Folks, I think I have collected everything, i am in the middle of printing parts.
My Main question is How did you determine the size you wanted to make?
I wanted 2x3 area, but did not realize that meand 3x4 footprint. That is alot of real estate.
I am considering making it small to start, then make it larger later, if needed.
I originally though I wanted 20"x30" build area, but ended up trimming one side to fit the space I had to put the machine into. If I want to do longer pieces, I can slide them through and do them in 2 (or more) sections/jobs.
I made mine that big. 25" by 37" work area. It will work at that size, but it is big.
Bigger is less rigis, which means limited when cutting harder materials. I wouldn’t try aluminum on mine at this size. I’m going to try cutting it down to a smaller size in order to increase the rigidity. I ended up also building a LowRider in order to maintain the larger format, but it measn that my machine room is a little crowded.
Thanks guys
Do you have a pic or final size?
My planned short axis became my actual long axis, so I ended up at 16” x 21”.
Details and photos are in my build thread Build in Wisconsin coming together.
I went for a 24"x24" cut size. This allows me to easily by a pre-cut 4’x4’ piece of plywood or MDF and rip it into useable pieces.
The next machine I build (not mpcnc) will have a 3’x4’ cut size. I’ve had the need for a slightly larger work area a few times. This will also give me a little bit more room for hold down clamps.