Show idea/question? Combined 3d printer, CNC router (& laser cutter?)

I'd buy it!

i´d been thinking about this lately (i didnt come up with those names, they are cool though. I "Quimera" could be a good name also..).

It would be great if ben could make a diy laser (for a laser cutter) tutorial, since all the material i found on the web are barely paper burning lasers..

The only comments I have, is that often CNC machines and 3D printers require different architectures, sure they are both 3D machines, but a 3D printer requires speed and not much torque and can use a lot less durable materials in their design.  CNC machines require stronger bases, steppers configured to run slower and more accurate while providing more torque.  Your axis have to be set up to withstand more weight and have less play because of the forces invovled with a heavy cutting/milling head and cutting into hard materials.  So you can design a CNC machine to be a 3D printer, but its probably not going to be the most efficient 3D printer and probably quite over-engineered.

A 3D printer and laser cutter would at first seem to be a better fit, but you also have to worry about enclosing the whole thing for laser safety, fume extraction and etc, so each machine kind of has their own designs for their own reasons.

I recommend checking out http://buildlog.net/ , they have a good mix of laser/cnc/printers.  In fact, I believe the owner/runner of buildlog is the one who started Makerslide, and also sold 3D printers based on it (ORD bots).  My hobby mill I have is also based on Makerslide.

First off, thank you for your replies.

colecago, the over engineered part of the 3d printer comes with the fact that you will have one less machine standing in the way and one less machine to buy.

If the sacrifice would be speed, than it probably depends on how much speed you would lose to consider if it's a fair trade-of.

The laser safety could be a problem, thought I do not know what safety measures are required.

Buildlog sure has loads of projects and makerslide look awesome, thanks for the tips.

I sure would like to hear Ben's opinion about this.

To me it sounds like the sort of thing he could do.

Though I was a little bit disappointed he didn't build his own CNC, I would love to have seen that/those episode(s).

hi, actually Ben built a CNC machine in one of the first episodes and he shows how he assembles the one in his shop in an episode in which he answers questions and shows his shop around..

Colecago´s insight looks pretty solid, i don´t have one (yet) but 3d printers seems really slow, and to sacrifice an already slow speed could be too much for me.

I´d go for a 3d printer/laser cutter, maybe this new year i can start with something.

As I recall it, the CNC he build was more or less just assembling according to instructions.

The show didn't really suit the time needed for a big project like that, maybe with the increase in episodes this season a long project (like this ) could be done.

After Googling a bit to find some info on hybrid CNC/3d printer/laser cutter, I found the sumpod and easymaker (both CNC/3d printer combo's).

So it appears to be possible for light milling (according to several forum posts about the sumpod).

And as far as being slow, this youtube video makes the sumpod look pretty fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycU8JwEmRTI

So it looks to be possible to combine CNC and 3d printing, then it must also be possible to combine the laser cutter

I can't find anything about the thickness and materials the sumpod can mill.

I wouldn't want the cuttings from a CNC milling machine any where near my 3d printer.

For laser engraving/cutting everything has to be enclosed by metal or laser safety glass, and you're going to need a vacuum setup for fumes as well. For the router setup you need stronger, slower (or much more expensive) motors and much stronger framing. You'd also benefit from a vacuum table, so that's at least easy to combine with the laser cutter. If you did all of this, you'd most likely end up with a 3d printer that wasn't capable of that good of a resolution. Overall, you'd get a jack of all trades, but it would suck at all trades too.

Not to mention with all of this, I don't see this being much less than $10,000 and I haven't seen Ben do many overly expensive builds.

That being said, I would totally love one of these.

I thing the dust of the cnc (when it's work) can affect laser, miror or extruder. It's can be a problem

Having a way to seal off the sensitive part of the laser equipment when not in use would be simple enough. And you would most likely have the extruder and whatnot be detachable pieces that are only in the machine when you use it.