u/roj2323

My first job out of high school was in concrete and for most of a decade I ran an 863 bobcat (hand and foot) machine. I'm trying to find something comparable (power wise) and under $15k but I'm having two issues: I can not seem to find a comprehensive guide for what machines are Hand&foot operated as well as a guide for which used machines I can still get parts for. I'm not afraid of a project and I'm not tied to brand but I am stuck with finding a Hand & foot operated machine as I tried a joystick machine and spent more time frustrated than productive. If you can help I'd really appreciate it.

I've been working with bambulabs printers for a little over a year now, X1C's H2C's and and an H2D and my number one complaint is just how difficult it is to service. Can anyone explain to me why the print heads aren't easily removable for service outside the enclosure? CNC machines seem to have figured this out 20 years ago with a mounting plate their spindle mounts to with a wiring harness that has a plug on it. I realize weight is a concern but currently it's like trying to perform open heart surgery to swap out a sensor on these things and I feel like things could be simpler with some minor engineering changes. Anyone able to shed some light on this?

Edit: Clarification, I'm not talking about swapping nozzles. I'm talking about swapping internals, specifically all the crap with tiny little wires that you basically need to have access to all sides of the printer to swap out.

I know what I use but I seem to be an outlier. What gauge wire are you using to power/ control your switch machines? I've heard everything from 24awg to 16awg.

I'm looking for an alternative to the Walthers HO transfer table. I have one and it's so finicky that it is basically just a there for show. I'm wondering what others are using as an alternative for American themed modeling.

I print almost exclusively in .4 but I'm finding the 320mm print beds to be a bit small for some of my projects. Most of my work (I build model railroads for living) is less than 20mm tall but it should be around 1000mm wide if I want to save myself a whole lot of assembly hassles. Is printing high quality detail such as lattice work on bridges possible on large format printers?