The resolution and price looked fantastic, but can anyone tell me how the difference between the 'Software resolution' and 'Mechanical resolution' will affect the final model? Er, what does those figures actually mean in English. http://www.rolanddgn.com/Products/detai ... ifications
As the product is more than 2 years old, I apologize in advance if there are other threads which i should have read.
Thanks!
There sits Jesus in his mafia suit,
Sipping tea with quiet intend,
Waiting in the darkest part of my soul,
Waiting to kick my butt back up again.
I contacted a local Roland representative to demonstrate.
He 'organised everything' then never got back to me.
One concern is the inability to do undercuts... but that's a problem with most router-type subtractive processes. The resolution looks very nice.
My real issue is the prescriptive nature of the controlling software. I would like to be able to import my own meshes... and I don't think I can do that. I would love someone to tell me otherwise.
In English terms, the software resolution is .00004 inches. This means that the software can instruct the machine to move in increments as small as forty millionths of an inch. This is typical for CNC software.
The mechanical resolution claims to be much greater, allowing stepovers as little as seven millionths of an inch. I don't know much about this machine, but I'm inclined to regard that as a typo. I don't know why the mechanical resolution is so much greater than the software resolution, even so, it is orders of magnitude finer than anything you can cut with a straight edge and a knife.
Distance from the collet to the table top is 55mm, or 2.165". Remember, even the shortest cutting tool is going to take up some of this, maybe half an inch or more. And whatever part you are cutting will take up more. Basically what it is saying is that you won't be able to make pieces much thicker than an inch and a half.
Maximum X and Y dimensions are 2.165" by 3.386". A little bigger than a playing card. This volume is also reduced a little bit by practical considerations. In other words, you are going to have to find a way to hold your workpiece in the machine, and those clamps or bolts or whatever will have to fit inside that volume as well. When cutting plastic, resin, or foam, you can probably just tape the parts to the table with double sticky tape.
If you're willing to learn to use 3D CAD-CAM software, (which looks like it comes with the package), and aren't trying to make studio scale parts, this sounds like a fun little machine.
Thanks for all the input.
Some rare kits come up, so I won't be testing this little miller soon. Despite the typo, the hardware seems OK. I will do more research on the software.
There sits Jesus in his mafia suit,
Sipping tea with quiet intend,
Waiting in the darkest part of my soul,
Waiting to kick my butt back up again.
