Will it take all the fun away........?

[MartinS]

Spotted this





I'm sure that there will be comments?

[Neale]

Won't take any fun away - there'll be a crowd of people who try to use it to make a hole in a workpiece and then watch it drive itself into the hole...

But it's an interesting idea. Not sure how practical it will be. We don't see much of that other idea that came out a couple of years ago - a hand-held router with a built-in correction facility. You moved the router roughly where you wanted it to cut, and its on-board positioning system "corrected" the cutter position to get an exact cut. Again, an interesting concept, and who knows if someone can turn it into a practical machine. Where would we be without people exploring new angles? I bet there were a lot of people who said that the whole idea of fused-filament 3D printing was never going to fly...

[Neale]

[duplicate post]

[MartinS]

I bet there were a lot of people who said that the whole idea of fused-filament 3D printing was never going to fly...

.....and many people who said that aeroplanes would never "take off" (grandpa Wright?). And if the "goliath" does sell, how many will end up at the back of the cupboard with the juicer and bread maker?

Hmmmm.... where's my Raspberry Pi?

[Neale]

Hey, don't knock the breadmaker! I'm just sitting down to lunch with fresh bread straight from the machine! But I know what you mean

[MartinS]

Bum....you use it!

Ever since we bought some stone ground flour in France this summer, my wife has wanted a bread maker.

I was hoping to find a bread maker from the "back of the cupboard" going cheap

Bah, foiled again....

[Clive S]

Bum....you use it!

Ever since we bought some stone ground flour in France this summer, my wife has wanted a bread maker.

I was hoping to find a bread maker from the "back of the cupboard" going cheap

Bah, foiled again....

We have been using one for 5 years making two loaves a week.

[mekanik]

I make two loaves a week but mines a bit more complicated(sprouted grain) more handamatic than automatic

[Zeeflyboy]

I think for people that want to do light duty work on large panels it'll be great... obviously it's never going to compete with a proper machine in any way at all, but a lot of people may not have the space for a full panel machine and only need to do fairly basic cuts on it - basically like what one would do with a hand router but without the need to use jigs and guide rails etc.

Depends how much it costs really... if they managed to get it out for say 400-500 quid then I could see it doing well just for the convenience over a hand held router for most.

[A_Camera]

.....and many people who said that aeroplanes would never "take off" (grandpa Wright?).

...the difference is that the people who didn't believe that anything heavier than air could ever fly didn't really understood the principles of flying, so you can't really compare that with a "self driving router". There are some serious problems with the principle of driving on top of the work piece. Some example:
- the mass of the machine must be huge to work at all, and that will demand quite powerful motors to drive around.
- there is going to be an issue as soon as something gets under any of the wheels.
- there is going to be an issue as soon as the work piece gets dusty.
- speed is a serious limitation, as well as accuracy.
- it will need more than just three sets of wheels to be able to move accurately in any direction.
- the surface must be even, so in practical reality, I think the maximum work area is limited to the distance between the wheels.
- the milled surface pattern must be pretty simple, for example sign making/engraving.
- what about fixture? Smaller pieces can't be milled.

In other word, an expensive and cool toy with limited usability. Possible to make it but will not replace table top or larger CNC routers. Not really comparable with airplanes ability to fly.