But does it count?
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Oh man. What? Give us a tour.
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Well, after I realized that the wobble in my lowrider was probably bad prints (you remember that right? The flexy white petg?), I started thinking.
No matter what, I was in for a complete reprint. But I had a whole bunch of other stuff from mpcncs and a few parts from an artisan 3. Basically, other machines I half-built and/or replaced. One of them drives my diode laser around for a while.
So, I wanted to see if I could put something together with the parts that actually worked. Clearly, it moves. What I can’t convey is that it also has the expected amount of power. Seems to top out at around 4000mm/m, which is way faster than I’ll cut, so that’s good.
The only appreciable flex is when the carriage is at the middle, if I push at the bottom or top like I’m trying to twist it around the short axis. Make sense? It’s exactly where you’d expect it, if that helps. It’s still way better than my LR with crappy parts (I know, my fault) and I dare say better than my first Mpcnc in terms of flex. Can’t hold a candle to the teeny tiny, though. Of course, it’ll get much worse very fast if I make it any bigger, which I’ll need to do. I might box in the tubes with some angle and/or plate because I do have a welder, but that’s a huge weight penalty so I’ll have to see how it handles first.
At any rate, the parts are all V1 and artisan (so, V1 inspired?). Only thing I designed is the side plates. Bright yellow and flat white parts are the only new things I had to print. Even had the z parts with the bearings (bright white). Everything else was creative placement.
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That is neat that you were able to create something like this, and it actually works. What a great project. Thanks for the tour.
I forgot about the artisan 3. Now I see the similarities. This is definitely different.
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Thanks! I’m super impressed that it didn’t all bind up or crumble into a pile of garbage. The fact that I really think I can cut something with it has me really jazzed.
Definitely a much bigger pain to assemble than a lowrider, and probably not as extensible. I’m really concerned about lengthening the gantry tubes. I’ll see before too long. Also not as space efficient. My work area is a little smaller than the lowrider I had on the same table.
For completeness, I think the z mount (would be xyz on the mpcnc) might have actuality been from the plastic bastard. Been in the junk bin so long I honestly don’t remember.
Still not bad for a few dollars of bolts I didn’t have and a 1/4 roll of plastic!
I’m going to wire up the home stops tonight. Didn’t really think about where to put those, so there might not be any good places.
I’m not sure where this goes either, but i’ll be watching intently to see where it ends up.
I’m wondering, is it a lowrider2 that self-identifies as a Burly?
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Lol, more like the high school dropout that identifies as a doctor.
Got the table all cleaned up, end stops figured out, wires sorted. Gonna do some calibration tomorrow and figure out how to square it without dual endstops.
I left the wires long because I got a free counter top that should let me use all of the tube on the short axis. But first, gotta make sure its worth the effort.
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Got in my first cuts today. Overall, not bad. It’s serviceable. I really thought I’d have more bend in the upper tubes, but most of the flex is coming from the white pieces that hold the z tubes. Also, it’s hard to tell from some of the pictures, but the endmill is a full 7 inches away from the center of those tubes, so that doesn’t help.
I really like everything else, though. Might scrap the tubes and get a c-beam. I can mill the plates on my teeny tiny mpcnc, so there’s that. First, i’m going to cruise openbuilds and thingiverse and see if I can steal something else.
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I’ve had second thoughts about the extrusion. I priced out everything I’d need and I could build another mpcnc for just a little more. Upside, I KNOW how the mpcnc would perform. Reprinting everything for a lowrider and getting proper wheels would be a little less, but that will have to wait for a proper shop and a 4x8 table and enough projects that it makes sense to load up a full sheet.
Right now I can build a 2x4 mpcnc in the space I have. I know that’s pushing it for the mpcnc and that I could get a LITTLE more work area out of the lowrider, but I can’t afford to have more missed steps by pushing that single stepper on the short axis as hard as I was.
This was a fun project, and I’m super happy I could make it cut anything at all. I really think that with the extrusion it would be good enough, I just can’t justify buying it and tinkering when I have stuff that needs to get made. I’ll keep all the parts though, never know what kind of time I’ll have later. I’ve got a project on it right now that I’ll post when it’s together.
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Here it is. I’ll post it in the things I made group after it gets some paint.
Upside, after I handed it to wifey, she told me to get the primo parts going. Not “agreed”…“told” lol. Went digging through all my stuff and I seriously only need some bolts and tubes. Took the opportunity to finally order some crimpers for the Dupont stuff.
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