Building my first MPCNC and decided to go big or go home, starting clean w/ a Primo.
While I’m new to the MPCNC world, I have some experience on OX CNCs, 3D printing, Arduino, etc. having scratch-built a 1:1 R-series astromech. All cuts (and a fir bit of maintenance) were done on my local makerspace’s Open Builds CNC and LinuxCNC, along with detail part prints on my Prusa i3 Mk2.5.
Currently finishing up printing the black pieces and starting on the yellow (DeWalt color scheme). Unfortunately, when I started the parts buy I picked up a mini RaMBO and 6mm belts, so as I understand it won’t be able to take advantage of the dual end stops but can still run things. Would prefer to run off of the RaMBO and LCD screen vs. needing a laptop connected but can make due if needing to go that route.
Planning on a 24x30" work area and potentially portable build that can be shelved next to my workbench when not in use if I can keep the weight down enough. Mainly want it to cut sheet plastic, acrylic, wood and if up to the job some smaller aluminum pieces.
Will keep the group posted as the build progresses, and as I understand this is a new design, provide feedback on any bugs encountered (vs. simply builder error).
Welcome to clubhouse! Sounds like you already have most of your ducks lined up nicely. If you got the LCD, you can run from and SD card. If you didn’t, you can still get an LCD, and run from an SD card. Or get a RasperryPi, and run V1Pi…
Please, share pictures, lessons (we all enjoy a good object lesson around here; search for “count to 9”), and stories. Heck, show us your astromech! We’re geeks, too! Well, some of us are. (The best ones, of course) Don’t be afraid to shout out for help, encouragement, or bad puns. We handle all three with wild abandon! :
Guess I can start with my main CNC project to date. Started with another builder’s 2D CAD drawing, converted to .dxf and dumped into Inkscape to lay out parts to the board size before saving as an .svg and using JSCut to generate the gcode.
Can’t complain about the price but would really like to find something better software-wise for the work flow, no zoom in JSCut makes large pieces with small details tricky.
Still can’t believe what i was able to do with polystyrene sheets. First cuts for the frame on the makerspace CNC:
That is just amazing!!!
Beautiful work!! now my question is… is it (he) a half functional R2D2? I’m not expecting to move around but, make some noise, maybe some head movements or even a alexa or google home in it to answer questions?
Maybe I’ll do a more detailed follow-up in the projects section. It is fully functional (lights, sound, dome rotation, drives, utility arms open) running off of a Mega 2650, a few motor controllers and two Razr electric scooter motors, and all controlled by a Playstation controller over Bluetooth. Plans are free through the R2 Builder’s club.
I’m hoping my prior experience w/ Arduino comes in handy having to flash the mini RaMBO since I didn’t get it through the store here.
After the basic MPCNC setup I’d like to add a PID controller for the router RPM, not sure what has been tested w/ the DeWalt 660 so far, and trying to keep the budget somewhat down.
