Great! I there us a Lowes just down the street. I'll probably be bugging you with more question, as I have never undertaken a project like this. Thanks for the info!
Cutting foam sheets... with a needle!
- Thread starter dkj4linux
- Start date
Great! I there us a Lowes just down the street. I'll probably be bugging you with more question, as I have never undertaken a project like this. Thanks for the info!
Well it's been about a week and I'm making progress:
Based on how long these took I'm estimating about 24-30 more hours of printing or so. A few of the pieces I'm going to redo like the Z motor mount which was done with way too low of infill. And I may redo 2 of the roller locks just for aesthetics on my color choices.
The black I got is really giving me fits though. I ordered Hatchbox on Amazon but was sent eSun. And the eSun has been pretty miserable to work with. It oozes more than anything else I've used, it gets brittle after printing right above the extruder (even though I let it cool down and things never feel super hot up there and I've never experienced that with any other filament), for PLA it's STINKY - almost as bad as the Hatchbox ABS, and it doesn't adhere to the bed as well, so when I went to print the second Z middle all the support for the raised part pulled up and got knocked loose before it was halfway up the lower section. Looks like I'll have to raise the bed temp or try a raft when I retry that part.
And then my printer freaked out tonight
Seems like the 5v regulator on the Arduino stopped doing it's job, or some kind of protection blew. Full details in the Folger Tech thread but short version is I swapped in another Arduino I had on hand and it seems fine again.
So maybe by the end of the weekend I'll have all my parts printed. As much I think the parts kit is a great deal I think I'm going to end up going piecemeal on this one. So going to hit the local hardware wholesaler Saturday to get my hardware (their prices are usually as good or better than on-line and no shipping fees.) And will place an order for some steppers, bearings and another RAMPS/Arduino set with the graphical LCD this time in the next few days. I have plenty of power supplies and wires already.
Based on how long these took I'm estimating about 24-30 more hours of printing or so. A few of the pieces I'm going to redo like the Z motor mount which was done with way too low of infill. And I may redo 2 of the roller locks just for aesthetics on my color choices.
The black I got is really giving me fits though. I ordered Hatchbox on Amazon but was sent eSun. And the eSun has been pretty miserable to work with. It oozes more than anything else I've used, it gets brittle after printing right above the extruder (even though I let it cool down and things never feel super hot up there and I've never experienced that with any other filament), for PLA it's STINKY - almost as bad as the Hatchbox ABS, and it doesn't adhere to the bed as well, so when I went to print the second Z middle all the support for the raised part pulled up and got knocked loose before it was halfway up the lower section. Looks like I'll have to raise the bed temp or try a raft when I retry that part.
And then my printer freaked out tonight
Seems like the 5v regulator on the Arduino stopped doing it's job, or some kind of protection blew. Full details in the Folger Tech thread but short version is I swapped in another Arduino I had on hand and it seems fine again.So maybe by the end of the weekend I'll have all my parts printed. As much I think the parts kit is a great deal I think I'm going to end up going piecemeal on this one. So going to hit the local hardware wholesaler Saturday to get my hardware (their prices are usually as good or better than on-line and no shipping fees.) And will place an order for some steppers, bearings and another RAMPS/Arduino set with the graphical LCD this time in the next few days. I have plenty of power supplies and wires already.
dkj4linux
Elite member
Well it's been about a week and I'm making progress:
View attachment 64778
Based on how long these took I'm estimating about 24-30 more hours of printing or so. A few of the pieces I'm going to redo like the Z motor mount which was done with way too low of infill. And I may redo 2 of the roller locks just for aesthetics on my color choices.
The black I got is really giving me fits though. I ordered Hatchbox on Amazon but was sent eSun. And the eSun has been pretty miserable to work with. It oozes more than anything else I've used, it gets brittle after printing right above the extruder (even though I let it cool down and things never feel super hot up there and I've never experienced that with any other filament), for PLA it's STINKY - almost as bad as the Hatchbox ABS, and it doesn't adhere to the bed as well, so when I went to print the second Z middle all the support for the raised part pulled up and got knocked loose before it was halfway up the lower section. Looks like I'll have to raise the bed temp or try a raft when I retry that part.
