I finally finished my Primo… after a month of planning, buying, building, testing, tearing it all down and rebuilding it again. A bit of advice for those interested, do not use garage door shaft for the tubing. I work at a door company, garage door shafts are 1" OD steel tube and easy for me to get. While they work great for garage doors, they are made about as cheaply as possible and the tolerances are terrible. I actually put my calipers on it before I took some home and the spot I checked was exactly 25.4mm but after a week of frustrations and trouble with the machine I rechecked and the measurements are all over the place and off by 2-5 tenths in varying locations. They are also coated in some kind of protective clear coat (which I didn’t know about) and that was starting to flake off causing the tolerances to be worse. I finally ripped apart the whole assembly and bought some 1" stainless tubing. Since I was tearing it all down I decided to go ahead and rewire the whole thing, add some custom disconnects, sleeve all the wiring with smaller PET and paracord, make a new control box (modified the one on thingi) and hooked up the dual end stops. Finished it last night, squared it up and it runs excellent.
I really like the modified case!
Out of interest, did you use z-hop and 2 print files to achieve the top cover, or do you have a super fancy 3D printer able to handle more than one colour? It’s really nice quality!
I’m currently printing my (unmodified) one now.
I have a Prusa MK3S but not the MMU. I just did a filament change on the layer when the text started to appear. The bottom half of the cover is actually red, you just don’t see it when it is screwed in place.
Ah! That makes sense!
That’s a good way to do it. I ask as I recently saw a CHEP video about Z-Hop and printing 2 colours.
I’m personally committed to the original print by a good few hours now, but if the top mounts are the same as the original, the lid would be pretty handy. Even more so for the community if it does mount the same as the original. Imo anyway.
The actual lid is the same size, I just removed the TFT since mine is mounted in a different spot. I’ll post a remix on thingi later for it in case someone wants to use it.
After the first round of the CNC Race, I realized I desperately need to cover my board. I have a thick layer of MDF powder everywhere. Making me think about either using an off the shelf box or making my own…Hmm.
I am hoping that the Lowrider will be more stable and consistent than my Ender or Polaroid 3D printers. The amount of time I spend fiddling with them to get a complete print is annoying. I hope to CNC things like board cases in the future, perhaps colored plastic so it looks shiny and modern.
Hello to a fellow TX CNCer. I’m just up the road in DFW.
Good choice on the Bauer router. I’ve done a handful of carves with it and it seems like a good value. Plus you can ride it hard and return it to HF if it gives up the ghost.
Yep, the Bauer seemed like an easy choice. Reviews have all been positive, its less expensive than the Makita and $10 for a 2 year no questions warranty… hard to pass it up.
FYI - the Bauer (Makita clone) is currently listed on the Harbor Freight website as a “clearance” item. Never saw anyone explicitly state that the Makita 1/4" to 1/8" collet adapter Ryan sells works with the Bauer but, after looking at the exploded diagrams of both the Bauer and the Makita I decided to take a chance and bought the Bauer. Just got the adapter, and I can confirm it fits well - haven’t actually used it yet though. After I get the Bauer mounted, I’ll compare the runouts of the collets. The adapter Ryan sells appears better made than the Bauer one.
Here’s the results I got testing the Bauer speed settings with my cheapo tach (halfway settings aren’t on speed dial) :
I have both collets and they both seem to work well. I am cutting mostly ABS so I am using the 1/4 collet currently with the new Onsrud bit I just got. The RPM chart is awesome! I was pretty much guessing as to what speed I was running so this is great info!
This is awesome, thanks for uploading it.
I went to go slice the lid to print, but then realised, you’ve adapted the main box to put the fans in there. The original doesn’t have mounting for the fans, and that’s the part I’d already printed. So, I’ll have to use the original design with the screen mount lid. This is a great design though, and hopefully others will be able to make good use of it!
Yes, they are a little different. The lid is basically the same (hole pattern and size) but I enclosed it as I mounted my TFT elsewhere. This was the main reason I put the logo on it since it was a just a flat, large ugly piece of plain plastic and needed some dressing up. I did modify the box to put the fans inside blowing directly on the stepper drivers and the side that was used for the wiring was modified to just route the cables inside and not use connectors like the original designer used.
