Hello everyone. I’m Kenny and this is my adventure with the MPCNC. I built my own and took it to work to show off. The CEO said “Awesome, make one for the company to these specs” so I ended up building a second one.
After getting it dialed in, my machine has been building parts for a Star Wars droid. My friend who has a functional 1:1 R2 is drooling over the possibility of a second one. Which is why my MPCNC is at his house instead of mine right now…
I have wobble issues to overcome. Unfortunately they want to be able to print at least 9 inches straight up so I can’t just shorten the machine. Now I am fighting the battle of “I need you to buy material so I can make crossbraces.”
The frame plans are from Astromech.net and made by Mike Senna so they aren’t really mine to share. However, the forum is free to join and they have blueprints and 3d models in the wiki that are club spec. If you really want to build a droid that’s where you start.
The first machine looks like it is doing perfectly, nice builds!
For that printer how much Z travel do you have 15"? I think the only way you stand a chance to get a decent print at that length would be a bowden style extruder. If you need 9" it can do that with your current extruder, but it should be no bigger than 9".
Yea, I second the bowden extruder idea. You could probably get away with putting the extruder at the top of the z and just the hot end at the bottom. That way you’re not dealing with a stupid long bowden tube, which can cause all kinds of issues. That’s why I’m using a flying extruder on my delta printer, shorter tube.
Jason, if you end up on Astromech send me a PM on there. I’m Kenny_Z on that forum.
Thank you everyone. That first machine is making lots of nice things. The frame is almost complete. Then legs and after that I’m going to test cutting styrene skins.
My company wants to print floor plans at 1/12th scale to impress clients and to try to explain wireless signal propagation. We don’t service any places with walls taller than 8 feet but just in case I wanted a 9 inch print area. The legs are 15 inches tall because my direct boss wanted the option to put in a piece of glass with a heated bed and keep the 9 inch print area. I’m not saying I’ll never print anything taller than 9 but if I do I will definitely look into a bowden.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have the angle supports I want to keep the larger printer steady and a quiet sunday with minimal office distractions.
The hotend mount was made by cutting a bowden mount I found on Thingiverse and the extruder set up for the MPCNC. I stuck them together in my 3d program and printed. It was a quick and dirty mesh but it works.
The droid is still coming along slowly. I’m probably going to draw and cut my skins by hand. I can do it on the cnc but the edges are only as sharp as the cutter will allow. A razor is a lot better.
