I’ve been very happy with my 2x4 5 Pro for the last couple years, but more and more I find myself wanting more space, and unfortunately the space I need is mostly in the X axis. in my ideal world I would have the ability to cut half sheets of 5x5 baltic birch, with the option to tile for full 5x5 or even 5x10 cuts.
I could live with the 24" Y on my 5 pro if I could somehow make the X 12"+ wider. Is there any possibility of doing so reasonably? new beam, new linear rails, new ball screw, keep Z assembly extend drag chain and wiring where necessary. would carbide motion be able to handle a custom size?
Or should I sell my 5pro setup and go with something else? the most cost effective, this is a hobby shop not a business, one I’ve run across would be a 5x5 Avid. They say they will do custom but don’t know if they will do shorter. I ‘could’ rearrange the shop to fit a 5x5, but I would rather not. I would also rather not spend at least double the cost of the 5pro.
don’t need for every job and tiling through Y takes care of most, but its much nicer to not have to do that. and with 24" Y most of my jobs would be 2 moves/tiles to get the 60". this is mostly a convivence kind of thing, i don’t ‘need’ a bigger machine it would just make my life easier.
honestly my temptation is to go get a 5’x5’ but my more logical side says I should save the money for more important things.
Shopsabre was the company which beat us out the last time I recall the CNC Cookbook folks running a Customer Satisfaction Survey, but not sure if they make a machine which would suit or what the pricing would be.
I wished for a 5’x5’ machine before the SO5 Pro was in development, and if one had been made, would have somehow figured out how to get one and set one up (have dreams of making big stuff) — but that’s a different class of machine, and a whole 'nother set of problems in terms of kitting, packaging, shipping, and assembly — I’d still like to have one, but the pricing make them pretty much a business proposition w/ depreciation and so forth.
It’s amazing how far we have managed to take the machines since the beginning — this December it will have been 15 years since launch:
My first machine was #364(R) which I bought used off eBay since it came w/ a controller (that I wasn’t feeling confident about wiring up which was what kept me from backing).
Some of what may help me decide of course, is if I were to put a wider gantry on my 5pro could carbide motion be configured to work with it, or is it only for set sizes?
Initial setup would not be able to set the right size, but there are editable config files that can be used to change the width and length of the machine.
I do so on my SO3 to maximize the usable footprint, since the defaults leave some buffer space around the edges that I would rather use.
For whatever it’s worth, I was in the same boat. I loved my 4x2 but needed the extra capacity. I went with the Shapeoko 4x4 but wished they would have released a 5x5, too. I tried to justify the extra money and learning curve to switch companies, but ended up staying with Shapeoko. The install and software were very familiar to me. I knew what I was getting into with the Shapeoko (the devil you know kind of thing). The 4x4 isn’t perfect, but at least, I have the extra 2 ft.
As an FYI, I sold my 4x2 on Facebook marketplace for about half of what I originally paid for it, and it was less than a year old.
Maybe one day, carbide3d will come out with a 5x5! I’ll probably consider upgrading if they do.