1' Steel pipe and PETG MPCNC Build!

steampunkprogrammer · June 20, 2018, 1:10pm

Almost a year after the first time I built my MPCNC I decided to rebuild the thing completely with better parts starting with a steel frame instead of conduit and PETG instead of PLA for the plastic parts.

Everything went pretty easily seeing as over the last year I’ve taken apart and reput together my mpcnc machine many times but it was nice to have a solid fresh start there are still a few things left to do (Cable management, spoilboard setup) but everything seems MUCH more solid glad to be rid of the conduit because it was clearly the weak link in the whole thing and I cant wait to get the thing dirty!

vicious1 · June 20, 2018, 1:26pm

Second time around is much more fun right!? Looks good, and the steel is a pretty big step up.

If you find it is a little less rigid replace the XYZ parts with PLA, I find PETG is much too flexible for that parts current design. The rest are fine for it though.

barry99705 · June 20, 2018, 4:23pm

Heh, looks like watermelon jolly ranchers!

steampunkprogrammer · June 20, 2018, 6:45pm

haha I was thinking that the whole time that PETG red looks like candy

steampunkprogrammer · June 21, 2018, 7:55pm

The proof it works (aka its dirty now) and has a spoil board still struggling to get it completely square but it seems close enough for now.

neilyboy · June 23, 2018, 3:52am

Got to ask. Which dust shoe that is? Looks good!

Neil

barry99705 · June 23, 2018, 4:30am

Might want to undo that zip tie at the top of the Z tubes. Attach it further down on the router.

steampunkprogrammer · June 23, 2018, 8:17am

yea the wire management was a mess in this picture, I’ve sense cleaned it up lol

Works pretty well, I bought one of those little brush things that go under doors and bent it into the shape of the bottom of the boot very carefully and it worked out pretty good!

steampunkprogrammer · June 23, 2018, 4:37pm

Thanks all the help from ryan in sorting out various issues I got everything going and am able to cut some pretty clean stuff now, super excited to spend all weekend playing around with it!

Heres my first test now that everything is setup!

vicious1 · June 23, 2018, 4:48pm

Holy cow! What a difference right!!?!!!

Your welcome, and thank you for sticking with it.

barry99705 · June 24, 2018, 6:17am

Nice! Can’t go wrong with the Fett.

steampunkprogrammer · June 30, 2018, 11:03am

So I wanted to share a pretty amusing side effect of my carport turned workshop; There was a window from my office facing into the carport, now I have a viewing hole to see the cnc machine (its even pretty muted due to the kind of windows we have) and I can easily keep an eye on the cnc machine from my desk. Now I just need to wire a long e-stop button to my desk so I can mash it if something goes wrong lol.

geoffworks · July 2, 2018, 3:55am

Nice build. Is the plastic tube a compressed air line? That is a slick setup!

steampunkprogrammer · July 2, 2018, 8:49am

Yup, in the vacuum mount I have uses an agitator (compressed air blows on one side, vacuum on the other). Works very well even MDF doesn’t make much of a mess!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2435626

billsey · July 2, 2018, 8:42pm

Definitely wire that e-stop soonest, and pay close attention to the sounds. If you are gaming you might not notice the fire until it’s too late, and too late can happen awfully quickly.

steampunkprogrammer · July 9, 2018, 7:05am

That’s why I also have a fire alarm, and already wired up the e-stop

jeffeb3 · July 9, 2018, 7:21am

FTR, my smoke alarm has been completely useless. I’ve had two “smoke outs”, where I could smell the smoke and it definitely was heating the collet up enough to start a fire. The smoke alarm was in the garage in both cases and it never went off. I think it would be useful enough to get out of the house, but not fast enough to stop a fire.

vicious1 · July 9, 2018, 9:29am

It might sound “sensationalist” but there has been at least one very major fire started by an MPCNC. I am not going to link it but trust me, most of us have had a run in with smoke and a few actual flames. You should never be focusing on something else while a router and it’s fan and usually a vacuum are cutting wood. This is instant fire being fed oxygen better than a turbo, on top of a pile of wood.

steampunkprogrammer · July 10, 2018, 10:47am

Most of the reason this is convenient, isn’t that i’m not watching it, its that I don’t have to be in the loud workshop. Trust me, I’m watching and listening the whole time lol.

I also have a camera above pointing at a nice clear angle I have up the whole time as well for additional assurance.