Live: Building the MPCNC! (1 - Frame)

[@nccyr1]

Tom, I applaud your courage for making this build a live experience. We all know that about the unexpected issues on live demos and how they can affect your plans. You handled them really well today. Great job!!

[@jeffeberl12]

Pretty neat to see you doing this Tom. You've made a lot of machines, but there is still enthusiasm. You're brave to read instructions on a live stream too.

[@Tcromb]

YES! Thank you Tom for doing this project! I was actually in the middle of assembling mine and then I saw your first video! Can't wait for the rest!

[@loggercrawler]

I've built out the hardware side of the build and made some nice cables. I'm stuck on if I should build cable guides/cable chains, which electronics to build out and what CNC software I should use.

[@jeffeberl12]

Have you looked at the info on the v1engineering site or the teachtingtech videos about the low rider? Marlin or grbl work great and estlcam is the easiest cam software to learn by far.

[@tomaspalmquist]

Something to lookout for; I used same kind of hex bolts and had clearance issues building the z-axis, I had to use bolts with a lower profile. Otherwise the Z-axis could not move. The build instructions use ordinary bolts which have a lower profile by default.

[@jirij]

Hey Tom, endstops are necessary for the MPCNC as it doesn't have any mechanical coupling between both sides of X and Y, so it's very easy for the machine go out of square. The official MPCNC uses Marlin's dual endstop feature to always go to a known square state after power up. Other machines ("Root 3 cnc", etc.) have improved on that by adding a coupling rod with pulleys.

[@barry99705]

Uhh, no, it doesn't need endstops, they're handy for certain things, but we didn't use them at all at first.

[@jirij]

@@barry99705 Right, to rephrase my comment: You need dual enstops to get any decent square-ness repeatibility. I was just pulling the gantry by hand to the known-good square frame before enabling steppers, but even then, mounting holes on my PCBs were notably (~0.2mm diagonally) out of square and Tom mentioned he wants the machine for alu sheet stock, so I'm assuming mounting plates.

[@DennisFisherUK]

You can print a thin hexagonal sleeve to go around your nuts to make them lock against the shoulders while tightening them.

[@gundula4874]

Nice Tom! Im printing the last small Parts for my own machine... Love that you are building it now ;)

[@pjmccracken]

Isn't there several metric versions of this up on thingyverse ?

[@2112user]

56:15 Best to get "speed washers", after a bit of use that shoulder is 100% worthless.

[@NYON-xn3xg]

Hi, would Nylon X be more ridged than PLA???

[@mikeman230]

Use a thin wall socket for holding nuts

[@1972Maxi]

Anyone know where to purchase the hardware kit now that V1 has taken it down from their site?

[@echoswatch]

Wo hast du deine Rohre gekauft? Mit freundlichen Grüßen

[@unclebach3495]

Tom, yah it's closesource, but you could model that foot part in metric standard by yourself in 5min counting the time turning on computer and fusion 360

[@allted]

Fusion360 even did a demo on how to model that exact foot.

[@dano3696]

Doesn't change the fact that its necessary in the first place. Metric is common, and I don't really care which one people think is better

[@kevinm3751]

I wonder if it might be better to use extruded aluminum channel instead of the heavy stainless steel bar. The extruded is more ridged, lighter and cost wise not that much different really.

[@RockGodZeppelin]

Put on the x and y cross rails before you tighten down the frame pieces and run them to max and min of each side so you know the distance between the frame corners are square to the gantry

[@MarionMakarewicz]

You have some great skills to pull off this build on a live-stream. Lots to think of and manage. Kudos. Maybe if yours had been done already it would have saved me from making what is evidently a more common mistake than it should: I printed the 25mm tubing parts instead of the 23.5 for US electrical conduit. I do have a nice set of BurlyF to give away if anyone wants!

[@Tomasu82]

Always a tradeoff between speed and rigidity. Make the machine beefier and its going to be harder to get it to move fast with good results. Make it lighter so it can move faster more easily and its going to be harder to cut denser/stronger materials.

[@thullen84]

15$ was the most well spent money for those 3/4" screws on my build. Using M4 was hopeless.

[@MarkusOsmers]

@Thom, this video is missing in your MPCNC Playlist!

[@teenhype90210]

Details on that 'On Air' light/sign?

I’ve just fallen in love with those blue parts! What’s the name of the brand of that Blue PLA?

[@cybermad64]

All that trouble to save 15$... Was it worth it at the end ? Not sure.

[@RB-xc9vh]

I would love the idea of the open cnc, especially with the metric measurements ;-) Mach weiter so, geiler Job, den du da hinlegst. Respekt!

[@anthonyrich1592]

I do so enjoy watching your inventive tool use during live builds. Those poor, defenceless tweezers. :)

[@Waltkat]

I always design and build in metric. Far easier than using Imperial, and I'm an American. And an older one at that. Been using metric for many years. Just goes to show you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. Lol If I were to make one of these I'd probably redesign the parts to use metric hardware. I've done that with several projects from Thingiverse.

