Just thought I’d share my progress on my mpcnc build. I decided to go with the recommended 21" x 21" build envelope. Used my old makerfarm i3 prusa to print all the parts. Sourced everything else from ebay, amazon, hardware store, etc. Thanks to Ryan for sharing this awesome machine. What intrigued me about this machine is that it is so versatile. I just bought a 2.8w blue diode laser that was recommended on this site. I believe I got the same laser driver that Ryan has and Leo69 is currently working on a revised write up for that variant driver (thanks again to Leo69!). I also plan to use this as a second 3d printer, vinyl cutting, and maybe some actual milling… lol. I just finally got the z axis and middle assembly setup tonight. Had a lot of problems with z axis top mounting plate. I had to really sand down the bearing slot and the holes for the conduit (broke three of these trying to jam everything in). I also had the same problem with the roller assembly clamps and had to sand those down with the dremel as well. Other then that everything seems to be good so far. Just need to get the X Y stepper motor’s tuned and wired in parallel, and install the belt pulleys. Printing some drag chain for wire management as well. Anything else I’m missing? Anyways… here are a few pics. Thanks for looking!
Looks good. When you print the cable chain, make sure you have them in different orientations on the print bed. I printed all mine in the same direction, and there is a twist to them over the 3 feet of chain.
You probably also want a box for the ramps with a fan.
I haven’t looked in the MPCNC3DP much, but how do you level the bed? Do you have some kind of adjustment on the bed, or do you mill a space for it, or do you have to get the feet the perfect height (which will be really hard with stacked 2x4s).
Cool. Thanks! For the cable chain, did you simply mirror the object in the slicer program? I’ve got about 3 feet printed so far. I thought it just needed to be in one direction though. But yeah… I’ll print some kind of box for the RAMPS and LCD eventually. As for the 3D printing aspect of the MFPCNC. The 2x4 blocks I have on there currently are just temporary until I get around to cutting some more conduit. but as for a level bed for the 3d printing, I’m not sure how I’m going to tackle this yet. With all of the different functions I want to do with this machine I’m trying to understand what kind of firmware modifications I’ll have to make to be able to use a laser, extruder, etc. But as for the bed, I may implement a servo to perform an auto bed level routine… Not sure yet…
Right after I posted, I saw a solution Ryan had that used a spring under each corner of the bed, with a screw pulling it down to the spoil board, which seems like an easy enough solution.
You don’t have to move the bed to have auto leveling. If you can measure the Z height at a couple of places, then the software can move the printer head up and down to get the correct distance to the bed at each X,Y location. It’s also called auto tramming. I think marlin and repetier firmwares are starting to support it, but it’s a lot of code, so it may not be enabled by default (I’ve never tried it).
For the record, I printed all mine the same way, without thinking about it, and it’s OK, just not great. There are some plated versions of the cable chain that have the parts rotated 90 degrees four times, so parts pointing in each NSEW (That’s north, south east, west, and completely suitable for work). I can’t think of a way that you could skew the parts to make it necessary to need all 4 directions, I think just NS would be fine. Certainly a big improvement. Just print the other direction ones in a different color, and make a zebra pattern.
Well. I’m just about finished with this thing. This has been a very satisfying project to work on. Been working on it off and on for the last 6 weeks. Just gotta get some wire management in place, and start doing some calibration tests. Here’s my most recent picture. Never thought I’d get here!! LOL
Now we need to think of something that would use the laser during a 3D print. It’s there some way to remove supports right after you’re done using them?
Yea… I found one gotcha with this. I had the laser powered when I started a calibration print. I guess my gcode was configured to control a fan. So after my first layer, the M106 command kicked in and the laser lit up unexpectedly. It was an oh crap moment! LOL.