I have an older version of the mpcnc. I have used it quite a bit, but I bought cheap bearings and now I am replacing them. So I was wondering if I should reprint the whole thing. The version I have is from about 3.5 years ago. Is the new design superior to the old CNC? What are the advantages? I added a picture so you can see what version I am working with.
I’ve seen on Instagram that Ryan is playing with some new designs. I know he is totally free to develop in his own pace and with no obligations to give is any time frames, but maybe it’s worth waiting just a little longer to see what is happening?
It could be months. He is about to get very busy with the holiday season too. There is always a new version coming.
Dave,
I’m not as good at spotting it as Ryan, but this looks like the version before the 525 version. There was supposedly a lot of increased rigidity between that version and the 525 and more “burly” rigidity added between that and the current “burly” version.
At some point, he dropped support for the allthread Z axis, so you might need to buy a leadscrew. I’m not sure if all the bolt lengths are the same either. So it might require more bolts. The rest of the machine is probably the same. If you’ve got the plastic and an idle printer, I say go for it.
OMG that red on is the very very very first Center section! I honestly can’t remember if that was the first one or second version. What, you are one of a very small handful of people to make that one, I quickly changed that. WOOOOOWWWW! Dude, so awesome. You just made my day. You have to be one of the first 40 or so. Dang. I can’t tell on the black one, Was that even my steppers? I was buying 5 or 10 at a time back then just trying to help a few other people make one. no way.
That feels like a million years ago. I have had my nose to the grindstone since that time. So freaking cool.
Well I can tell you it is a drastic difference since that design, you will absolutely not be disappointed is you move to the new one. I can promise you that. I have been messing with a new idea but if it works it could be a while (I started this a year and a half ago), it is not proven and not worth waiting for because of that. I have tried more than a dozen ideas other than the ones people have seen.
Vac down the tubes…Wow I remember having early discussions about that and how excited I was people wanted to try stuff like that. Memories just flooding in. Thank you again.
That is awesome. Thank you all for the information. I have started printing my new CNC! I have a pretty cheap 3d printer so I hope it is good enough with some files and some elbow grease. Ryan, thanks so much for your designs.
Since you worry about printing on a “pretty cheap 3D printer”… Having recently reprinted just about the whole kit, I suggest you double check your mm/step (or step/mm, or whatever your controller uses) to make sure you’re getting dimensionally accurate prints. I was off by about 2%, and it really screwed things up; I was tearing pieces apart just assembling the rig.
And check that the axises are square…
Thanks for the advice. I have a geeetech aluminum prusa i3. I would say my main problem is a z axis wobble. Everything is dimensionally accurate, but hole sizes can be off at times. Normally I just correct it with a rasp or drill bit depending on the size of the hole. I should spend some time tuning things up.