Shouldn’t every cut be square using a CNC machine? Or is this machine not accurate enough for square cuts?
You are taking that too literally, sorry for being unclear.
The picture was to show the new parts are working well, they are square, and everything checks out. My words were meant to be funny. Being the creator of this beast you would hope I have the hang of it.
You have to be careful with how you word things in the CNC world accuracy has everything to do with it. You can always add another decimal place to prove parts aren’t perfect. So I will say this, this machine has easily been more accurate than I have ever needed, and always within useful tolerances.
Ok…you scared me for a second! LOL
In hopes of squeezing out some more rigidity I think I am going to recommend higher infill percentages, like the old pieces. I think these perform very similar to the old pieces with lower infill. So I had a whole second set printed for myself, but I need to scrap those and print another set with higher infill and rebuild the other machine and try them out side by side.
These are the layer settings I used for my latest parts in petg. I actually printed in “coarse” quality. Thicker layers are stronger layers, they have more heat in them, so they bond to the last layer better, at least according to the E3D guys.
Layer height: .3mm
first layer height: .4mm
Perimeters: 4
Top: 4
Bottom: 4
fill density 50% honeycomb
So to compare, how did you print the other parts? Does one seem better than the other?
Don’t worry about my feelings I just want the best parts possible.
The other parts were pla with your suggested settings. I honestly can’t tell a difference between my parts now and the pla parts with your settings. I printed mine with extra perimeters because petg is slightly more flexible than pla. The extra perimeters will stiffen up the parts, but I think you still want some flex to keep parts from cracking when tightening around the metal parts and the routers, cause you know, gorillas.
I’ve been putting together the parts for my first build over the last few weeks. I wasn’t aware you were getting so close to releasing the new version, and I literally just finished printing the last pieces last weekend. I was beginning to install the Camaro add-on to the middle z assembly, but now I’m wondering if I should just wait until the new center is released and use that? Or maybe I need to just get a second set of electronics and build two machines (lol)? I don’t really mind reprinting everything, I just feel like it would be a waste to just throw away all these nicely printed parts I made. I just want the best possible system.
I can confidently say use what you have. This new one so far is just easier to print. I am not really seeing any giant boost in rigidity. I have the sketch pad out looking into some other options right now.
So to be clear, you’re saying to continue using the Rigid Z and rest of the Z axis prints because the new and improved Z axis you were working on is not any more “rigid”…just easier to print?
Because I’ve already printed my Rigid Z’s, and they were easy to print, and printed like a dream.
Yup. A lot of people have problems printing support, for those of us who don’t they are about the same.
Suh-weet. Printing the last Z axis parts now!
I see, thanks for the quick response. I will post pics once my build is complete.
All hail the MPCNC!
Ya know…I was just going through my stock, when I ran across 1" ID EMT…I got it from HD or Lowes…and that stuff is PLENTY strong enough to span 8 feet.
Why not scale the parts for 1" ID EMT conduit instead?
I’ll check it out next time I’m at the hardware store. It will be fairly easy if/when I rebuild all the parts, but I’m still working on the new center.
The only issue you’d run into would be cutting I think. A pipe cutter won’t do. Gonna need a metal bandsaw me thinks.
A good hacksaw blade or two should get your though it (slowly). I would probably give up on that and cut the ends with a grinder and just not rely on the end to square up the frame. I suppose you could throw and end mill in the spindle of your choice and cut though it if you want a cleaner cut. The point is, there are several ways to do it without access to a metal band saw. Though, I gave up on a hacksaw pretty quick with the normal conduit and went to a small horizontal band saw which still took forever. Can’t wait to get home for the summer and have access to the big one at work.
You tube cuts then with sawsalls.
Sounds like we’re going to have to develop an “MPCNC XL” in addition to the MPCNC V2 (or whatever you’re calling it). I think the EMT/bearing system is incredibly clever, and I’m definitely curious about options for larger/heavy duty options that don’t involve building the whole thing out of aluminum. I think there’s a ways to go before we max out the potential of your system.
Okay I have a new one, might be able to put up some pics this evening. This one has to be more rigid. I think I put the same weakness into both previous designs, hard to know for sure when dealing with all 3 axis at once and still making this FDM/FFF printable.
Same Zaxis style though, dimensions might be a little different, anybody have issues with the new Zaxis mount style? The 2 piece with the coupler between them? I like this style better than the current one. Just for ease of print, and any stepper will work because the shaft length does not matter.