Quote Originally Posted by Sky View Post
If this is the same LoboCNC as http://jrkerr.com/lobocnc/index.html then his positive review should be respected. I have experience using his CNC and was impressed with his extensive knowledge of both the hardware and software.

Been working with 3D printers for about 2 years now and the M3D and this one seem to be on the right track for consumer desktop 3D printer.

In my experience and cantilever design is total failure. Truly, any moving bed was failure. (MB you know who you are). Most of that was due to the acceleration of the beds mass, leading to vibration. Now that you are only moving in 2-d, you'll have uniform Z-axis acceleration for the print bed.

I'm very curious to see how the separated mechanics will operate in unison.

My assumption is you'll get the speed of having a fixed extruder while maintaining the capability to do high delicacy prints (something cantilever beds super fail at (( in comparison with non-moving bed printer))).
Yes, I'm the same LoboCNC - thanks for the vote of confidence! One thing to be clear on is the distinction between a cantilevered bed that moves in Z (very difficult to do) and a cantilevered extruder that moves in Z. With a cantilevered extruder, all you need to do is accurately position a single point (the extruder nozzle) in space. Because the mass of the extruder is constant and the drag loads from laying down filament are small, you can position accurately without needing a hugely stiff structure. With a cantilevered build table you are not only need to worry about the position of the table but also the orientation of the table plane. Tiny deviations in your mechanism (rod straightness, etc) can cause the table to tilt which really magnifies these errors at the perimeter of the table. Also, just the weight of printed object can cause the table to deflect if the structure is not incredibly stiff. In general, though, it's hard to make any sweeping statements about the best place to put your X, Y and Z motion axes because so much depends on the actual implementation. For what it's worth, I've printed tiny 10 tooth 2mm pitch timing belt pulleys on the Mod-t prototypes, so it should be capable of pretty detailed prints.

And regarding the M3D printer - it'll be nice when New Matter finally releases some specs and pricing - it will make an interesting comparison.