I got my 3D printer today and it’s about 75% assembled, tomorrow I’ll hopefully start printing MPCNC parts. Being new to printing I’m sure it’ll be a while before I’m comfortable leaving it running without adult supervision so I’d like to start working on a table while it’s printing.
When the cut calculator gives minimum x & y dimensions of the table is that with the corner leg mounts flush with the x & y edges? I want to put it on a wheeled table sized so I can keep it inside and wheel it through interior doors.
I want to enclose it to cut down on noise/dust and have noticed some of the enclosures pictured in these forums seem to have no air inlets. Is heat build up not a problem for the components that would be inside the enclosure?
Be prepared for some learning when it comes to 3D printing. The mpcnc parts are designed (well) to print on almost any printer, but don’t be in a hurry, and enjoy the failures. There will be many.
Here are the steps I would take:
finish assembly and basic tuning. IDK what printer you have, or what instructions you’re following but I hope you’re going to get most of the way there with instructions.
print some junk. Some cubes, some benchies, some low poly pokemon. Don’t worry too much about perfect, just have some fun and be amazed.
print some calibration pieces. Focus on getting the right temps, bed adhesion, and extrusion first. Then spend a little time on square.
print a couple of mpcnc parts and post some pics.
I don’t want to discourage you. It looks like you’re ready to dive in, and that is great. Just be ready for some waves and try to enjoy it.
I forgot to answer your question. Heat isn’t a huge deal. The boxes aren’t perfect insulators, and while the heat of a hotend is high, the energy is not. The ambient heat is actually good for printing in general. And if it ever reaches close to the temp of the heated bed, the bed will stop putting in more energy, and it will reach an equilibrium.
My concern was really temps in an MPCNC enclosure as well as with a vacuum shoe and no air inlets whether that’d be working the vacuum too hard?
And yeah, I expect a learning curve. It wasn’t that I was trying to avoid paying Ryan for the printed parts, I was thinking if I broke a part it’d be nice to be able to print a new one as well as seeing simple little things I could use around the shop like various vacuum adapters, tool organizers, etc.
Gas is less than $2/gal and I can’t go anywhere so I may as well learn a few things.
Totally. This is why Ryan has the STLs available for free. I just wanted to make sure you don’t go printing all the parts at once, and then get really mad when they aren’t printing right away, or you have to scrap some of them.
Nah, scrapping wouldn’t bother me, I’m new to printing but not to trash canning things that didn’t work as planned. Seeing a connecting rod come out the side of a block is kinda entertaining in a perverse sorta way. My plan was to print one of the corner pieces and take it to Lowes to check it on some conduit. At this point anything’s gotta beat more virus news.
Heya and welcome to the world of 3d. Getting ready to print my parts now (got extra RED PLA from amanzon being delivered today)
You should do things like temp towers and basic tuning before trying to print the good stuff. Beds will also need to be levels every so often but if I can give you a tip. UPgrade to a glass bed when you can, get that sucker level and print, let it cool down and then remove the print, far less chance of you altering the level when you dont need to pull and jerk the parts around to remove them and just means you get to the second print quicker.
All in Ryan’s times didnt work with my printer, on average I am 30-60 minutes longer per print and I am printing recommended infill but 60mm/s with a 30mm/s outline and 15mm/s first layer with a brim on some of the taller parts.
Im going to print my pieces as well and then go looking for pipe to fit as I know 25.4mm is nigh impossible to find here but 25mm is easier.
My printer came with a glass bed along with a very mildly rough some sort of polymer overlay. I guess Ill give them both a try.
I’m taking it slow and double checking everything I do. The manual that came with it is mainly pictures. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, when those words are in a language foreign to me they’re not a big help.
I think that’s to allow for the feet being slightly larger than the tubes. If you plan to build an enclosure, allow 40-50mm of space on all sides of the tubes, to make space for the stepper motor wires that exit the tubes and curve past the belt.
Also, don’t forget to leave space for your LCD, RAMBO and power supply, ideally where it won’t get too dusty.
Thanks! I think I may wait until I have some parts in hand to mock things up. I’m hoping to put it on a wheeled cart in a spare room I want to right dimension wise. I’d hate to build the ‘boat’ in the house that will never make it outside to the water.
Sorry to ask what is likely a very basic question but I’m trying to learn printing. I’m using CURA and set the bed dimensions and enabled machine center (0,0) yet and begins printing in the lower left corner of the bed even though the CURA view shows the part’s lower left corner in the middle of the bed.
This is a guess really, but I’d try UN-checking the origin at center. I’m guessing your printer considers the bottom left corner is 0,0, so that’s probably what CURA should show as well.
That was my thought too but like you it’s just a guess. I’m hoping this isn’t gonna be the downside of this machine (DIGGRO Alpha 3) only having a touch screen for control. When I checked on the ‘move’ screen it thinks X=0 is to the far left of the table but Y=0 is almost at the back of the table with the numbers going negative as the table moves back.
It would make sense to me if I could set the center of the table as the default origin, I’ve Emailed the manufacturer’s support to see if that’s possible. I also need to figure out if I can do a dry run with no heating and no filament feed.
I’ll fool with it later, NC has more travel restrictions going into effect tomorrow and I want to get outside for a bit.
Good guess! I just printed a small sample and it seems to now treat the center of the build plate as (0,0) with the box unchecked. I’m happy to see this, with new activity restrictions going into effect I’m gonna have lots of time for 3D printing school, I want to print a number of small samples to check how I’m doing dimensionally, geometrically and play with temps, speeds, etc. to get a handle on how different settings affect print quality before attempting MPCNC parts.
And props to DIGGRO, their little blurb on Amazon states 24 hour customer support. I Emailed then with the question at 12:45PM yesterday and their reply to uncheck the box was stamped 2:02AM this morning and matched our guesses.
My plan was to print one of the corner pieces and take it to Lowes to check it on some conduit. At this point anything’s gotta beat more virus news.