And then my printer freaked out tonight
So maybe by the end of the weekend I'll have all my parts printed. As much I think the parts kit is a great deal I think I'm going to end up going piecemeal on this one. So going to hit the local hardware wholesaler Saturday to get my hardware (their prices are usually as good or better than on-line and no shipping fees.) And will place an order for some steppers, bearings and another RAMPS/Arduino set with the graphical LCD this time in the next few days. I have plenty of power supplies and wires already.
Jason (Please correct me if that's not right. I saw it somewhere in your blog...),
I mistakenly replied to your post over in the FT 2020 thread rather than here but left it since I do have and use a FT 2020 Prusa I3 and it didn't seem inappropriate to the subject matter you mentioned there. Anyway...
Your stash of MPCNC parts is really looking good. With a couple of MPCNC builds now under my belt, I've settled into a "from the ground up" print sequence. I start with all the leg tops/bottoms, then the corner blocks/clamps, then the roller-F's. Then while I continue printing the remaining roller clamps and motor mounts I start cutting the conduit and assembling the frame. Z-axis parts are the last to be printed... all while finishing assembly and testing of the X- and Y-axis.
I recently received these stepper motors that seem a perfect fit for MPCNC use (http://www.ebay.com/itm/231427537485). Five 84 oz-in NEMA-17 motors for $58 and free shipping... that's the best deal I've found so far.
I've noticed the same brittleness with the E-Sun filament though primarily with the 3 mm stuff I've used so far with my Prusa I2 printer. Then this morning, while preparing a response to you, I noticed my FT 2020 sitting across the room, proudly(?) displaying the same malady! It's about 46 degF in here this morning so am not really too surprised though.
I'm sure you already know this but a trick I've learned (don't remember where I read it), having to deal with brittle/broken filament so much, is to heat the extruder up to temp, loosen the pressure bearing, and then manually extrude a few centimeters of the broken filament end before trying to pull it from the extruder. That clears the swollen "knot" in the transition area between molten and solid filament in the hot end. Until I started doing that, I was continually having to partially disassemble the extruder to deal with the jammed filament. -- David
dkj4linux
Elite member
Jason,
In the FolgerTech thread, you admitted to the idea of building a second, smaller, more-rigid MPCNC using those 84 oz-in motors. There seems to be a MPCNC (and/or 3d printer for that matter) "paradox" at work here -- "Having trouble justifying the time and expense of the first one, you build it anyway... and quickly discover that you need two."
IMHO that simultaneously solves another issue... color combo. Print the parts for two MPCNC's at the same time, each in a different color, and then mix and match for complementary MPCNC's. :applause:
-- David
In the FolgerTech thread, you admitted to the idea of building a second, smaller, more-rigid MPCNC using those 84 oz-in motors. There seems to be a MPCNC (and/or 3d printer for that matter) "paradox" at work here -- "Having trouble justifying the time and expense of the first one, you build it anyway... and quickly discover that you need two."
IMHO that simultaneously solves another issue... color combo. Print the parts for two MPCNC's at the same time, each in a different color, and then mix and match for complementary MPCNC's. :applause:
-- David
Well, to clarify I'm not actually planning on building two full machines. Just a second shorter frame that I can move the pieces onto. I'm sure it's going to be a bigger pain than I expect (and I expect it to be a pain) to move parts from one to another. But I really don't have the room or budget for two full machines
I'll probably mostly keep it setup as a smaller machine since I anticipate doing stuff other than foamboard most often and I have more room for a smaller machine to stay setup. The full 36"x48" foamboard version will have to be taken down between uses since I don't have anywhere in my house it will fit when assembled and I can't leave it outside or in my shed/office because the PLA would deform.