[@Mobile_Dom]

i'm half an hour into this and have said "wow, so much of this could have been fixed in the community" or " if only Tom could modify it in fusion" this does not bode well.

[@dano3696]

I agree, some things about the mpcnc could certainly be improved and an open source design and community would be a great start

[@ahaveland]

I'd redo it using Blender, but I'd starve without an income from it :-(

[@janwiersma1449]

6:38 lol. thumbs up!

[@rikdenbreejen5230]

I hate that none of the stuff is compatible with M4

[@gregsb3454]

at 16 min - use a tube socket/spanner - it was painful to watch

[@Maurice833]

Thomas, you have to open your aperture a little bit. Everytime you take a step back half a meter you're out of focus.

[@originaltrilogy1]

Wouldn't he need to close down his aperture a bit in that case?

[@Maurice833]

@@originaltrilogy1 Hey Laserman, you are correct. I ment a higher F stop so thats close it down :)

[@harryowen1197]

Right tool for the job? Don't shove a screwdriver in the hole to hold the nut - eyes can be lost - just SKP yourself a little hex-to-hex adapter sleeve that fits in the "trap' - then you've always got it. Then even our US cousins can use metric screws!

[@WreckDiver99]

60 EU for that stainless tube is a great price. That tube here is about double for a 3m piece. The table size I want is requires 10m of tube total...YIKES!!!!!!! As for American's buying metric? I CAN! The price is pretty much the same price as the Imperial stuff. Unlike you guys, we go between imperial and metric all the time...OK, so I do...pretty seemless to me now.

[@michaelwuchitech7598]

electricians use channel lock pliers handles to debur conduit

[@mrblue2715]

in the middle of a build myself

[@joebywan]

Why support a closed source design made for imperial fasteners/measurements when you could use one of the many open source ones designed for metric?

[@joebywan]

Sure, I'll do your searches for you. RootCNC on thingiverse, there are plenty of others. Next time don't be lazy and do a basic search.

[@joebywan]

@Michael Fox understood, rootcnc have been around for ages very mature community.

[@BLBlackDragon]

Tom, I feel your aggravation. It's just easier to design and build in metric. I can't bulk order metric locally, (I'm in the US), so I have the same problem, in the opposite direction.

[@ajdewalt6858]

Yes you can, try Ace Hardware for local, Bolt Depot for mail order.

[@BLBlackDragon]

I may have to check that out. Been picking up one-off M2.5-M5 bolts for years from my local Ace shop. Never saw those sized in bulk. Might have to revisit the Fastener Aisle.

[@goodgoat3096]

Over 21 minutes in and the 4 feet aren't yet built? You can babble on without me.

[@theKashConnoisseur]

Refuses to use the fasteners called for in the design, spends half the video complaining that the incorrect fasteners don't fit... Hmmm.....

[@dnwheeler]

Even in the U.S., I would prefer a metric design.

[@Mobile_Dom]

shame that it is closed source :/

[@ahaveland]

It's fairly trivial to look at an object, measure and then recreate it in Blender for example, or import an stl file and reconstruct to match using primitives and booleans. Parameterizing everything can be done too, but I haven't got into serious python voodoo yet. If it exists, then it can be modelled. Unfortunately that still takes time.

[@barry99705]

Ryan has to make money somehow. This is his full time job.

[@Mobile_Dom]

@@barry99705 you can make money on open source projects, go ask Jo Prusa

[@allted]

Do you have to give me any money to enjoy the four plus years of hard work we have all put into this? I prefer, at this time, not to give out my 2012 solidworks files. So unless you have that version or newer me releasing files does you no good. Why can't anyone just be happy they didn't have to spend more than 4 years developing this? Please just enjoy this and be happy we all share our hard work for free. Make an inexpensive machine anywhere in the world, and use it to make your own things. Then you can fully open source your things if that is how you prefer to do things, or not.

[@jeffeberl12]

It's a far cry from closed source. There are thousands of people that have downloaded these stls, bought easy to find parts and built this machine. The cad files are not released but stls, boms, software, firmware, all free and open. Compare that to prusa, where the files are on github, but good luck trying to find the electronics from anyone else. It's much easier for Tom to find #6 screws than it is for me to get a mk3 bed.

[@MakunaRGBIC]

What a pain requiring imperial. I am an American, all scientific work is done in metric, not sure why they wouldn't follow this. All my printer parts bins are filled with metric stuff! Even home depot carries metric.

[@jeffeberl12]

They carry metric starting at M4 (limited) and M5, but even them, it's one little drawer per.size and two screws per bag. I go to fastenal or ace for lots of.metric screws and it aint cheap.

[@apinakapinastorba]

Why making a diy project but not making it open source? Makes no sense.