To steal a quote from the Australian Signals Directorate (ie their NSA) - “…Long time listener, first time caller.”
Somewhere down the bottom of your maps there’s a little town called Rangiora in the South Island of New Zealand (yes where Hobbits live… and sheep, a hand built motorbike that wasted every other bike - the Britten V1000, nuclear physics got born - a chap called Ernest, and our Prime Minister is way cooler than anyone else’s - and she’s from the wrong political party if you ask me)
Anyway, in a print-friendly 35 degree C garage (95F - it’s summer here and I’m sorry for you folks that aren’t allowed metric, that’s very unkind) I’ve slowly started my first ever serious build - my first MPCNC.
With a cut volume of: 710mm x 710mm x 100mm (27.953" x 27.953" x 3.937" - ouch sigh, sorry)
This is a BURLY J series - fortunately finding 25.4mm galvanised pipe wasn’t hard. And yes we use the “s” in New Zealand.
A very brief spin around the first ever full “dry fit”. This is just the “do I have all the bits, does everything slide, is anything sticking?” moment followed very closely by the “OMG OMG OMG Ryan has the SMART! ITS SOOOOO COOL” moment and about 30 minutes of just drooling interrupted by having to put the dogs out.
Ryan - at this stage all I can do is take my hat off to you. I don’t think my wife is quite at her tolerance level yet for “omg, and it’s blah blah, and it’s so clever how…” but everyone I know seems to be taking a little bit of amusement in watching my glee building this machine.
Once it’s finished it’s going to get as dirty as a two year old in a mud puddle - it’s first real job will be cutting plates for the Lowrider I want to build next.
But for now it’s back in pieces across my workshop.
Yes, btw, it did take me a moment to be all chill and cool after realising that it was “The Ryan” that had replied. It is really awesome to know that the guy who created this amazing thing is real, is available (man you must have a massive notification list?!), and really cares.
Before I set out building your MPCNC I decided I had to design and build a simple one from scratch (or as close as possible to it) - kind of earn the right to build this design. It took me over six months of tinkering, I learnt a bit about 3d printed objects and an awful lot about “things not to do”.
It’s comments like this that make answering all the boring or repeat ones worth it. “The Ryan”, that need to go on my business cards! It is also cool to hear you built your own and still approve of my design choices. Getting a working machine is not an easy task. It has taken almost 4 years and the help of countless people to get the MPCNC to where it is today. Glad to have you on the crew, and I am excited to see what is next.
You absolutely should get that on your cards good sir.
“The Ryan”
To be completely fair and to display a little of my propensity for profanity, what I built was shit. Especially compared to your designs - and also to be upfront about it I’m going to steal lots of it in the future.
Because my friend Grant said I should make a YouTube channel out of this (hence the “Blame Grant”) I’m sure there be an update video or two.
There are a few things I’ve found so far which are worth noting for people who live in a metric world so I might do something there for the community if it helps (but oh man - how many times do you have to suggest the infamous solution to all unwanted nut rotation - the little flat head screwdriver?).
I am pretty solidly hooked on youtube videos. Especially little short ones showing how to do things like use a small flat head (some people act like it is a horrible thing to do)…pretty solid content in my opinion.
It’s been a very very long time since I last did anything like this and wow it’s rusty. Apologies for all sorts of things (lighting, angle, transition, being able to see the blu-tak etc etc) but:
Ryan, sincerest apologies because this could be me having something wrong somewhere but…
In a Metric world, the M4 bolts for holding the motor mounts onto the frame rollers need to be 15mm (technically I think 18mm max) or they don’t go down far enough. Any shorter than 15mm and there isn’t a lot of thread to catch the Nylock with.
Paul, it took me ages to find that galv pipe - as you’ll know if you type in galv pipe or conduit into the hardware store websites you get everything but what you’re looking for.
Ryan, um… What can I say, you’re welcome to put links to my videos where ever you feel fit… If you do can I have the link so I can prove it to my Beloved? though sadly that flat tip video looks better (animation wise at least) if you slow it to half or quarter speed.
And glad to know I was missing something (the gap):
It’s a shame you’re on the wrong side of Christchurch!
If you’re ever passing through Christchurch I got my steel pipe for my Lowrider from NZ Steel and Tube, very little web presence and quite grumpy, but very cheap and they cut it all to size for me.
Is this the start of the kiwi invasion of V1Engineering?
I’ll be interested to following the build for your table for the Lowrider as building materials are horrifically expensive here.
I work in chch so am in and out all the time - hadn’t actually thought to go to NZ Steel and Tube to be honest, nice that they cut to size though, do they leave a nice end? Angle grinder and poor workmanship left me with a fair whack of filing and smoothing to do!
For unique sized bolts etc I found the guys at Blacks to be the best - wandered in, said “I’m one of those hobby guys who doesn’t really know a bolt from a nut… but I need these, can you help?” They were awesome.
When I get to the Lowrider I’ll post heaps - in terms of the table itself though I’m probably going to use budget 100x50 pine and 18mm plywood for it.
Shoot I used the link immediately. I linked it on the parts page near the bottom of the hardware and plan on linking it everywhere in the build instructions that it might be needed. I can’t tell you how glad I am you made that! Now…the deal is we split any baked goods that might come of this new found respect from the better 3/4!
If it is, put on a maker faire so I can justify a “business trip”!
Oh cor blimey wow. So you did Ryan. Sadly my significantly better 3/4 probably wont provide us with baked goods but I suspect she’ll be even more tolerant of the tinkering I get up to. To be honest I’m pretty lucky in that department, Mrs Dan never really complains even when I get her car covered in sawdust (sawdust in the kitchen wasn’t ok though for some reason… who knew?).
If there are any other ideas you’d like to see let me know.
