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Post by Derek the Admin on Aug 29, 2019 16:23:57 GMT
Thanks for asking.
Nothing silly about it. We are looking to ship in January to early birds. Unlike most companies running kickstarters, we have existing working capital and credit lines to start ordering those parts we don't make in house once we see the direction the Kickstarter campaign is going. For instance, if it looks like we are going to to X number of 4th axis systems, we can go ahead and order X + some extra from the chuck supplier to get the ball rolling.
The main options for the router will be the T plate bed versus standard MDF bed with inserts, the 4th axis, and the laser. Without any options (other than the $200 in freebies we are giving!), the 19x19 will be $1049 on early bird special (limited number of early bird slots available), the 35x35" router version will go for $1299 on early bird without any options. Required pledge amounts will go up $200 once the early birds are all taken, which we think will happen pretty quickly. The jtech 7w laser we have on this has a couple of extra features over the one we've been selling such as a shroud, protective shield, and a high resolution lens. It will be $699. The 4th axis system will be $449 and will include its own driver that gets pre-wired into the control box, the chuck, chuck base, and live center support.
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jcb
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Post by jcb on Aug 29, 2019 18:15:43 GMT
This sounds awesome! Couple of questions: -Will the plasma setup be available via the kickstarter? early bird pricing available for that option? -what is the depth of cut in wood for the 7W laser, will it cut through 1/8" plywood? (wondering if it would be a decent replacement for my K40 laser) Thanks!
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Post by tgattis on Aug 29, 2019 19:09:56 GMT
This sounds awesome! Couple of questions: -Will the plasma setup be available via the kickstarter? early bird pricing available for that option? -what is the depth of cut in wood for the 7W laser, will it cut through 1/8" plywood? (wondering if it would be a decent replacement for my K40 laser) Thanks! Not to interrupt the flow, but the 7w laser will cut thru 1/8 plywood with multiple passes at full power...I cut 1/2 way thru a 3/8" thick piece of poplar last night with 5 passes at 1mm per pass setting on Inkscape w/Jtronic addin...I was curious what it would do and if it would catch on fire (it didn't).
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Post by awestruck on Aug 30, 2019 14:04:47 GMT
I got to say I'm pretty excited about the Mega V, I think I need to plan some reroutes in my budget to make room for this. What I like is the rack/pinion. Can you share more about this? Also, where can I get more details on the control box? I've previously looked at X-Carve control box and OpenBuilds stuff, so I'd like to understand your setup just a bit more. I'd recommend making cables long enough (or connectorizedz) so that the controller can be placed under or beside the machine. If/when I build my CNC setup, I want clear space on each side for work materials and dust and mount the controller under or beside a table.
Just to confirm, the Kickstarter comes as a kit? I'd need to assemble it? I'm totally comfortable doing that, just wondering more from a ship cost perspective.
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gpal
New Member
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Post by gpal on Aug 30, 2019 14:14:57 GMT
Do I have to wait until Sept 17 to make a purchase for the 19 inch machine at $1049.00?
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Post by awestruck on Aug 30, 2019 17:32:10 GMT
More questions.
Tell me more about your stepper motors. I see torque listings, any other details you can share? Kickstarter likely makes this difficult, but would it be possible to buy the mechanical kit + router? That is, I think I would add my own controller the more I think about it. Or maybe you can find a way to partner with OpenBuilds and use their BlackBox (wouldn't work with fourth axis I suspect, so maybe not ideal as a one size fits all).
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Post by Derek the Admin on Aug 30, 2019 20:54:43 GMT
Thanks for all the questions. I'll see if I can address them:
TGattis is correct about the laser. I think it is a great addition with a lot of advantages but I don't view it as a replacement for a CO2 laser you already own.
The plasma version will be available on Kickstarter along with some early bird spots for it as well. We had to work really hard with our freight company to get stated pricing to different zones for truck freight with residential delivery and lift gate service. The plasma water table will come from us already welded up, so it has to ship on a pallet. Expect freight on that to be around the high 200s on this campaign. For those those not familiar, that is an insanely low price for truck freight with residential and lift gate service (to lower it down from the truck). The router versions will flat pack and almost surely come to you via ground distribution (FedEx) at a much lower shipping cost. The plasma is a "bring your own torch" kind of thing. Our research showed most people that needed a CNC plasma table already had a plasma unit, so it didn't make sense for us to include that. We are using a Hypertherm Powermax 45XP that interfaces with CNC quite easily, but you can certainly use other, cheaper models so long as they are a blowback start versus a high frequency start like cheapo Chinese ones are. Our control will provide the torch control and optional torch height control signals that you can tie into. If using a plasma unit without a CNC interface you would have to tie nto your trigger.
