Hi, just about to place my order and I’m not sure what the free tool mount is, can someone please clarify? I’m planning to buy the recommended Daedalus CNC Brushless Spindle Motor Kit.
Thanks
Where specifically is that spindle recommended? Generally the DW660 is recommended for MPCNC.
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on the documentation page it says dewalt, spindle or extruder
http s://docs.v1e.com/mpcnc/intro/#the-mostly-printed-cnc
The dewalt and makita hand tools are very expensive in Australia so I prefer a spindle tool
I’m in NZ and using a Makita RT0702C router which is a 65mm body. The Vevor palm routers and 1.5kW spindle are both 65mm cylindrical bodies and should both be compatible with the same mount. There are also some other options direct from AliExpress that appear to be 65mm bodies. I’ve also tried a smaller air cooled 55mm spindle that was pretty much rubbish, so I’d strongly recommend against that.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘free tool mount’ but if you’re buying a plastic parts kit then I’d say just get the Makita 700 series mount as that will give the best range of options, from ~AU$100 for the Vevor palm router up to $300-400 for a Makita, should you want.
Never mind, I see what you mean. If you’re ordering the mechanical parts kit as well as the plastics, there’s a drop-down box for choosing the tool mount that it comes with.
I would definitely go with the Makita one.
One warning I’ll say is that shipping is pretty spendy and I can’t imagine that the printed parts kit makes it any better. I’m sure glad to see someone ordering the kit from the store and supporting the project, but you might be better off hunting for someone local that can print the parts? At the very least, it’s not uncommon to break things during assembly so having the ability to print spares/replacements helps a lot.
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On the shop page where you buy the bundle there is a selection for “free tool mount” and I didn’t know what that was, but from your explanation I see what it means.
On the build/docs page it suggests for tools one of the options is a spindle motor and the link takes you to the daedalus spindle kit. Looking now further down the description of the spindle it includes a 55mm clamp, so I assume that is what the free tool is referring to (one of the options is 55mm).
So now I have to just decide if I’m going with the chinese spindle or makita hand tool.
Thanks for the info 
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Yeah, I remember seeing people in the past using 55mm spindles and having some luck. Mine looked similar to the Daedalus one, but was listed differently.
I had 2 issues with mine. One was that the collet holder isn’t actually part of the spindle shaft, it’s a separate piece that’s press fit on. The shaft itself is much thinner. The thin shaft and long collet holder mean that the whole thing ends up being pretty prone to chattering. The other issue was that the taper for the collet was ground off-axis with the holder. As such the runout was ok at the face of the collet, but if I put something like an engraving bit in, the tip of the bit was moving in a 0.2mm circle, which meant that it wouldn’t actually cut properly at all and ended up being pretty ugly. It was ok with single flute end mills and small cuts, but moving to a palm router was a HUGE step up in performance.
The 65mm Vevor spindle looks really good, but it does need a bit of separate wiring and it’s a fair bit heavier, which isn’t ideal either.
For me, I think the 65mm Vevor palm router is probably the ‘sweet spot’ there.
Have you got tubes and a size in mind?
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I have an Ender3v2 3D printer, but was concerned about the complexity of those printed parts. I’m currently building a RatRig 500mm VCore 3.1, which should entirely be capable of printing the parts. Its really just a case of my own confidence in printing the MPCNC parts myself, but maybe I should tackle it.
After reading discussions on the chinese spindles I’ve decided to go with a Makita which can be had in Aus for $270AUD
Ah, now I see it.
I’d say that spindle is 55 mm. The Amazon listing from that document page (https://amzn.to/3dkKgl0) lists 2 3/16 inches diameter which is 55.56 mm so I would say the 55mm free tool mount is almost certainly intended to fit that spindle.
I have seen people use those spindles and I guess I never realized it was one of the recommended ones. I thought it was pretty much just the DW660 but I am still learning.
I can source local 316 stainless tubes 1.6mm25.4mm. Build size will be 1m680mm which makes the longer end tubes around 1300mm.
I can also purchase galvanised tubes from Bunnings which are WAY cheaper than stainless, would this be an option or is there a reason stainless is recommended?
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yeah but the dewalt is over $500 in a toolshop in Aus. Everything here has the “Australia Tax”
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Definitely don’t go with the DeWalt here. I paid NZ$300 so Aus $250 for my Makita. It looks like the Vevor equivalents are ~AU$65-100:
I think a lot of people end up with stainless because it’s one of the only options available in 25.4mm. I ended up with 25mm aluminium because the 25.4mm version didn’t exist when I built my first one and I’m still using the same tubes. I don’t think there’s any actual performance difference between galv steel and stainless in terms of the actual router action itself. At the same price and same wall thickness I’d go stainless. If the stainless were thinner wall or significantly more expensive, I’d probably go galv. It’s super easy to swap these out later, too. I think I tore down and completely re-built my machine in a few hours, swapping the tubes would be dramatically quicker.
Personally, I’d probably just go and look at both options and try to get a feel for which seems beefier and straighter. I know when I’ve seen stuff at Bunnings or Mitre10 in the past it has often been a bit dinged up or bent, but our range of it here is kinda terrible anyway. We also seem to have very little actual 25.4mm OD tube available in galv steel. All the sizes are imperial conversions so they end up being 23mm to 28mm kinda range.