Though part of me is also already thinking about putting it up for sale after finishing it just to finance building another because I enjoy the building
I'll probably mostly keep it setup as a smaller machine since I anticipate doing stuff other than foamboard most often and I have more room for a smaller machine to stay setup. The full 36"x48" foamboard version will have to be taken down between uses since I don't have anywhere in my house it will fit when assembled and I can't leave it outside or in my shed/office because the PLA would deform.
Though part of me is also already thinking about putting it up for sale after finishing it just to finance building another because I enjoy the building
Though part of me is also already thinking about putting it up for sale after finishing it just to finance building another because I enjoy the building
I can relate to that feeling!! :applause:
Had a heck of a time printing the second Better Middle_Z, the first one I printed in the purple Hatchbox PLA was a piece of cake, slic3r's supports worked great - only supported the cantilevered part. But when I went to print it in the black eSun (which I'm starting to believe is cursed)...First slic3r kept insisting on adding support to the screw holes even though I hadn't changed any settings. Then when I went to print it the support for the cantilevered part just would not stick to my bed. Other things are sticking great but that just would not stick, tried raising the temp on the bed, adjusting the first layer, adding a raft (slic3r doesn't put a raft under supports apparently) more hairspray on my bed. Nope, support just kept getting knocked loose.
Finally I opened the part in Meshmixer and used it to add supports. Then goofed and sliced it with support enabled again and didn't notice until the print was almost halfway done - so I wound up with a horrible mess of support from both meshmixer AND slic3r And some of it still came loose! But enough stuck that I got a usable print. Had to drill out the bolt holes because the support was so dense and the bottom of the piece is UGLY because the support didn't want to come off...but it's done.
Really not liking this black eSun PLA I ordered another roll of PLA and one of PETG from MakerGeeks using their special offer where you get two rolls shipped for $33 but don't get to pick the color. We'll see what I end up with
So now I've got all my Z pieces printed. Still need 3 more Roller F's and motor mounts and feet...but getting closer.
At lunch today I ran over to the local hardware wholesaler. For $21 I got all the hardware needed, just gave the counter guy a list of what I needed and 10 minutes later he gave me a box with them all counted out. Better deal than I could find on-line and didn't have to wait or pay for shipping Only issue with that place is they're only open 9-5 M-F and 9-12 on Saturdays, and they're in an industrial park on the other side of town in an area that's kind of crazy this time of year due to the vegetable industry having a bunch of coolers in the area. So it took almost an hour to get the hardware thanks to traffic. But I can start assembling things.
Most of my bearings won't be here until Monday but I had enough on hand to build up the first Roller-F and pop it on a piece of conduit to confirm it slides great!
And tonight I just placed an order for a RAMPS/Arduino/DRV8825's/full graphic LCD setup, $44 shipped but won't be here for almost 2 weeks which is why I ordered it today. Only saving $10 over buying from a US seller but I'm not in a big rush and am still waiting to see what my wife got me for my birthday (which is next Saturday) so I can keep a bit of budget on hand to get the rest of the parts I need to upgrade my 3D printer with what she got me. (I know she got me parts for the upgrade I want to do...but also know she didn't get all of them. So I have to budget for ordering some more parts after next Saturday)
So I may get the rest of the pieces printed this weekend but I'm not in a huge rush. I probably can't order steppers until after my birthday...but may get impatient and make it happen Also need to pickup more GT2 belt and 4 pullies, but those are cheap and easy to get from US sellers on ebay.
No bearings on it yet but this center section is looking nice test fit. Amazing how substantial these parts feel once they have the hardware bolted on!
Finally I opened the part in Meshmixer and used it to add supports. Then goofed and sliced it with support enabled again and didn't notice until the print was almost halfway done - so I wound up with a horrible mess of support from both meshmixer AND slic3r
And some of it still came loose! But enough stuck that I got a usable print. Had to drill out the bolt holes because the support was so dense and the bottom of the piece is UGLY because the support didn't want to come off...but it's done.Really not liking this black eSun PLA
I ordered another roll of PLA and one of PETG from MakerGeeks using their special offer where you get two rolls shipped for $33 but don't get to pick the color. We'll see what I end up with So now I've got all my Z pieces printed. Still need 3 more Roller F's and motor mounts and feet...but getting closer.