The rack and pinion is something we are really excited about too. We've been working on this a while. A lot of the competition (well, about every competitor really) seems to have avoided rack and pinion because it can be expensive. Between the in house machining capability we've built out and some relationships we have cultivated with suppliers we've been able to pull it off while still keeping things affordable for the customer. It is a 20 diametral pitch system with a 14 tooth pinion. Repeatability and backlash are quite good. We have made videos that will be released demonstrating this. Resolution is also still great.
The motors are 270 inch ounce. We have been buying motors from another supplier but we just started having our own made to spec. We took in samples a couple months ago of the made to spec motors and just had our first run of thousands of motors finish production. The factory is running QC now and our own QC person is going to pull some and inspect next week.
Our control box is nicer than most others I think. It is the same one we are running the Power Route with right now. It's a laser cut and CNC bent sheet metal box that is powder coated black. We are running a Mega board with a forked version of Grbl. We have our own stepper drivers coming out of production that are the same large style used on the Power Route. Part of why we get such good velocity and acceleration from the machine is that we are pairing beefy motors to beefy stepper drivers and a 48vdc supply that, while more expensive, helps make the motors snappier.
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Post by Derek the Admin on Aug 30, 2019 20:56:22 GMT
Do I have to wait until Sept 17 to make a purchase for the 19 inch machine at $1049.00? Yes, unfortunately we aren't taking any orders on it until we open up the campaign the evening of the 17th. Early bird spots will be first come, first serve. We plan on having a good number of early bird spots, but it's hard to know exactly how fast they will be taken.
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Post by clueless on Aug 30, 2019 22:00:39 GMT
To preface, I am completely new to cnc of any sort. I was going to buy a carve king then saw the announcement about the Mega V and it seems like it is worth the wait.
Will there be an option to buy upgrades down the line? For example, to upgrade to the 35" from the 19" (sort of like shapeoko does) and to the t plate table? As a rookie, I just don't know whether I will need the larger size or t plate table.
Is the t plate table actually a bad idea given the fact that, as a new user, I'll probably crash a bit into the table at some point?
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Post by Bruce on Aug 31, 2019 3:03:47 GMT
There are many who use a spoil board on the T-plate base. This can protect it when cutting profile shapes. I don't require a perfectly flat surface for my projects so I just attach a spoil board to my workpiece with painters tape and super glue. Then clap the whole thing to the cnc base. If you test your G-code before actual cutting on the CNC you can catch weird things like plunging the router into the bed. But it is usually not a problem as long as you have everything zeroed correctly.
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Post by Derek the Admin on Aug 31, 2019 11:49:22 GMT
To preface, I am completely new to cnc of any sort. I was going to buy a carve king then saw the announcement about the Mega V and it seems like it is worth the wait. Will there be an option to buy upgrades down the line? For example, to upgrade to the 35" from the 19" (sort of like shapeoko does) and to the t plate table? As a rookie, I just don't know whether I will need the larger size or t plate table. Is the t plate table actually a bad idea given the fact that, as a new user, I'll probably crash a bit into the table at some point? I haven't decided on the matter of expansion. The way this is built it wouldn't be super hard for us to offer that as an option down the road, but honestly it hasn't been hashed out yet. As Bruce said, you would use a waste board for through cuts anyway and you can always test run. It is possible to still cut your bed though. With enough study and review it's possible to avoid it.
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Post by clueless on Aug 31, 2019 13:53:21 GMT
Thanks for the help guys. I'm looking forward to the 17th.
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Post by awestruck on Aug 31, 2019 20:43:53 GMT
Thank you for the further details Derek. Hopefully all the questions help you to build out further details to include in the Kickstart page. I like hearing you are specing your own motors and showing details of rack/pinion is cool too.
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Post by Derek the Admin on Sept 1, 2019 14:12:00 GMT
Yes, the Q and A is helpful in filling out an FAQ section for that page.
Let me know if you guys have any other questions.
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Post by awestruck on Sept 1, 2019 16:16:35 GMT
One thought I had was if the t-slot table is integral to the frame and part of the rigid aspect. Or can one easily swap out the t-slot and an MDF board?
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