Hello DavidR8 I was glad to find this thread. The PrintNC is on my to do list so it’s great to read through the whole process. I am wondering how you decided on the size machine (and if you could maybe put up a picture to give an idea of scale). The temptation is to go as big as possible, I am sort of trying to decide on what is practical. Is your machine the “standard” size? Thinking I would be starting this in the fall, so have started keeping an eye on the discord again, apparently there are developments, a mini and a rev.4.
Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing.
Hey Tobias, thanks very much. It's been a supremely satisfying project. Mainly because at the beginning my CNC experience was a two-axix CNC plasma cutter which was much easier to build both mechanically and electronically.
MIne is small by PrintNC standards, the interior is 32" wide by 24" deep. I have a cutting area about 26" w x 14" deep. Because the spindle is mounted on the front of the gantry, the biggest loss comes in the Y axis.
I think my table is 40"w x 32" deep. I intend on building an enclosure for it so I allowed space for that.
On the outside the frame is 36" w x 24" deep. The overall machine is wider though because of the cable chain on the side which add probably another six inches. I built it to sit on my welding table thinking that I could move it off when not using it. HAH! Yeah that's not a feasible option.
If I'm not mistaken the stock build will take a half sheet of ply.
I think for sizing your build a couple of factors need to be considered:
- What do you imagine making?
- How much space do you have?
A word of caution if you only have 120v power available: buy the 240v spindle and omit the VFD from the Aliexpress kit as the VFDs are a bit hit and miss quality wise. A name brand 120v --> 240v 3-phase VFD is easy to get.
When I bought my kit I specified 120v because I thought that I'd get a 120v-->240v 3-phase VFD.
However specifying a 120v kit means you a
120v 3-phase spindle and a VFD with120v input that outputs 120v 3-phase power. If something happens to the VFD you can only replace it with another VFD of the same quality.
The reason is that 120v 3-phase power is only available from the Chinese VFDs. I called half a dozen VFD suppliers across the country and no one has a VFD with 120v input-->120v 3-phase output.
So if my VFD craps out I have to either buy a 240v spindle (I have a spare 240v VFD) or take my chances on another Chinese VFD.
That's right! Chalk it up to learning. Now make some chips!