This is the project that brought me to this site in the first place. The Primo was awesome and combined my 2 favorite things, 3D printing and making things that make things. Allas, once I got here I was immediately smitten with the Lowrider3 and its promise of full sheet cuts. Shortsidedly, I jumped in with both feet and built the LR3, but didnāt have enough room in the garage for a full sheet table. Sadly, the LR3 has been collecting dust, but I still want to make things that make thingsā¦ so here I am. Wish me luck, again.
I started digging back into this project after my āneedā for a single rail vertical motion system. There are a few other designs out there, but @vicious1ās work is top notch so why learn something new?
After a quick and dirty remix, Iām ready for mounting. Fingers crossed, the belt tension is enough to keep things straight.
Well, this is going to be interesting!
Maybe Iāll get Klipper working on this one.
How quickly a single rail turned into a double. Iām still using a single-axis config with 2 rails/steppers to keep things parallel.
Iām using an old Arduino Uno with a CNC shield running klipper and TMC2209 drivers in UART mode to drive it. Klipper allows you to define cartesian kinematics with no extruder, but override all axisesā G28 (homing) gcode with a defined macro to only home āYā. Iām also using a 3rd driver to define a āmanual stepperā to drive a peristaltic pump.
This has been a fun little side project, but I think itās time to build the real deal. Props to the MPCNC colourizer BTW!
The āBā parts are on the Voron as I write this. Orange and gray Inland ABS. The EMT from Lowes is smoother that the stuff I got for my Lowrider3 at Home Depot. Iām going with another SKR 1.X board and Klipper on this one too. I guess itās time to order some nuts, bolts, and bearings.
Non-stop printing continues. By the math, I should be done in another couple of days. In case youāre wondering, the center of my PEI sheet is bubbled and split so Iām placing around the parameter of the bed.
Corners done! I could totally start cutting EMT if I knew what size Iām going to make. I took an informal survey around work and 2x3-ft seems to be the consensus, but weāll see.
Next up, everything else but the trucks. The slicer is estimating a day and a half for those so I should have all the printed parts by Monday afternoon.
Since this will be a Klipper build, Iāve been looking at the Bigtreetech Manta M5P and CB1 module. It seems newish compared to the previous M4P and M8P models. If it pans out, I may swap out my other printer boards and harvest the legit Pisā for something more useful.
My Primo has a 2ā by 3ā area, and thatās too big for the machine. At that size, the steel isnāt rigid enough to keep it from issues if the CAM isnāt darn near perfect. Iāve ruined a lot of material getting that stuff dialled in, and my steel is 1" structural tube, not conduit.
I think youād be OK with 2ā square as your build size, and 18" is rock solid. The amount that the steel can flex increases geometrically with size.
I would recommend 18" by 24" myself. The vast majority of my projects fit in that size area anyway, even though cabinet doors (Which was why I picked 25" by 37" in the first place) was my intended project, I ended up cutting those on a table saw, and only cut the holes for the hinges on the CNC, which didnāt need the whole area. I could have made my Primo 18" by 24" and cut everything that Iāve used it for on that.
I have cut larger projects, but those actually wouldnāt have fit on my Primo anyway. I used the LowRider for them. I have some drawings for things that wonāt fit on the LowRider either (Mine isnāt full sheet) but I can tile the jobs and get it done anyway. Well, once I figure out a way to bring home full sheets of material with a Honda Civicā¦
My Primo was 55x75cm, so close to what Dan suggests I guess and it was, in my eyes, still too big for a Primo. There was always chatter when cutting in the middle of the cutting area because the tubes would start swinging a bit. Drove me mad. I have since built a LR3 because I wanted the possibility to cut 60x120cm, thatās the size they sell a lot of sheets here.
For a Primo Iād go 40x40cm now I guess.
40x40 cm workarea?
Yes. But thatās just my subjective opinion.
Thanks for the insight on sizing folks! I think my first stab will be 24 x 24-in. I figure worst case I can always cut it shorter if itās not ridged enough. One of the most significant aspects of Ryanās design is the open ends that allow the polls to extend past the outer limits if needed.
In the meantime, fresh off the plate.
Up next, trucks.
Huston, we have trucks!
Ok, time to stop procrastinating. Iāll have to order the hardware tomorrow.
Steppers, pullies, nuts, and bolts have been ordered. Amazon promises most of it will arrive tomorrow. I did the math and it took just over 5 days of actual non-stop print time. 0.2mm layers, 4 shells. Iām just missing end-stops though Iāve had luck with TMC2209 sensorless homing with my other project. Maybe Iāll go that route instead.
Gotta love next-day shipping! Man, the core, fully loaded is hefty! Still waiting on some M5 nuts and bolts to finish this bad boy off, mechanically that is.
I was searching through printables for cable management ideas when I came across this 4040 foot mount. This is not the dual rail per side stuff, itās the beefy 8MM hardware version. I recalled having several 6-ft lengths of the stuff out in the garage collecting dust. This seems like the perfect use case for my Primo. Has anyone here used 4040 extrusions for the base? Iāve been following the sizing guide dimensions to the āTā so far, but I think Iāll need to shave ~5/8-in off in both directions to fit the new feet. Opinions are welcome. TIA!
Measure 5 times, cut oncā¦ wait, measure againā¦ ok, ok now cut.
As if by magic, itās square. Now to kick off the new feet print and to the hardware store once more for some longer M8s. Fingers crossed, Iāll have a gantry sometime tomorrow. This is getting exciting!