Hi, I’m poor and living in Germany. I found some pipe which translates to “construction pipe” - wondering if this is a viable low cost option as these only cost 5€/m.
Thanks!
The important part is the outside diameter. Is it 25.0mm? Or within about 0.2mm? It needs to be steel an not aluminum.
Otherwise, it looks fine. Nice and smooth.
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yup, 25mm steel tubing
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I would recommend making sure it’s straight and consistent before paying for it (or within the return period?) When I think of somthing labeled “construction” in the US. The diffrence is usually acceptable tolerance. So they may not all be as straight or keep an OD of 25mm as the non construction variant.
Yeah, kinda like “Contractor Grade”, or anything with “Value” or “Economy” in the description.
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Yup, first thing that comes to mind for me is “construction” or “framing” lumber. Witch tends to be all the quality controll regects from the better lumber grades. That’s not to say it won’t work perfectly (I use that lumber all the time in a lot of my projects) but I often have to sort through the stack at the store to find the good pieces that aren’t bowed or with giant knots or holes in them.
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But, don’t forget. The MPCNC was designed to use conduit. Conduit from anywhere in north america, pretty much. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
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Hi welcome!
I love the avatar. Mandelbrot set.
Being sort of poor myself, I can empathize, but the steel isn’t (or shouldn’t really) be the expensive part. I’m using structural steel because I could get it cheap. Stainless would be nice, but should really not be necessary. Many tools have bare iron exposed to the air and they don’t rust unless something gets spilled on them.
As Jeff said, the MPCNC was designed to use conduit, which isn’t even technically classified by external diameter, so a little bit of variation in the stated diameter can be tolerated, but it’s best if that diameter doesn’t vary (much) along the length of the same piece of tube.
Remember to budget for things like router bits! These add up the cost faster than you might initially expect.
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I’m just going to post this here because I think it is relevant:
It’s good to find a deal but be wary of poor quality. Ryan has done an amazing job putting together an Incredibly cheap cnc machine and the price he states ($500usd) is about as cheap as I can see it being with the proper quality for the user to be happy.
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Great to see how active this community is!
Thanks a lot for all the input guys. I’ll go the save route and buy the stainless ones.
A steel seller on ebay offers pre-cut sets for the MPCNC.
I just ordered these belts (and all the other components) with AliExpress from 3d-future store.
I hope they are alright.
I ended up buying the cheap stuff from “Stahl Shop 24” and it’s just fine and only costs a third compared to stainless steel. So highly recommended for anyone shopping in Germany!
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