3D printer or desktop CNC

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Aww thats cute.... one issue is that you run out of print space quick...lol i have a print bed double the size of that and still would like more.

Beauty of home made stuff is buy longer rods and make an "ultra" prusa with double the bed size.

One issue that Prusas have is at higher print heights the rapid left to right of print head movement then switching to a back and fourth motion imparts a wave in the print. The side motion continues due to lack of rigidity. There are ways to fix it, but its not a huge issue.

Here's the exact one i have

http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/details.aspx?ID=5

so $400, plus printed parts bring it to $500.

Rob MacLennan said:
That's not bad at all. A Printrbot Simple kit runs $400.00 plus shipping/taxes and it's $100.00 more for the assembled version. I was looking at their top end unit, at $900.00++, because they're about to release a dual filament version.
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Red_Liner740 said:
Aww thats cute.... one issue is that you run out of print space quick...lol i have a print bed double the size of that and still would like more.

Beauty of home made stuff is buy longer rods and make an "ultra" prusa with double the bed size.

One issue that Prusas have is at higher print heights the rapid left to right of print head movement then switching to a back and fourth motion imparts a wave in the print. The side motion continues due to lack of rigidity. There are ways to fix it, but its not a huge issue.

Here's the exact one i have

http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/details.aspx?ID=5

so $400, plus printed parts bring it to $500.
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The Printrbot Jr. definitely has a rather small bed. The Plus V2.1 has roughly the same area as yours, but maybe 40% more build height. That's one big reason why I was looking at the Plus rather than the Jr..

It should be pretty easy to make an H frame out of 2"x2" 80/20, to improve the rigidity of your rig.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
Just wondering if anyone here has gone for a 3D printer or some sort of desktop CNC rig? I'm toying with the idea of picking up one or the other, over the next year, but wondering about the experiences of others. These are the two things that have piqued my interest
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None of my business re what you intend to make but I have seen production machines of various types and owned a few. I have also used a few desk top machines and they are a bit disappointing.

When I had my shop I had a proper metal turning lathe and could crank out some decent pieces of metal. Now I have a mini-lathe in the basement and although it does make metal round stuff, comparing it to the right stuff is like comparing an E-bike to a Goldwing. Taking a thou off a piece of steel at a time is very tedious.

I've seen a lot of hobby stuff that has such low output or limited sizes that it limits what can be made. I don't like limits.

Every once in a while I think about a small inexpensive CNC mill but the limitations make them useless for my mindset.

I'm not knocking your intentions just prattling on about mine.
 
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My primary use for CNC would be to make things like small jewellery pieces, in brass and aluminum, and smallish connecting pieces or mounts for the tools of the trade. A small CNC would be very useful in creating the base block for my coil cutting rig that I use in making rings for chainmail, for example. Rather than using HDPE I could have used a block of aluminum, that would be more wear resistant.
 
You know Rob, even though we've never met I've always considered you an interesting and well rounded guy, now that you've posted making parts for chainmail, well that's just an interesting and disturbing hobby. But somebody needs to dress up for the Monty Python reunion.
 
crankcall said:
You know Rob, even though we've never met I've always considered you an interesting and well rounded guy, now that you've posted making parts for chainmail, well that's just an interesting and disturbing hobby. But somebody needs to dress up for the Monty Python reunion.
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I try to stretch myself by learning new skills. You can see some of the stuff that I've done in the gallery of my website.

http://www.morallyambiguous.net/

Gotta keep 'em guessing. Besides, I'll be the only one ready for the zombie apocalypse.
 
crankcall said:
You know Rob, even though we've never met I've always considered you an interesting and well rounded guy, now that you've posted making parts for chainmail, well that's just an interesting and disturbing hobby. But somebody needs to dress up for the Monty Python reunion.
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Zombie apocalypse, haven't you heard, Cranky?
 