25.4mm 1.6mm wall stainless should be nearly twice as stiff as the 3mm wall aluminium that I’ve been using, but I’ve shrunk my build to 300x300 to stiffen it up. The stiffness is related to the cube of the length, so my build would still end up being stiffer than yours by a factor. I haven’t tried pushing mine to do anything much since rebuilding it a few weeks ago so all I know is that mine will be better than it was, and it was ok for painfully slow pockets in aluminium sheet.
What’s your goal with the machine in terms of materials and working height etc.? From my perspective at the moment, I’d have probably build a LowRider instead of an MPCNC if it had existed when I started, and I’ve shrunk my MPCNC thinking that I’ll build out a bigger LR3 at some point soon.
I don’t have an Ender3 but I’ll bet more than one or two people here do. Don’t be concerned about the complexity of the parts, just print them in the orientation they download at. Ryan @vicious1 has done a super job at making them printable without support.
Go for it!
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Oh, I missed that post, sorry.
I’d say hold off on buying the parts kit and take a stab at printing them. It’ll take you a solid week or 2 of printing anyway, depending on how much you run your printer, so waiting a week to see how you get on shouldn’t be super problematic, hopefully?
The parts are really well designed for relatively easy printing. Everything is specifically designed to be printed in PLA and without support so that’s about as forgiving as it gets for parts this size. I found it useful to pay attention to how much surface area is on the build plate and used a brim for parts that were likely to come loose. I also used a brim on the core because I really didn’t want that peeling up partway through or anything.
I made a spreadsheet of all the parts and printed them in order of difficulty, starting with the easiest ones. That’s a good way to get some tweaking in as you go, building confidence before tackling the bigger parts. There are also a bunch of parts that aren’t bad to print as one-offs, but can be more challenging as a full bed of 4-5 different ones, so there are a bunch of ways to make it harder/easier on yourself.
If you get completely stuck, I’m happy to print you a core and mail it. Everything else is a walk in the park.
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thanks for the advice, and for the offer! I think what I will do is order the core from the shop which you can buy separately and tackle the rest.
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That’s probably a decent approach, although I’d always say to just give it a crack yourself, it’s an awesome part to have printed and really not all that scary!
For me the biggest issue with the core was that it took 25 hours on my printer so it needed some careful co-ordination to make sure that someone was at home for the entire time.
I’m not likely to want to mill aluminium, most likely wood and acrylic. The first thing I want to make are the enclosure panels for my new RatRig. PhaserFPV in Sydney (Aus) are selling the 500mm kit for $900 made from polycarb. I can buy the size of acrylic I need for $180 and use the MPCNC to cut it… idea being that the money I save on the panels will pay for the majority of the cost of the MPCNC
The gal tubes from bunnings are 1.6mm think and, according to the metalmate website, you can get them in either 25mm or 1". The gal tubes from bunnings will cost ~$50 for 6m and the SS from local supplier ~$300 so its a significant difference, so if there is no performance difference and the bearings will fit both then gal is the way to go
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Nice, that should all be pretty easy going then and definitely justifies a build. Do you have any reason for the MPCNC vs the LR3, out of interest? The main downside to the LR3 seems to be a relatively short working height and reduced rigidity at the higher heights (compared to the MPCNC which is less rigid at lower heights) which makes it perfect for cutting up sheet goods like acrylic and ply/MDF etc.
I’ve just printed all the parts for an LR3 build that my Dad is going to do and it looks to me like it might be a better fit for a larger machine like that.
Man, I’d be going galv all the way if that’s the case. Here any galv that’s that cheap is all weird sizes. The best I’ve found is around $150 for a length which is on par with cosmetically blemished stainless.
I didn’t necessarily have a preference for the MPCNC over LR3, but it may well be that once I’ve cut the large panels that I need, I may replace the tubes with a smaller set so the whole thing will fit in my office a lot easier. It doesn’t look like a huge job to replace tubes so for practical purposes I can keep the larger set in store until I need to use them again.
I think you guys over in NZ get the same tax we do, everything costs 3 times as much!
I’ve just ordered a makita from amazon for $277AUD, apparently comes from makita germany, so 3 weeks delivery but thats fine.
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Both should scale up and down pretty easily. I shifted my MPCNC from being 600x600 to 300x300 by just sliding everything in, didn’t even cut the tubes. The LR3 gantry can be lifted off and stuck on a different table pretty easily in a matter of minutes and some people have printed some cunning belt tensioner pieces for it for that purpose, I think. The LR3 gantry would be shrinkable in a similar fashion by replacing the tubes and strut braces.
One thing that I’ve seen a few people do is make the LR3 easily removable so that the table can be used as a workbench when it’s not in use. You can also do that pretty easily by just shifting the gantry to one end. That’s not really possible with the MPCNC as it’s always framed in place. For me, I think that’s enough that I’d lean towards the LR3.
And stuff definitely costs more here, in fact it tends to usually be Aussie prices + some. At least there are some options you have there like the Vevor stuff. I’m heading to NSW to visit friends in a couple of months and think I might drag a spindle and VFD back in the suitcase…