Introducing The ELITE Foreman, a 48x48 cutting machine

At some point the size will dictate that the shop is the enclosure

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Can we get the envelope or footprint dimensions of the foreman with the stand? The stand legs look canted out. I too would like to make an enclosure, but Iā€™ve decided to section off a corner of my shopā€¦ for noise reduction, dust minimization, and to be able to heat it with minimal cost/effort in the winter.

They posted to footprint in this post

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Is the footprint of the stand available?

Its 68.251x62.547

Thanks! (12 more letters)

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In a quick search, I saw that it is not recommended to mount the elite series vertically to a wall. Can we get an explanation why this is the case? Iā€™d really like to mount my elite foreman at about 30 degrees from the vertical to save floor space and I would like to build my own vertical-ish fixture/stand so I can move it around the shop if needed. Is it not recommended because there are isnā€™t any onefinity made hardware for doing it? Or is there a concern with the electrics or gantry itself in the vertical orientation?

I have the same question. I was told by tech support

ā€œElite machines are intended for professionals and professional cncs are not wall mounted. If you need tech support, youā€™ll be required to place your machine horizontally in the recommended position before tech support would be able to assist you.ā€

Id like to know if it will damage itself or burn out the motors or not cut accurately if wall mounted. Maybe it hasnā€™t been tested yet? If the ELITE can mount to the QCW frame and the QCW frame is required for wall mounting I donā€™t understand a reason it cant physically hang on the wall or angled surface.

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A couple of things come to mind (in no particular order):

  1. This series is new in many ways, and I imagine will bring a whole new onslaught of tech support questions, so limiting its installation parameters will most likely help 1F more effectively help the majority of new Elite users

  2. The Elite series uses Masso optical sensors, which unless protected to a greater degree in vertical mounting positions, may result in unforeseen issues

  3. The Masso closed loop steppers have more torque than the standard 1F offerings, so for the CNCs that already support a wall mount I donā€™t imagine a similar sized Elite version would have an issue mounted in the same way. This would not be the case for the Foreman, which can most likely have greater mass being acted on by gravity than the smaller offerings.

  4. I do not think the new Z assembly adds significantly more mass in relation to the rest of the hardware being moved by the motors. If 1F feels that is part of the issue, we would/should probably see a caution sent by 1F for current owners using wall mounts and who plan to upgrade with either a new Z 20 assembly, or perhaps even a new ā€˜stiffyā€™ rail, or both.

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I was under the impression it was only referring to the foreman and the other ones could be, and i imagine that is a weight issue.

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I am not sure what information @Captain was referring to, but Onefinity Support commented in one forum thread that ā€¦ā€œNo Elite series can hang on the wallā€.

I see this now. Never intended to, so its not a deal breaker for me.

Maybe something to add to/caveat your limit switch part, the reasons you listed a general gyrostabilization issue or maybe itā€™s just the cord length and the masso controller itself

An alternative to wall mount, what about a pulley system to the ceiling bonus points for attaching a motor, which would theoretically not have the same router requirement??

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I believe the motorized, or hand cranked, ceiling lift has been done.

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Yeah @TMToronto, that was the same line I read. All I really want to know is will my machine have issues if I make my own 30 degree ā€œtableā€ and mount the cnc to it. If the reason for recommending against vertically mounting it is that its never been tested at onefinity or they have not released supporting hardware, I can totally respect that and try it at my own risk. But if onefinity has tried it and found issues during testing, well I know that I shouldnt even bother.

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To add. I am planning on storing my elite journyman vertical for storage on a flip table. Assuming that wouldnt be an issue. I hope.

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I would guess it is related to closed loop steppers. Stepper driver positioning may not work well when vertically mounted.

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Interesting suggestion. I donā€™t use them myself, but canā€™t think of a reason why orientation would be a factor. Perhaps one day I will find out :smiley:

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Maybe not the orientation itself. But the extra mass (z gantry) needed to carry. And how it behaves on power off/on. Iā€™m not sure if it will move axis to last known position when powered on.

And yeah Iā€™m just guessing. It is the only big difference between elite and regular machines that is affected by orientation. And wall mount anyway seems to be ā€œMakita onlyā€ accessory.

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Its looking like we wont get any more details about why onefinity recommends to not mount the machine vertically during operation. Hopefully we can at least get a yay/nay on whether the machine can be stored vertically.

@OnefinityCNC
When the tool setter becomes available for purchase, will we be able to lump the shipping ect into our purchase order? Also is there an estimated pricepoint for it yet?

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