I have been thinking about an Elite Journeyman and I’m planning the space for it. Centimeters matter. I tried to find good drawings with precise dimensions, but it is proving difficult. Even if there were authoritative drawings, a CAD model would be useful to model tables, enclosures and workshop space.
So far I did find some STEP models of the Journeyman in the forums, but they are not consistent with older drawings from Onefinity (the Y dimension is 1165mm or 45 7/8" in the Onefinity drawing, and 1138mm in the STEP models).
I can see this question comes up regularly, as people tend to run into the same problems.
Dear Onefinity — perhaps you could publish STEP models of your machines? That would not only answer all of our questions, but also allow us to design tables and accessories for the machines (like 3d-printed covers, hoods, etc).
you say “centimeters matter” and I can understand you can have such a situation in your workshop. But wouldn’t it be better to reserve more space for future modifications? Already the spindle drop problem on the new Z-20 assembly found on Elite machines leads to people seeing the need to retrofit stepper motors with brake or balancer springs. But also the fact that the stock Elite drag chains are not sufficient, neither for retrofitting anything at all, but not even sufficient for the promoted spindle option hoses and cables would suggest not trying to fit it with the least possible centimeter.
you could also come to the idea to retrofit an enclosure later, because on a CNC router, you not only have wood dust and flying chips, but what about a bit broken, with a bit debris flying around? That’s why…
However I don’t believe Onefinity will provide exact 3D models of their machines. All official drawings up to now have been somewhat incomplete. I hope the links (including the links to the official dimensions) I provided above with dimensions will help you the much possible.
I doubt Onefinity would openly share their STEP files. Even though the design is beautifully simplistic, it’s still not an ‘open source’ machine. Certainly the drawings & supplied dimensions Onefinity has already provided should be sufficient to accurately plan a worktable/workarea for the machine. Beyond that, you will either have to trust the models you find online (and adjust rail lengths accordingly to match Onefinity drawings), or reverse-engineer the actual components once you receive your machine.
So if you want to copy the machine, I don’t think that’s very difficult, just like assembling a 3D model from your own measurements and 3D models of the respective manufacturers of standard parts.
@Aiph5u — thanks for the comprehensive info! — but it seems that all these discussions just confirm my point: we are all wasting a lot of time trying to reverse-engineer and gather information that is already there, easily available to Onefinity.
@Bill, I disagree that the existing drawings are sufficient, and multiple questions and discussions on the forums seem to confirm my point. I also don’t think that offering simplified STEP models would harm Onefinity in any way. We don’t need to know the exact details, we need the correct external dimensions for the main components of the machines.
As to leaving enough space around the machine: that’s exactly what I’d like to do. But I would like to know how much space to leave, and this would be much easier if I knew the actual precise dimensions of the machine.
I have to admit I’m somewhat baffled: we are all CNC people. We live and breathe CAD, CNC and precision. And yet when it comes to documenting our machines we stick to somewhat hand-wavy “leave some space for the motor cables and drag chains, also the closed-loop motors will be different, also machine A is 16in wider than machine B” explanations? I think providing a bunch of STEP files with simplified models of the machines isn’t a huge effort and would help the community a lot!
@Jan, you might reach out to Onefinity customer support via email and ask them directly for some STEP files. I got a few from them in the early days, with the promise that they were for personal use and I would not share them. I don’t know if they have updated their policy on that, but it’s worth the ask. That’s how I was able to accurately dimension the drawing view that @Aiph5u posted, and how I modeled the custom machine in my avatar (which is shipped, and I hope to have Tuesday).
I didn’t know that. But I think besides using my dial caliper, I think I would make a 1:1 image of the Onefinity rails aluminum extrusion profile by simply placing it on a flatbed scanner, or by taking a photo with my repro lens, which has virtually no pincushion distortion.
Good idea, especially if it can be done with little or no distortion. I think between a good end photo and calipers, I could have reverse-engineered those blocks to a very close tolerance.
Most of the people I have dealt with don’t appreciate the importance of a good, straight-on pic of whatever it is I’m reverse-engineering. One of the trickiest jobs I did was reverse-engineering a set of floor mats for a friend who is an absolute Pontiac aficionado. He wanted a set of coasters modeled after the floor mats for his 1967 GTO. His pics were not ideal, but they turned out decent. Another example of hours on CAD, and minutes on the CNC.
1/4" Vinyl flooring. Relatively cheap (and many times free if you can find scraps or go to Lowe’s for ‘samples’). Cuts really clean and is a very good material for that use.
Having the ability to reach into the table is the reason why my machine table is 25 inches off the ground. I just need to get that video out so everyone can see it.
One issue I had is the y gantries are only sitting 1/8 of an inch off the table… My Opinion should have been a 1/2 inch or instruction to cut out the table beneath it. Wood sweals and mine did and it got stuck. So I had to build lifters out of Birch Plywood. All explained in this weeks video.
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Aiph5u
(Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))
12
Hey Lawrence,
if it’s a mp4, you can upload here with the “upload” icon in the message compositor top tab row.
On something like this, I use single-line CAD file, and use ‘Engrave’ (as opposed to ‘Carve’ in Estlcam). That way, I can easily control the ‘weight’ of the engraved lines by varying the depth.
That applies to the geometric components. The ‘PONTIAC’ text is v-carved. And I honestly don’t remember how I did the mat outlines. I may have offset the geometry and also used v-carve on those. But the smaller vertical lines and Pontiac emblems were single-line engraves.
