Hi All, A little update,

Lasers
,
1

Hi All,
A little update,
We have been busy crossing the ts and dotting the i’s.

We have also added a few upgrades to the machine,

Ball screws have replaced the trapezoidal threads, and a Nema 23 now drives a HTD 3m closed loop belt for the bed.

The bed has been reworked to allow for fast interchanging. The blades can now all be removed as one unit, so switching between honeycomb, blades or rotary should be hassle free. The 20x40mm extrudes make for a great frame to attach clamps, custom jigs and alternative beds such as a rotary.
Speaking of rotary, we have added a 4 pin plug so you can already easily attach and detach a 4th axis motor without having to run a new cable.

The blades have also been reworked to provide better airflow and less flashback.

There is now a 24v 150w output plug on the right side of the machine, this is used to hook up the compressor allowing it to be directly controlled by the software/smoothie board.

The Pi 3 has been replaced with a Pipo x9s which is a windows 10 computer. It runs laserweb and other opensource control interfaces far better than the pi ever did. However, we have left the mounting holes for the pi in the electronics area in case you still want a pi as well.
Some other features of the new computer are:
8.9 inch touch screen, usb 3 ports, strong wifi so you should be able to reach your wifi hub even if your machine is in the back shed!

We have added a cooling fan to the smoothieboard. We never experienced any over heating but more cooling never hurt anyone.

There is now a choice of 2 locations to extract your air; left side and centre back.

Enclosed cable chain, to help keep the inside looking cleaner and dust free.

X axis servo future proofing.
Raster engraving is awesome but can be slow, so to future proof the machine we have provided the mounting holes on the X axis for a possible future Nema 23 servo which could increase raster engraving speed significantly!

Standard components are ordered and in the post, for the custom ones we are currently finishing off the 2D drawings, double checking everything and they will be ordered by the end of this week.

We will update the website in the coming weeks with more in depth information and the first kit assembled :slight_smile:

Stay tuned.

FabCreator
Bonne

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2

Changes look good … From the pictures it seems like you replaced the gantry sliders with rods/bearings?

As for the touchscreen positioning, can it be controlled while you are standing in front of the machine? The angle looks like it’s hard to read/press from ‘above’

3

The touch screen has a pretty good angle viewing was not an issue when we tested it on the current machine :slight_smile:
Gantry sliders?

The X axis is a TBI linear guide rail,
The Y axis is 16mm chrome steel linear rod, This has not changed since the first kit design.

4

@Bonne Wilce Sounds good! Looking forward to it. I take it the updated website will include the final outer dimensions? Just so I can start prepping my workshop for the Fabkit’s arrival :wink:

Nice job on the easy bed replacement btw :slight_smile:

5

Hi @Eloy_Hensen laserweb should work on your mac,

The pipo is the control interface on the machine, jogging test firing loading files, playing files etc.
For most jobs you would slice the file in laserweb on your normal mac or pc and then save it in the cloud or usb. load it into the FabKit via your cloud or plug the usb in. Copy it over and start cutting.
The pipo has 64gb of storage so you can keep old files on the machine nicely organised and ready to be cut at anytime :slight_smile:

Does that help answer your question?

6

@Krijn_Schaap yes, once the drawings are finished we will add a space on the next website update so you guys can access them :slight_smile:

7

@Eloy_Hensen ​ LaserWeb works perfectly on a Mac OS X.

8

Can’t wait! Looking good… My ‘back shed’ has wired ethernet though… :wink:
Love the new design and new features. I got a few test projects ready to go when it’s assembled!

9

Great news, Thanks for the update :wink:

10

I knew Peter would be happy about the Pipo :slight_smile:

11

@Bonne Wilce, bed has remained 650x450? I need to order some stuff for cutting, wanna make sure it’s later also useable on the fabkit :slight_smile:

12

I just want to start building already! :smiley:

Hurry up with those parts already, you lazy fabricators! Get them to @Bonne Wilce & Saskia, so they can send them to us! :wink:

13

Hi @Krijn_Schaap the bed has remained 650x450, but i would recommend getting material which is 600x400. As material 650x450 is not very common.
Also if you cut at the very limits of the machine you risk it having an out of bounds error, which is one of the reasons we increased it. Ensuring cutting and engraving 600x400mm is never an issue and also it now fits A2 craft materials :slight_smile:

Hardware stores gamma, praxis pontmyers you can buy 1220x2440 sheet for not a lot get them to cut it (for free) and that makes 12 600x400 boards :slight_smile:

@CescoAiel patients I have to write the instructions first :smiley:

14

@Bonne Wilce ROFLOL! What, jou mean to say it’s not all intuitive and straight forward?.. :stuck_out_tongue:

15

Can you give us an update on the final dimensions?

16

@Krijn_Schaap which dimensions do you need?

17

Machine outer dimensions. Need to determine if it will fit where i want it :slight_smile:

18

Most important for me atm is the width of tge machine (including parts sticking out of the side ideally) :slight_smile:

19

Width is 1150mm
Depth is 823.50mm (excluding the screen 763mm)
Height is 455mm (+600mm to open the door fully)

You will also need to add some space at the back of the machine for the power and water cables, in addition to the air outtake which can be on the back or left side.
I would say about 10cm clearance for the cables and maybe 20cm for the airoutake

20

Thanks Bonne. If the left intake isnt used, is there some cap on the outside taking up space too?