I am considering building an MPCNC, the local Makers space’s cnc router is frequently on the fritz and is about 30 miles away from my house.
Anyway, I noticed the 3d printed tops that hold together the conduit don’t have ends on them. I was thinking it would make setting up the MPCNC and ensuring its square much more easy if you just pushed the cut conduit pipe all the way to the stop and tightened it down.
The maker space has a metal band saw and other saws with a long fence and stop block, so I can use those tools to ensure all conduit parts are the same size.
Is there a reason why the tops don’t have ends on them?
Personally, I don’t route wires through there, but some people do leave the tube a little bit long to mount fixtures to the corners of the machine, like a box for the control boards, LCDs etc. Also, since it’s really the placement of the feet that determines if the machine is square, it can over-constrain the machine. What if one of your Y tubes is .5mm longer than the other? Or when you squared the feet, you were 1mm shy of the calculated length, and now 1 pair of tubes is 1mm too long? Rather than require that level of precision cutting before you have a CNC machine to help isn’t it better to have the precision part at just one step? (ie: placement of the feet.) The Z legs require precision, but there at least what’s important is that they are all the same length, and not specifically what length they are.
I routed from the controller in the front of the machine through the base conduit to the back side for the cable chain to the x and y axis so the wires weren’t in the way in front. After I cut it down in size, I was lazy and just bolted them down in front and that has complicated things because it is in a corner and there are no clear paths to get material in and out of it, so that will need to change soon. If all wires are good and everything is working, having the wires away from the work is preferable to me. If the wires are problematic, then it makes life interesting.