At lunch today I ran over to the local hardware wholesaler. For $21 I got all the hardware needed, just gave the counter guy a list of what I needed and 10 minutes later he gave me a box with them all counted out. Better deal than I could find on-line and didn't have to wait or pay for shipping
Only issue with that place is they're only open 9-5 M-F and 9-12 on Saturdays, and they're in an industrial park on the other side of town in an area that's kind of crazy this time of year due to the vegetable industry having a bunch of coolers in the area. So it took almost an hour to get the hardware thanks to traffic. But I can start assembling things.Most of my bearings won't be here until Monday but I had enough on hand to build up the first Roller-F and pop it on a piece of conduit to confirm it slides great!
And tonight I just placed an order for a RAMPS/Arduino/DRV8825's/full graphic LCD setup, $44 shipped but won't be here for almost 2 weeks which is why I ordered it today. Only saving $10 over buying from a US seller but I'm not in a big rush and am still waiting to see what my wife got me for my birthday (which is next Saturday) so I can keep a bit of budget on hand to get the rest of the parts I need to upgrade my 3D printer with what she got me. (I know she got me parts for the upgrade I want to do...but also know she didn't get all of them. So I have to budget for ordering some more parts after next Saturday
)So I may get the rest of the pieces printed this weekend but I'm not in a huge rush. I probably can't order steppers until after my birthday...but may get impatient and make it happen
Also need to pickup more GT2 belt and 4 pullies, but those are cheap and easy to get from US sellers on ebay.No bearings on it yet but this center section is looking nice test fit. Amazing how substantial these parts feel once they have the hardware bolted on!
Did some test assembly tonight...can't get over how heavy these parts are once the hardware is added to them
Test assembly of the Z assembly:
First Roller_F and motor mount test assembled:
I actually plan on swapping a black motor mount onto that one...but we'll see...I may do one Axis in purple and one in black...or just blend...haven't decided yet and have plenty of time!
Just had to try this:
It took more force than I expected to get it onto the conduit, but once it was one it glides VERY nicely. And after just a few minutes of playing with it was feeling really smooth! Can't wait to get the rest of these printed and get my bearings so I can test assemble the whole thing.
Oh - and this eSun. I've started pulling it out of the extruder as soon as I'm done printing so it doesn't break off. But sure enough the last 4-5 inches still get brittle even though they aren't even warm after printing. Really don't think I'll be buying eSun again.
Test assembly of the Z assembly:
First Roller_F and motor mount test assembled:
I actually plan on swapping a black motor mount onto that one...but we'll see...I may do one Axis in purple and one in black...or just blend...haven't decided yet and have plenty of time!
Just had to try this:
It took more force than I expected to get it onto the conduit, but once it was one it glides VERY nicely. And after just a few minutes of playing with it was feeling really smooth! Can't wait to get the rest of these printed and get my bearings so I can test assemble the whole thing.
Oh - and this eSun. I've started pulling it out of the extruder as soon as I'm done printing so it doesn't break off. But sure enough the last 4-5 inches still get brittle even though they aren't even warm after printing. Really don't think I'll be buying eSun again.
Special treat. Not just using my cell phone for photos today actually using a real camera. Ok, didn't dig out one of the SLR's but at least using a decent P&S today. (though this particular camera drives me crazy because it's preview screen is horrible - makes EVERY shot look terrible...didn't think any of these were going to be usable but they came out fine.)
I already had some bearings so I only had to order 50 more. They were $22 delivered off ebay from a US seller.
Truth be told, they aren't as nice as the bearings I had on hand. But those were $18 for 8 at the local skate shop when I didn't want to wait to order some for another project. I may eventually order nicer bearings for this whole thing, these aren't bad and will probably wear in just as well - but the first ones I had feel a bit smoother quicker and have removeable rubber shields so they can be cleaned while these are just metal shields that aren't meant to be removed.
