
Kickstarter Campaign Produces Large Affordable CNC Cutting Machine - at-fates-hands
http://www.archdaily.com/798562/kickstarter-campaign-produces-large-affordable-cnc-cutting-machine
======
abakker
Repost of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12705546](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12705546)

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danso
The OP should mention that this isn't the first time the creators have run a
campaign. As a frequent reader of r/shittykickstarters, my initial reaction
was " _Someone ambituous wants someone else 's money to produce something that
sounds awesome but will probably fail in reality_"...but these folks [0] have
passed the main litmus test of actually delivering on their previous campaign
[1], which means they're much less likely to fuck up like Coolest Cooler or
the many other KS projects that amount to nothing, because they have supply-
chain experience and realistic expectations.

(some examples of hopeful, non-scamming amateurs going down in flames are
Peachy Printer, the $99 3D printer [2], and Zano, the nano drone [3])

[0] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1830738289/maslow-
cnc-a...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1830738289/maslow-
cnc-a-500-open-source-4-by-8-foot-cnc-machi)

[1]
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makesmithcnc/makesmith-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makesmithcnc/makesmith-
cnc-the-most-affordable-desktop-cnc-rout)

[2] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117421627/the-peachy-
pr...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117421627/the-peachy-printer-the-
first-100-3d-printer-and-sc/posts/1707009)

[3] [https://medium.com/kickstarter/how-zano-raised-millions-
on-k...](https://medium.com/kickstarter/how-zano-raised-millions-on-
kickstarter-and-left-backers-with-nearly-nothing-85c0abe4a6cb#.g8nqtzd7l)

~~~
tonyarkles
Full disclosure: I'm the contractor that designed the USB version of the
Peachy Printer, but have nothing to do with the YXE3D other than being a
mentor of sorts to their electronics lead.

[http://www.yxe3d.com](http://www.yxe3d.com)

Last I heard, they're on the cusp of shipping what is essentially the Peachy
in a better form factor with all of the rough edges worked out (eg
successfully going through a laser safety classification). The Peachy was
legitimately close to being a success, and had the other founder (who I've
never met) not stolen the money, I'm pretty sure it would have shipped.

Still a bit grouchy about all that. I put a pile of creative engineering into
the electronics and firmware, only to have the project scuttled by the finance
fuck up. And while that team probably started out having insufficient
experience building and shipping a product, they did a pile of learning and
were on the cusp.

I'm very glad that yxe3d is keeping the design alive, it's just unfortunate
that the Kickstarter backers won't be made whole.

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dalbasal
How far is this from being able to print ikea furniture or a kitchen cabinets?

~~~
DannyBee
It's not accurate enough to do either :)

At least, you'd _notice_ the issues.

Note that no cnc of this style will really ever produce raised panel kitchen
cabinets.

Slab ones or fake raised panels out of MDF you could probably do, but gravity
is on the wrong axis here, so i wouldn't expect great results for the latter.

You can't make real dovetail drawers without vertical holding, but you can
make fake ones that look about right.

But there, they require something about 7-10x more accurate than this thing.

So the true answer is "really far".

Also note that cabinets are mostly plywood and not solid wood (because solid
wood is not really stable enough), so you also need edge banding

I won't go into the finishing aspect.

Just to give you some idea of speed as well, most cabinet shops making cabinet
parts do a sheet of parts in 5-10 minutes at 1200-1600ipm

This thing would take ~20-30x as long, minimum, to do the same sheet, at
48ipm, even if it was accurate to do so.

It's a minimum because you don't have the acceleration numbers here. The
1200-1600ipm ones are very fast accelerating machines so the _average_ ipm is
quite high.

No idea on the maslow (and i expect the "real world precision" goes down as
the acceleration speed goes up. Even with a closed loop, it doesn't save you,
because then it has settling time, etc)

~~~
uabstraction
Any idea what tolerances this thing is supposed to hold? As someone who
started reading Hack A Day, then later became a machinist in a well equipped
production shop, it kind of blows my mind how far off the hobbyist equipment
is from production machinery (and most of them have no idea). After running
Citizen screw machines, 4 and 5 axis mills, wire and sink EDMs, and dual
spindle lathes which can hold ±.0005" all day, and grinders which hold
±.00005" it's somewhat grating listening to people say that desktop 3D
printers and such will revolutionize the world.

Apart from that, this looks like a great platform for large crafts, engraving,
and signage projects, but I expect it's manufacturing capacities to be rather
limited. Another tool in the toolbox is never a bad thing.

~~~
emp_zealoth
It's horribly inaccurate even by desktop 3D printers standards. I'd be
surprised if it can stay 1mm and the repeatability is probably non-existent