I found this, while searching around. I had seen the original version which didn't really look all that impressive to me, after seeing people's scratch built CNC rigs, but this one is much improved. Unfortunately it uses belts for the X and Y axes, rather than lead screws, but it should be OK for light duty work in everything up to aluminum.

https://www.inventables.com/technologies/desktop-cnc-mill-kit-shapeoko-2

The first thing that I would do is replace the rotary tool with a router, or other more capable spindle motor, to ease cutting.

Shapeoko_v2.jpg
 
Isn't that classified as a drill router?
 
Technically it's a 3 axis CNC rig, I'd say. At any rate it's a fairly capable little setup. It's primary use seems to be as a programmable and very accurate drill/router, but it's quite capable of cutting complex shapes.

[video=youtube;Jm6ZZP0Z5wk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm6ZZP0Z5wk[/video]
 
Rob MacLennan said:
Technically it's a 3 axis CNC rig, I'd say. At any rate it's a fairly capable little setup. It's primary use seems to be as a programmable and very accurate drill/router, but it's quite capable of cutting complex shapes.

[video=youtube;Jm6ZZP0Z5wk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm6ZZP0Z5wk[/video]
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Lol, its funny seeing something on such small scale. No putting it down or anything, but I can understand where nobbie is coming from

Sent from my tablet using my paws
 
RockerGuy said:
Lol, its funny seeing something on such small scale. No putting it down or anything, but I can understand where nobbie is coming from

Sent from my tablet using my paws
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The ability to make one-off parts for a specific purpose is pretty useful, even if it takes 4 hours to cut it. Sure, I can hack most of what I need out with my crappy router table, tiny drill press, and a hacksaw, but it's always nice to be able to make something that looks professional, instead of a cludge.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
The ability to make one-off parts for a specific purpose is pretty useful, even if it takes 4 hours to cut it. Sure, I can hack most of what I need out with my crappy router table, tiny drill press, and a hacksaw, but it's always nice to be able to make something that looks professional, instead of a cludge.
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Yes I agree. Being able to replicate something at a couple thou can be Godsent.

What's the RPM on that motor?
 
RockerGuy said:
Yes I agree. Being able to replicate something at a couple thou can be Godsent.

What's the RPM on that motor?
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It uses a simple rotary tool, a Dremel knock-off, so it should be in the max 30K rpm range. If the Z axis would take it I would replace that with a more capable router motor and speed control to give it maybe a 8K-15K rpm speed range, but with more torque.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
It uses a simple rotary tool, a Dremel knock-off, so it should be in the max 30K rpm range. If the Z axis would take it I would replace that with a more capable router motor and speed control to give it maybe a 8K-15K rpm speed range, but with more torque.
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I believe 15k should be sufficient if the torque is there. Our machines at work run at 6k & gets the job done.

Now that you said its just a dremel tool, I'm curious as to what the results are. Pls post videos when you're all set
 
RockerGuy said:
I believe 15k should be sufficient if the torque is there. Our machines at work run at 6k & gets the job done.

Now that you said its just a dremel tool, I'm curious as to what the results are. Pls post videos when you're all set
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It's not going to be an immediate purchase and I'm still evaluating, but it looks like the one.
 
I would hate to see the cost of that thing. Plastic is more practical and there are a variety of materials available, from solid to flexible.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
I would hate to see the cost of that thing. Plastic is more practical and there are a variety of materials available, from solid to flexible.
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According to the link it costs $5K and prints cf in addition to plastic.

Bit off topic but I purchased a craft die cutter recently for about $120 which is essentially a cnc cutter for paper, card stock, vinyl, fabric, etc. I also came across this 3D pen:
http://the3doodler.com/welcome-3doodler/
A novelty more than anything but would be neat for sketching out ideas to illustrate a concept. It could also be used to repair minor plastic damage on our bikes lol.
 
At this point I've pretty much settled on the Shapeoko II. There's a very active support community and a lot of people have installed much more capable spindle motors meaning that it can handle somewhat heavier jobs, at higher speeds. Now I just have to actually put some cash aside for it.
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