Hey guys, I haven’t gotten my machine yet but am preparing for it and was wondering what others had done as far as where it’s setup. Did you just put it on a table or shelf? Using a dedicated computer? Has anyone tried running it from a windows tablet such as a Surface Pro?
I’m thinking of putting the machine in a different room on a toolbox/workbench than my main office depending on how loud it is but would need some sort of interface to it and was thinking of the Surface Pro or an all-in-one pc.
I just ran mine using a Sony Tap 11 tablet, without problems (and without keyboard.) So yeah, it’s doable. I plan to mount that one to the top, and I’m thinking of bracket designs that hold it and also limit the top from going back more than 45 degrees, as well as being removable.
It’s fairly quiet. I think my Mendel Prusa printer makes a bit more noise, but like a schoolkid I was rather close by.
I’ve run mine from a Surface Pro 2, and we were running the Shapeoko3 at Maker Faire all day for three days straight, so it’s definitely doable. I would recommend some kind of keyboard, but you could get away with just the buttons on the UI.
I set up the Nomad on one of the desks in my office, right next to the Rep2.
It makes noise but is not really objectionable. It produces very little dust, but I
was noticing a light dust coating on my Rep2 after a few days, so I put a small
fan in the window next to the Nomad and have not had any issues since doing
that.
I started out with the Nomad in my main office because while I have experience in CAD design and 3D printing I am new to CNC. It is not yet a ‘fire and forget’ kind of thing, and it helps to be close to it so I can keep an eye on the Nomad cuts while working on other things.
I run the Nomad with an old MacBook Pro so I can’t tell you much about using it with
a surface Pro…
I use an older convertible notebook/tablet with Windows 8.1. It works fine. There is no functional difference between this older computer and a Surface Pro, when used with the machine.