine. I believe it would be the same with the smaller with 24" sheets that's coming out but i'm waiting for specs and pics for both.

MH