Maslow 4: Large format CNC routing made accessible

I wonder if it’s possible to have a purely portable system like this. So no cables, just omnidirectional wheels and maybe some wireless locators in the corner of the room. It would need to correct for wheels losing traction, slope etc.

What you are describing is the Goliath CNC:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2130625347/goliath-cnc-...

didn't really make it over the long haul.

The Shaper Origin seems more successful:

https://www.shapertools.com/en-us

Shaper Origin took a genius approach. There's very little movement of the cutting head, and the machine itself is moved by the person. You get the precision of CNC, without the complexity of moving a machine that is heavy enough to push a cutter through wood over an uneven surface

I guess the wheeled approach quickly loses traction when trying to exert force. The Shaper Origin avoids that by being hand-pushed (with human-level force feedback and control).

The entire point of wheels is to provide as little rolling resistance as possible. The very idea of Goliath is contradictory. You want stiffness and rigidity, while also being free to move around. The only way their system could work is by having a vacuum clamping system with a movable gantry.

This one is relatively portable; everything is self-contained on the sled. It just needs four anchors points, and it'll auto-detect where they are in relation to each other during the calibration process.

A lot of users just have 4 concrete anchors on their garage floor, and they put the sled away in a drawer somewhere when not in use.

The Shaper Origin looks pretty awesome, but for that kind of money you are quickly getting into true precision machines.