The Center section just amazes me. 2.5lbs of bolts, bearings, nylocs and PLA and it feels way stiffer than it has any right to be
I tested it out on some sections of conduit and it works well. I may end up reprinting that black piece that gave me so much trouble still. The one Z rod is a little loose on the upper section of that black piece even if I snug up the bolt for it and that's the spot where things just don't like to line up so I'm not surprised.
This is the one biggie that caught me out as harder than I anticipated. The instructions call for using two open end wrenches. But that's a serious pain. These guys here don't have enough clearance for a boxend or socket which would make things much easier:
Or do they?
Love my grandfather. He started buying me tools when I was 5 or 6. Got me a nice metal toolbox for Christmas and from then on every Christmas and Birthday I got something to go in it. One year wrenches, one year various pliers, one time screwdrivers, another sockets....All nice made in the US Craftsman lifetime warranty. I still have and use all those tools. But when he died I inherited most of his tools. He didn't buy himself many nice tools, mostly the cheapest he could get by with. But he did a few a few nice tools. This was a Craftsman. And knowing him he probably ground it down to use on a tight access bolt one day because it was a Craftsman and he knew he could take it to Sears and exchange it for a new replacement but then decided it was useful enough to keep around I know it's saved me on a number of occasions!
One piece of hardware I had a problem finding locally is the speed washers. But I saw Allted had posted a 3D printed option so I'm going to give them a try:
They washers didn't print up quite as nice as I had hoped...but they seem like they'll be plenty functional for what they do. I'll print four more in purple when I switch back over. 2nd black Roller_F still has 40 minutes to go, then I need to crank out 2 black motor mounts before I swap back to purple for one more motor mount, the four washers and hopefully 1 more Roller_F though I'm not sure I have enough left on the roll to pull it off.
I already had some bearings so I only had to order 50 more. They were $22 delivered off ebay from a US seller.
Truth be told, they aren't as nice as the bearings I had on hand. But those were $18 for 8 at the local skate shop when I didn't want to wait to order some for another project. I may eventually order nicer bearings for this whole thing, these aren't bad and will probably wear in just as well - but the first ones I had feel a bit smoother quicker and have removeable rubber shields so they can be cleaned while these are just metal shields that aren't meant to be removed.
The Center section just amazes me. 2.5lbs of bolts, bearings, nylocs and PLA and it feels way stiffer than it has any right to be
I tested it out on some sections of conduit and it works well. I may end up reprinting that black piece that gave me so much trouble still. The one Z rod is a little loose on the upper section of that black piece even if I snug up the bolt for it and that's the spot where things just don't like to line up so I'm not surprised.
This is the one biggie that caught me out as harder than I anticipated. The instructions call for using two open end wrenches. But that's a serious pain. These guys here don't have enough clearance for a boxend or socket which would make things much easier:
Or do they?
Love my grandfather. He started buying me tools when I was 5 or 6. Got me a nice metal toolbox for Christmas and from then on every Christmas and Birthday I got something to go in it. One year wrenches, one year various pliers, one time screwdrivers, another sockets....All nice made in the US Craftsman lifetime warranty. I still have and use all those tools. But when he died I inherited most of his tools. He didn't buy himself many nice tools, mostly the cheapest he could get by with. But he did a few a few nice tools. This was a Craftsman. And knowing him he probably ground it down to use on a tight access bolt one day because it was a Craftsman and he knew he could take it to Sears and exchange it for a new replacement but then decided it was useful enough to keep around
I know it's saved me on a number of occasions!One piece of hardware I had a problem finding locally is the speed washers. But I saw Allted had posted a 3D printed option so I'm going to give them a try:
They washers didn't print up quite as nice as I had hoped...but they seem like they'll be plenty functional for what they do. I'll print four more in purple when I switch back over. 2nd black Roller_F still has 40 minutes to go, then I need to crank out 2 black motor mounts before I swap back to purple for one more motor mount, the four washers and hopefully 1 more Roller_F though I'm not sure I have enough left on the roll to pull it off.
dkj4linux
Elite member
Ocean, I'm really not sure the objection. The MPCNC is a really nice piece of engineering and gives a lot of bang for the buck. I've built three already for friends and have two more to do... two set up for RC plane foam cutting, two for router, another for a laser. What sets it apart from other CNC machines is that with Marlin it is really a very capable 3d printer at heart... the CNC functionality being a subset of the total function. As such it functions beautifully as either, depending on your need, with just a few configuration changes. Not really a big deal and there is plenty of help out there on the MPCNC forum, given there are so many of them being built right now. It's by far the easiest and most economical way to get into CNC at the current time IMHO.
