New build in Arizona - Initial Improvements?

Hi all,

My son and I are looking to build a Primo. I’ve been looking through the forums and there are a ton of individual posts with great ideas. Some with more specific information than others, but I’m fine asking questions of the authors.

My question whether there are upgrades that are generally recommended shortly after the motion system is built. It seems like we’ll need an enclosure for the electronics, drag chains, spoil board, hold downs, etc. Is there a central repository for plans/mods/upgrades or is it just a matter of finding the information on the forums?

If you have a recommended initial improvement pathway, I’d love to hear your priorities. We’re pretty much building 2’ x 3’ stock with the preferred Makita router.

Hello @dgkeith237, welcome! Great project to do with your kid, that’s awesome.

Only built a LowRider for myself, but have helped a friend out with his MPCNC. I haven’t stumbled onto prescriptive roadmap of must have, should have and nice to have upgrades. Great idea, maybe something exists in the docs or forum somewhere?

In the meantime inferring what people get up to is possible via https://www.printables.com/search/models?q=tag:mpcnc

Hope that helps, and hope someone more knowledgeable than me chimes in. Cheers!

I wouldn’t say those extras are recommended. Enclosure for electronics, sure. Spoilboard, if you don’t use one, your table will be the spoilboard. You can just use drywall screws as hold downs. Drag chains are maybe the most controversial because if they add any drag, it can reduce performance. The tape measure trick is a good alternative that has low friction.

Honestly, I would try it as vanilla first and hang a piece of paper that you can jot down things you don’t like, or things you think would improve it.

It is a living project. And as you use it more you will learn more about your capabilities, and what is important, and what bugs you. You might even want to use the cnc to make some of these projects.

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I’m with Jeff. Definitely check out the tape measure trick, but also look through all the pictures you can find for how folks have managed the wiring situation. That always seems to be the hardest for me. I’ve tried the trick, commercial drag chains, printed drag chains, under the tubes, over the tubes…once I got so tired of dealing with it I just put that split corrugated tubing a half-foot down and let it slide back and forth across the table, lol.

What part of AZ are you in? I’m a bit south of Phoenix (and another guy here lives down the street from me).

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Thanks all. I’m in Mesa. I’ve see some pretty cool table ideas, and I’m hoping that eventually I can use the tool rerap fashion to help build something that fits our needs and feeds my maker-side.

Since you are in AZ, what material do you recommend for the printed parts for a machine living in the garage? I’m thinking CF-PETG, but I’m certainly open to suggestions based on experience.

I hear you on the wiring. I built a printer/toolchanger and I have probably spent as much time managing wires and printing with the thing.

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Probably an hour drive out here, then. You’re welcome to come visit if you want to see one in the wild, but I understand if that drive doesn’t make sense.

If it’s gonna live in the shop, it depends on the shop temp. My old garage had a bedroom over the ceiling, amd two walls were on the other side of a bedroom and the living room. The houses were pretty close, so one wall got shade from the neighbor. Generally, it stayed under 110 out there, and the pla held up ok on my burly, primo, and LR2.

Tom has a stand-alone workshop, and i dont know exactly what filament he used or how hot it got, but his primo sagged HARD.

There are a few threads that compare the properties of different filaments, but I don’t recall the titles. I’m not an expert, so if anybody disagrees with me here, listen to them, but… I’d say at a minimum go ahead with a PLA+ that claims good temperature stability at least. There are more than a few mpcncs in ABS, but accounting for shrinkage might take some work, and the cost is back up. I’m under the impression that ASA>ABS in all the ways that matter to us, so that might be an option. Some of the carbon fiber blends look really nice on paper, but I haven’t seen them tested in a mpcnc yet, and they’re pretty pricey.

Making progress on the build. Here’s the crown test.

(See my first question - in order to avoid changing mounts, I used an overly floppy pen mount that fits inside the Makita mount.)

I’m Mac based, so I gave up on Repetier-Host and just went the V1pi route.

To try and tolerate the heat better, I tried HTPET+ Luke’s Laboratory. Virtually no warping, the only real issue is that it prints at 290℃, which is at the top end of my hotend’s working temp.

Specific questions -

I’ve only had the thing operational for about a day, but I hate changing tool mounts already. Do folks have a recommendation for a universal mount. I ran across the one by HicWic but its pretty old. Anything more recent that is recommended for Primo?

Cable management - I’m not sure I can help myself, I think I’m going to need drag chains. understand that they may impact performance.

  • Is that equally true for X and Y as it is for Z? (Maybe tape measure for Z and drag chains for X and Y?
  • Is there a recommended set of mounts that minimizes the impact? I’m willing to buy chain rather than print it.
  • Do people run the power for the spindle through the chain? That seems like it may have an impact.
  • How will I know if there is an impact created by my cable management solution? Just curious how to test for it?
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