
MIT's Infinite Size CNC Router - MCompeau
http://www.alecrivers.com/positioncorrectingtools/
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DannyBee
This would be an amazing boon to hobbyist woodworkers (and i hope that's what
they mean by "consumer version"). A large amount of time routing is spent
making jigs or patterns templates or transferring measurements or ... Even
simple things like dado grooves require clamps and a straightedge.

Given the right price, almost every woodworker on the planet would likely buy
this.

They mention the precision is 0.009" average error, which is good enough for
woodworking, but not say, metalworking, or even any kind of precision plastic
parts.

They also mention "digital automation" in general, which this wouldn't
replace. Cabinet shops/etc use CNC machines not just because they are
accurate, repeatable, etc, but because they do not require humans to baby
them.

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briguy
This is very cool and has a lot of potential, however a few comments. I have
done a lot of hand routing and also have a 3-Axis CNC Router. Both hand
routing and CNC each have their own Setup Costs. (1) I can see this device
being very useful for artists and designers that are doing a lot of one-off
shapes and designs (perhaps for Set Design, pattern makers, templates, etc).
The setup costs to prepare CNC files for these types of Jobs account for the
majority of the costs. (2) However I would guess that the majority of field
(vs. shop) routing is done to "shape" the edge of wood (i.e. with a ogee or
roundover, etc). Short of having an on site upside down router table, this is
typically done (a) using a plunge bit with a top mounted guide for the Router
guard to follow or (b) using a router bit with a small Guide Wheel that
follows a top or bottom mounted template/guide edge. The router bits with
Guide Wheels can not easily be used for plunge routing and are a pain to use
in multi-pass scenarios. I don't know if they can get the precision, however I
would think that if this team could offset their sensors to follow the middle
of a piece of trim allowing someone to shape the edge of a piece of wood
"FreeHand" (after applying some guide tape) and get away from Guide wheels,
Clamps, Guides, etc. That would be a MAJOR use case. (3) After watching the
Video, I would urge users to wear dusk masks when routing.

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linhat
While I think this idea is awesome, it solves a _common_ problem in a unique
and creative way, I sadly cannot watch the video: "Unfortunately, this EMI-
music-content is not available in Germany because GEMA has not granted the
respective music publishing rights."

Oh my, one more video I cannot watch just because I am german and one more day
of my life ruined by them :(

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tarice
The video demonstrates the use of the router with no additional explanation.

Observations from the video:

1) On the screen is a picture of the object, with a blue path representing the
actual path of the router and a circle representing the fault tolerance of the
system. Apparently, keep the path inside of the circle and you win.

2) The computer can move the router independently of its mount, within the
tolerance represented by the onscreen circle.

3) It looks really easy to operate.

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noonespecial
Programming it to make straight cuts without setting up a fence alone would
make this a buy for me, shapes be damned.

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hexagonal
Prediction: The router will be cheap, the special plywood with the calibration
stickers will be very expensive.

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JohnsonB
I imagine eventually they could do away completely with calibration stickers
and just use regular surface tracking with any old plywood.

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jurjenh
But then you might want to use it with lets say glossy plain-coloured melamine
sheets - most surface trackers have a lot of problems with this, so the
calibration stickers are a cheap and reliable solution.

The only issue I can see is kick-back from the router bit, especially if you
use larger diameter bits - this can throw the router significantly, and unless
the control system compensates quickly yet gently, you may well lose tracking,
leading to undefined results.

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drone
A neat application, indeed - but there is definitely something to find flaw
with: it is purported to provide the ability to route arbitrarily large pieces
at a very low cost. However, a human operator is not like a gantry-style CNC
router, they cannot simply "fly" over the work area. Typically, must operate
the router in a "push and pull" fashion to maintain control. A human would
become weary very quickly if you put them in a harness over a 50-ft piece of
material and forced them to push and pull with their arms hanging below them.
Finding motors with enough torque, but not so much to put the human in danger
(you wouldn't want a software flaw to push the router in a dangerous direction
without the operator being able to override it with their own physical
strength) will limit what bits and materials the process can be used on.
Granted, I'm fairly certain few are expecting to CNC route metallic materials
by hand. =)

Overall a cool new application - I find the display on the screen one of the
best features, and, in fact, I'd kill to have something like that -without-
the motor correction. One could, with some work, replace the motors with
encoders attached to spinning shafts, which were limited in which direction
they could spin, and get rid of the tape - simply showing the user that they
are following the pattern or not.

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maxko87
This is awesome! But in this case, instead of introducing the human element,
wouldn't it be (relatively) easy to make the entire apparatus self-driving and
programmable? As in, mount this thing on a Roomba-like robot and give it a
coarse driving path?

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rabidsnail
Getting a grip on the surface good enough to give you the control you need in
the presence of sawdust is a lot harder than it looks at first glance. You
might be able to make it work by putting a big magnet on the underside of the
surface to attract the router, though.

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p0ckets
It would have to an extremely powerful magnet though, since it can't be right
below the router.

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rabidsnail
It could if had its own set of wheels+servos. But it would still have to be
powerful enough to attract the router through the surface.

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wheremiah
I think that the magnet idea could work if you added 3 electro-magnets to the
router chassis and made another chassis (to ride around underneath) with 3
corresponding ferro magnetic pads.

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ktizo
You could just have removable weights on it. Suction feet is the other obvious
one.

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dfbrown
It would be neat if it could follow a line drawn on the board, eliminating
need for a digital version of the design and the calibration stickers.

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sebastianavina
I don't want to be pesimist, but I give it 6 months to a open source
alternative to be released.

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rabidsnail
Why do you need to put barcode markers on the surface? What's wrong with
optical mice?

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cskau
My guess is for a sort of absolute positioning as opposed to the relative
positioning of an optical mouse. A mouse produces deltas relative to your
previous position, while the bar codes are always in the same place. The
problem with relative positioning is that even a small inaccuracy will
accumulate over time, resulting in edges being off in the end.

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rexreed
Genius - even though the router is made by Dewalt, I hope it's patent
protected and licensed by MIT so we can start seeing this in Home Depot /
Lowes without one company owning the rights.

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rexreed
Of course, my question is answered by this: "A consumer version of the
position-correcting router is being developed, to be released by a forthcoming
startup." - No doubt the same people in this video, technology licensed from
MIT. Company to be acquired by Dewalt within 24 mos. after commercialization.

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hexagonal
Not really within the remit of Dewalt, whose branding is "big manly
construction equipment", and this is more of a fine-woodworking/hobbyist
product. (The pros will still use their big CNC table routers, which don't
require human intervention, and can cut much much faster) Maybe Dremel?

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rexreed
Dewalt is basically the prosumer brand of Black & Decker (which owns Dewalt)

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samstave
what about projecting the sticker patterns onto the wood rather than real
stickers?

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ars
The wood will move slightly when it's cut, so that won't work.

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samstave
I am quite sure this can be countered - the wood could be clamped and the
router could be tracked and the picture adjusted.

Further, the amount of movement would not make your routes completely
useless/wildly inaccurate.

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brk
What you just described is getting halfway to a CNC machine.

Another benefit of this system would be portability. You can set it up and use
it almost anywhere, like at a job site.

Having a system with clamps, overhead tracking, etc. is going in the wrong
direction. It's not like the stickers are some huge inconvenience or expensive
consumable.

