Waiting on the bed, working on the extruder mount. Might need some tweaks still. MP3DP, milled printed 3D Printer?
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It’s finally here! Nice!! The whole thing looks clean and sturdy - unlike many of the Prusa derivatives out there. How’s she move so far?
Thanks. Haven’t ran it yet, had to clean up all the dust that MDF kicked up. Some of the parts might be a little close for comfort, need to let it print for a few days and see if I need to change anything major. Then I’ll put all the parts up, and the BOM. Hopefully design and print the extruder mount tomorrow.
None of the smooth rods are trapped, not sure if they need to be or not. With good bearings it shouldn’t be an issue but…better safe than sorry?
Very cool!
How big is the Build area?
Dave
Thanks.
With the MK extruder it should just get 200x200x200. I just put a bed on it and realized with the clips on the glass you don’t get a full 200…hmmmm. It’s the little things that drive me insane.
Nice. I’m a bit late, but Skarab (who already made the Lautr3k reprap and other cool machines) already did almost the same thing. Lots of french guys have this printer now, because it’s strong and there are very few printed parts and it’s very easy to build (it was made to help Fablab to do some workshop. Same ideas in fact:
http://reprap.org/wiki/ITopie/fr
Sorry, for the french link: see this one. You can customize everything for your needs: https://github.com/lautr3k/RepRap-iTopie , it’s a really nice work.
Hmmm, the beginning of the Vicious MP3DP army. You need to laser engrave your brand on that thing. Oh, and paint it black! Haha! Looks great though. Is that a design you came up with or was it something already online? If yours, is this going to be plan available for the peasants? Vicious, you are doing a great job inspiring us (me) to be better makers.
It’s the same Prusa style, but I kind of like the Vicious style printer better.
Dave
A real work of art. Congratulations. I would really like to make something like this, just to say that I have. I wouldn’t mind making one a lot smaller, actually. I have a 200mm size wanhao, and I rarely use all of the space. It would be cool to make a smaller one so I could have a loaner for people who are interested in it, but don’t want to take the plunge themselves.
Ryan (other ryan). Having owned 9 different 3d printers now I can tell you that you DONT want to enclose (trap) the top of your Z axis lead screws. ANY variation in their straightness (its hard to get perfectly straight ones) will be translated in to your prints if it isnt allowed to release itself with a slight deviation at the top.
More easily stated, Trapping a nut on the Z axis doesnt allow that slight movement it needs.
SO there is really 2 options. Leave them open at the top (which a lot of these printers do, like the makerfarm, but he uses lower quality lead screws) and that gives them room to move.
My taz 5 captures them at the top, and ANY slight deviation in the straightness of the lead screw presents itself in Z axis banding on your prints (repeatable bands, every time that Lead screw hits the curvature point).
Thats my take on it.
I am VERY interested in making this printer . I have many others, but I am working on a job that may require a fleet of printers to be running for a while. This would be a nice cost effective way to build some.
Any option to make it bigger?
another thing. either you (ryan) or the community needs to device a method of toolhead changes as well for this printer.
The ability for me to swap toolheads , with different nozzles , etc on the taz is REMARKABLE. i cant say how nice that is.
What would be REALLY cool is to devise a system by which we can screw on (taz comes off with 1 m3 screw) a pen tool, a laser tool, etc.
I think that can all come in time, but removeable toolheads are a must on any printer i own now.
also, and if youve never trusted a word ive said before, Trust this. Devise a system for Auto Bed Leveling. . This is the single best feature ANY printer can offer. its fairly easy to devise ( i did it on my makerfarm) and to never have to worry about leveling, is maybe the best thing in the history of mankind (outside of the microwave, internet or ATMs)
i will be a guinea pig on this machine ryan. count me in day 1 build (ive built 4 other printers + you MPCNC)
That looks great. I guess with the amount of the machine that’s made up of milled parts you could even call it MM3DP (Mostly Milled 3D Printer) 
If you want to trap the leadscrews at the top and bottom, how about an Oldham coupler to sort out potential Z wobble?
Wow, I love it. I think it would be so much more rigid, and less parts.
Well I won’t be putting anymore effort into this one. Finish up the extruder mount so this wasn’t a complete waste of 3 weeks.
Dang, I love the y belt setup… and that flattop piece for the bed. This solves a lot of issues. I wonder why this isn’t a more popular machine?
I meant the smooth rods, I’m wondering if they might slip out.
Seriously though that printer @aze aze linked, https://github.com/lautr3k/RepRap-iTopie It actually looks perfect to me. I only built this because I was super unhappy with what was out there, for the prices they are offered at. I looked for a milled printer and did not find anything even decent. That itopie looks absolutely perfect to me.
This is built for a snap on tool mount, kinda like my ramps case.
I am not a fan of auto bed leveling, but is in the firmware just add an endstop. Both my robos /hadit, I took it off one while I had to replace some bearings and will take it off the other. once the bed is level its good to go. I had to shim the robo bed with paper between the magnets but these prusa style 3 spring beds are simple to set. I guess I just have something against the z motors always working, add not perfect threaded rods in the mix and you get worse prints.
The magnetic Z stop sensor of my Printerbot quit working about a week after I first started printing. While I was waiting for a replacement printerboard, I leveled the bed using shims of paper and removed the auto leveling G code. I use a sheet of paper as gauge between the hot head and bed for the first layer. The prints started coming out better then when the Z stop worked. I did get the Z stop fixed, but I still prefer to print without autoleveling. I now only use the Z stop for homing.
that sucks you guys have had bad experiences with auto bed leveling. its like anything else on a 3d printer, it takes a little work to get it right…
Also some printers have better systems than others.
The one i put on my makerfarm prusa printer was flawless.
There are a lot of factors on how easily a printer is to get off level once its configured. I use PEI as my print surface, which if done correctly makes your prints adhere like CRAZY…IN that case you have to work to get parts off sometimes, and sometimes losing level a bit.
Or in the case of the taz 5 i have. I have 2 extruders, each are slightly different nozzle heights, it takes some work in S3D and on the bed each time i swap to make sure they are perfect. Its in inexact science, but ill never own a printer again with ABL.
My Gcreate that is due this week or next JUST got it finished as an option, so its shipping on my printer 
I am excited to build your printer ryan. I am going to make some serious mods to it, as I have an idea for a commercially viable printer. What better place to start than building one from my MPCNC
I’ll put up everything as soon as I run at least 1 real test print.
Auto leveling is an interesting feature, but I think some people equate it to a fix all (not implying you do). Unfortunately, while it may help with first layer adhesion, it does not compensate for a poor design or bad build. However, auto-homing the Z-axis is nice and coupled with a solid build, it does have its merits.