Revnull Primo Build... maybe :)

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. :smile: 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 didnā€™t 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.

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I started digging back into this project after my ā€œneedā€ for a single rail vertical motion system. There are a few other designs out there, but @vicious1ā€™s work is top notch so why learn something new? :joy:

After a quick and dirty remix, Iā€™m ready for mounting. Fingers crossed, the belt tension is enough to keep things straight.

image

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Well, this is going to be interesting!

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Maybe Iā€™ll get Klipper working on this one. :rofl:

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How quickly a single rail turned into a double. Iā€™m still using a single-axis config with 2 rails/steppers to keep things parallel.

Iā€™m 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 ā€œYā€. Iā€™m also using a 3rd driver to define a ā€œmanual stepperā€ to drive a peristaltic pump.

This has been a fun little side project, but I think itā€™s time to build the real deal. Props to the MPCNC colourizer BTW!

The ā€œBā€ 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. Iā€™m going with another SKR 1.X board and Klipper on this one too. I guess itā€™s time to order some nuts, bolts, and bearings.

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Slow and steady, but progress.

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Non-stop printing continues. By the math, I should be done in another couple of days. In case youā€™re wondering, the center of my PEI sheet is bubbled and split so Iā€™m placing around the parameter of the bed. :smile:

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Corners done! I could totally start cutting EMT if I knew what size Iā€™m going to make. I took an informal survey around work and 2x3-ft seems to be the consensus, but weā€™ll 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, Iā€™ve 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. :smiley:

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My Primo has a 2ā€™ by 3ā€™ area, and thatā€™s too big for the machine. At that size, the steel isnā€™t rigid enough to keep it from issues if the CAM isnā€™t darn near perfect. Iā€™ve ruined a lot of material getting that stuff dialled in, and my steel is 1" structural tube, not conduit.

I think youā€™d 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 didnā€™t need the whole area. I could have made my Primo 18" by 24" and cut everything that Iā€™ve used it for on that.

I have cut larger projects, but those actually wouldnā€™t have fit on my Primo anyway. I used the LowRider for them. I have some drawings for things that wonā€™t fit on the LowRider either (Mine isnā€™t 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€¦

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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, thatā€˜s the size they sell a lot of sheets here.
For a Primo Iā€™d go 40x40cm now I guess.

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40x40 cm workarea?

Yes. But thatā€™s just my subjective opinion. :yum:

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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 itā€™s not ridged enough. One of the most significant aspects of Ryanā€™s 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.

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I think this is the Klipper controller for me. :smiley:

Huston, we have trucks!

Ok, time to stop procrastinating. Iā€™ll have to order the hardware tomorrow.

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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. Iā€™m just missing end-stops though Iā€™ve had luck with TMC2209 sensorless homing with my other project. Maybe Iā€™ll go that route instead.

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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.

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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, itā€™s the beefy 8MM hardware version. :slight_smile: 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? Iā€™ve been following the sizing guide dimensions to the ā€œTā€ so far, but I think Iā€™ll need to shave ~5/8-in off in both directions to fit the new feet. Opinions are welcome. TIA!

https://www.printables.com/model/196643

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Measure 5 times, cut oncā€¦ wait, measure againā€¦ ok, ok now cut.

As if by magic, itā€™s square. Now to kick off the new feet print and to the hardware store once more for some longer M8s. Fingers crossed, Iā€™ll have a gantry sometime tomorrow. This is getting exciting! :exploding_head:

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If you want to go that route, I think @DJPicasso had some nice remixes.