I'm thinking about building an ar3 robot many months from now, and I want to use it as a cnc for various machining purposes. I see robots arms like kukas acting as a cnc carving busks and stuff and I am wondering if an ar3 can do the same.
I am also thinking about increasing the power on most of the motors so the robot has a greater reach, maybe 36-40'' and increased strength, 50:1 Nema23 for j1, 100:1 Nema23 for j2, 50:1 Nema23 for j3, and maybe a nema23 screw on j5, would that work.
I believe the issue you will run into is backlash/rigidity. Unless you're changing the mechanical build of the robot, I don't think that swapping to bigger motors will help.
i dont think it is suitable for cnc easily, the reason as below: 1. not all joint is tough enough especially j5.
2. the ARCS application abit old fashion, not easy to do programming, like you will encounter how to convert gcode become machine movement
No doubt AR3 is very good DIY robot arm, however I feel recommended payload of AR3 is <1kg, more than that the toughness of J5 is critical concern. CNC tools weight may >1kg?
For software limitation, Mr Dextor shared his wonderful work using ROS/Moveit which I feel very useful.