Hi All,
Thought I would just drop in to mention that I’ve begun a MPCNC build. My hope is that it will be able to cut aluminum mounting plates (with holes, pockets, etc) up to 1/2 inch thick – we’ll see if I’m able to achieve that or not… If it can handle 1/4 inch plates I’ll consider it a win, but 1/2 inch is the goal. To that end I’m going to keep the build area pretty small (12" x 18" x 3"). I would be happy with 12x12, but I like the idea of swapping out 2’x2’ spoiler boards (available pre-cut from home depot) so I’m ending up with an 18" axis. I figure if that axis ends up causing me grief I can always make it smaller later and just deal with having to cut down the spoiler boards.
My plan is to use the Dewalt 611 router - That seems to be used successfully to cut aluminum in the OpenBuilds platform, so I’m hoping it’s a good choice for this machine. BTW – I was looking hard at the OpenBuilds C-Beam machines as well, but the cost advantage of the MPCNC eventually won me over.
I’m printing my own parts, but I’ve had very bad experiences with PLA cracking over time if it’s under any ‘squeezing’ load, so I’ve opted to go for PETG for any parts that are under this kind of load (the feet are a good example). At first I was going to go with PETG for everything, but my first roller failed about half-way through the print and the resulting part exhibited very noticeable flex just under hand pressure. So I’ve decided to ‘risk’ PLA for it’s stiffness in most of the parts. Guess we’ll see how that goes as well…
I have a question about the table – it seems that most folks make a table just large enough to hold the router itself. I would have thought that having a bit of working surface to one side would be nice. I’ve planned my table to be about 18" wider than the router itself to allow room for a control laptop (or just general work area). Am I missing something here? It seems obvious to me, but when no one else seems to be doing it I have to ask – why not?
Thanks…