help with size

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Troubleshooting
1

Hello,
I have been printing parts for the international version for a few days now and need to start thinking about size. I tried to make a program I found on thingiverse work but I got some error. I would like to be able to cut foam board in the size of 400x600mm. Could someone help me with pipe lengths to make this work?

/Carl

2

Hi Carl.

I am in the final stages of completing my MPCNC build. I opted for a frame size of 1200mm * 800mm (so tube lengths of 1200mm and 800mm). I comfortably fitted a 900mm * 600mm (this was an off the shelf 16mm MDF board size at my local hardware store) spill board, and when I decked the spill board I settled on a usable bed size of 800mm * 400mm. I could have pushed this out further to a maximum of approximately 850mm * 450mm (maybe 480mm) before I started running to the end of the gt2 belts.

Is this any help?

At these lengths I don’t think I haven’t encountered any rigidity issues (early days yet) but as you say its mainly foam, I think you could problably go even bigger again if you need to.

Cheers.
Justin.

3

Also sorry I forgot to ask.

Have you purchased your tube yet? If not I would recommend 3mm wall thickness alloy, over 1.6mm wall thickness gall tube or stainless tube. The alloy is cheaper, lighter, stiffer and is true 25mm metric tube. All the other types of tubes I have tried have all been 25.4mm (or inch). Many people have successfully used 25.4mm tube, so I will work, but I found everything just went smoother and fit better with the alloy 25mm stuff.

Which country do you hail from?

4

Thanks Justin!
I will have to check and see what sizes my local stores have. 1200x800 sounds like a manageable size though. I am from Sweden and I have not yet bought my tubing. I have seen 25mm aluminum tube with 1,5mm wall at the store but then I wasn’t building this :slight_smile: going shopping for tube and bolts/nuts sometime this week. I have most of the electronics on the way from different parts of the world but I need to decide on a router soon. I will be using this machine to also cut/engrave acrylic and wood.

/Carl

5

You should have no problem sourcing 25mm tube as you are situated in the EU. Personally I’d use at least 3mm wall thickness if you opt for alloy for rigidity. 1.5mm would be fine for steel/stainless steel though.

Here in Australia proper 25mm metric tube is hard to come by. For some reason we are backwards and inch tube is still the industry standard for the most part.

Good luck with the build mate. Looking forward to following your progress.

Cheers
Justin.