I think we can make use of 3d printing pen, any ideas?
It’s doable, and has been done. Problems:
- all milling dust / debris has to be cleaned up before switching to 3D print mode
- needs a different controller which can control an additional axis (the extruder) and do heat management (the hot end)
See: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable for some general notes and Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable for my documentation of the conversion of an SO2.
3D printers have come way down in price so the cost of mods do not justify the price anymore.
Here is the one I have and have been using it for years now.
It has great support on the web and Thingiverse.
And the price of what looks like a similar printer fully assembled from Monoprice is down to $319 - I picked one up on Black Friday and I’m very happy with it so far. It’s not the printer to get if you care about perfect finishes on parts, but it’s been fun to use so far.
The much larger bed size on the XCarve probably isn’t going to buy you much; you’re going to need a build surface (maybe even a heated build surface), and the print times are going to be very long if you’re aiming for parts that are big in X and Y.