So yeah, definitely new to all this but I’m a tinkerer…er…
I like to make things. I’ve been eyeing making an MPCNC for some time now and now I’m doing just that. I will definitely need some help at some point. Mainly with the software side. The jargon is all new to me.
Anyways, I’m in the middle of printing everything. All the hardware should arrive soon as I already own most of it back when I was originally going to make the burly. I’ll upload photos as I progress!
Here is the core atm…
Help is all over the place! Welcome aboard. I’ve gotten soo much help from people here, so I’m more than happy to share the little I’ve learned.
Ah my first question…
So I bought enough SS tube to make the 11.75 x 11.75 build area but I primarily want to attempt to cut aluminum and CF. Should I make it smaller?
I’m not looking to make massive pieces. I’m big into RC and drones so I’d be making pieces for that world plus lots of other things.
Thoughts?
11.75 is work area, or outer side of the feet? It will be more than rigid enough with SS, you can double that and still have a rigid setup, as long as the z is short enough. If you’re sure that you’ll never need a bigger work area, you’ll end up with a sweet setup. Not taking much space, and easy to enclose - which might be necessary when cutting CF. I honestly could never go so small, since I can’t help thinking of all the huge signs and sheet furniture I want to make (but probably never will…)
You should keep the Z to the minimum, which IIRC, is 81mm. You should have a very good machine to learn CAM on and crush the aluminum. The CF is a little harder. I’m not an expert, but it is common to use water, because the dust is very dangerous to your lungs. I think it also chews up bits pretty quickly. But there’s nothing about that machine size that will hold you back. You might consider building the table larger, and in a few months or a year, buy some larger tubing, once you know what you’re doing.
Thanks for the replies! The largest is ever really go atm would be 1/8 scale chassis for RC cars. I’ll stick with the 11.75 x 11.75 since I have a TON to learn. Very excited!
My teeny tiny burly is about 8x11, and I think I could push it to 12x12 no problem. The video Ryan posted of his primo CREAMING that plywood leads me to believe the claim that it’s more than a little improved in rigidity. Add those two facts together, and I think you’ll have no problem with the aluminum at your size.
About the z, my legs were so short that the printed parts touched. I don’t think that was holding me back, so I did add 1.5 inches to them a couple weeks ago so I could cut some molds and I haven’t had a chance to try the aluminum since then. Before that, I couldn’t cut anything that was an inch thick because my spoil board raised everything too high.
I still don’t have any noticeable flex in the legs, but I did cut some holes in the base, so they sit an inch lower than the feet. As long as your legs don’t flex when you put it together, you can always mount the aluminum to a block or something and raise it closer to the gantry so you don’t need the z sticking out the bottom so far.
Good luck!
Awesome! Good to hear!
So here is the color scheme I’m going with.
Here is a close up of the core. It took 2 days 5 hours 42 minutes.
Jeebus 2 days!
Is that black or a really dark green?
The orange print looks amazing! I’m planning and orange and (dark) purple build.
It is OD green. Got it from Prusa. So Orange, OD green and black
Your looking at at least 14 inches long for a chassis.
The conduit burly has been such a solid machine that I wouldn’t hesitate to go to 15" on a 1" Primo.
That CNC pumpkin will be carving aluminum no problem. 
So I’m starting to look at bits for CF and Aluminum. So say I have a flat piece of aluminum like 5 mm thick and want to cut out a ring from it. So it would have to plunge into the center part. Is there a difference in bits to plunge versus route out the outside?
If you plunge, you’ll have a bad time. Ramp or helix for the win.
Look for center cutting endmills and you’ll be fine.
So I’ve been researching the different end mill bits and there seems like there are roughly 1 billion and 1 brands out there. What are some of the most note worthy of brands? I found Kodiak cutting tools which looks nice. I’ve never heard of them but then again I’m new to all this.
If you are in the US, aparently a company called Whiteside (I think) has a bunch of god stuff at as i understand decent prices
I have not seen any whiteside bits at reasonable prices, but mayb that is all relative. If I was a professional woodworker, with a bunch of festool stuff, then maybe they would be reasonable, but the sharp stuff in Ryan’s shop is all kyocera, I think. They seem like good prices and good quality.
Got my SS tubing in! As well as the rest of the hardware. Waiting on the few last bit from V1 and printing. Also bought supplies for the table as well as supplies to build a container to hold water to cut CF.
Almost done printing all the parts! I have two more feet to print and I’ll be ready for assembly.
