I was reading the phlatforum and came across this post from September. It looks like Mark & Trish are working on a new machine which will be named the BalsaBuddy.
The BB looks like a small version of Phlatboys Phlatprinter foam cutter; but is designed for cutting hard materials such as plastic and wood.
In Mark's words:
You will still be able to cut foam but as well we want to be able to cut lite ply, plastics, etc.. :) (Not sure of all the cool materials we will be able to cut with this one yet :D )
The tool on this machine will be interchangeable from the Dremel to the Rotozip direct face mount on the z gantry to allow for larger collet sizes which will open us up to a whole new level of bit selections!
Right now the dimensions are at 18.5" for the Length, 9.5", Depth 13" Height (without handle)
The cutting material width max is 12.5" The height is 0.5" but I am working on moving that up.
All axis will be geared using belt and pulley reduction. The z will use amce geared as well.
These are all target sizes and components for this machine as we start the testing phase there will be changes I'm sure, but its going together nice and compact and really looking strong.
I have left several key features off of the above picture :) I don't want to show too much at this stage and spoil the surprise.
You really can't get an idea of just how small the BalsaBuddy is until you see someone holding it so I am going to try and get Trish to take a pic for us. :)
Thanks guys
Mark
There's no word on when the machine will be available.
I've blogged about the Phlatboys machines in the past because I think they're brilliant. For about $1,000 you can have a dremel-powered, 3-axis cnc router that fits on a table, and best of all, you can cut designs made in SketchUp.
And although the machine was designed originally for cutting out remote-controlled airplanes from foam, the potential applications are endless - just check out the gallery and videos.
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