Also, if you purchase the hardware bundle from the vicious1.com website (it really is a good deal... it's convenient and you'd be hard-pressed to appreciably beat it), it includes the Arduino Mega and RAMPS already pre-configured and populated for the stock MPCNC setup. I print all my own parts but now buy the hardware bundle from vicious1.com (I sourced all my own parts for the first one and actually spent a slight bit more) and am building them for less than $300 a machine. -- David
dkj4linux
Elite member
The Center section just amazes me. 2.5lbs of bolts, bearings, nylocs and PLA and it feels way stiffer than it has any right to be
View attachment 64928
I tested it out on some sections of conduit and it works well. I may end up reprinting that black piece that gave me so much trouble still. The one Z rod is a little loose on the upper section of that black piece even if I snug up the bolt for it and that's the spot where things just don't like to line up so I'm not surprised.
This is the one biggie that caught me out as harder than I anticipated. The instructions call for using two open end wrenches. But that's a serious pain. These guys here don't have enough clearance for a boxend or socket which would make things much easier:
View attachment 64930
Or do they?
View attachment 64931
Love my grandfather. He started buying me tools when I was 5 or 6. Got me a nice metal toolbox for Christmas and from then on every Christmas and Birthday I got something to go in it. One year wrenches, one year various pliers, one time screwdrivers, another sockets....All nice made in the US Craftsman lifetime warranty. I still have and use all those tools. But when he died I inherited most of his tools. He didn't buy himself many nice tools, mostly the cheapest he could get by with. But he did a few a few nice tools. This was a Craftsman. And knowing him he probably ground it down to use on a tight access bolt one day because it was a Craftsman and he knew he could take it to Sears and exchange it for a new replacement but then decided it was useful enough to keep around
One piece of hardware I had a problem finding locally is the speed washers. But I saw Allted had posted a 3D printed option so I'm going to give them a try:
View attachment 64932
They washers didn't print up quite as nice as I had hoped...but they seem like they'll be plenty functional for what they do. I'll print four more in purple when I switch back over. 2nd black Roller_F still has 40 minutes to go, then I need to crank out 2 black motor mounts before I swap back to purple for one more motor mount, the four washers and hopefully 1 more Roller_F though I'm not sure I have enough left on the roll to pull it off.
Jason,
It is amazing, isn't it, the solid feel this thing has when it gets all bolted together? Another is the tight fits and small clearances... with just enough "spring"/flex in the plastic parts to give smooth operation with little or no slop. And it does loosen and smooth up with use... pretty neat for a bunch of garden-variety conduit and hardware.
I agree about the E-Sun filament... I'm happy enough with the print quality I've gotten but the brittleness and continual breaking above the extruder is starting to be a real pain... especially the 3 mm stuff.
The printed speed washers work fine... I plated up 10 of them and take care of the entire machine in one fell swoop.
The middle assembly is a bit tricky to get together and has very little clearance in some spots but with a little patience and persistence it eventually comes together. Since the bolts are properly sized you -- thankfully -- don't have to do the two open-end wrench thing for too terribly long.
You're making great progress. I'm getting excited to think you're just about ready to assemble it. Assembly goes surprisingly quickly and you'll be playing with your new MPCNC in no time at all.
-- David
Last edited:
sketchuo make issues
Hi David
I'm having issues trying with sketchup 2016 w/wine 1.9.4 on xubuntu 14.04 trying to get .dxf files to load into sketchup. Sketchup just crashes. When I reboot in Win7 I can import these files (FT Tiny Trainer.pdf) I don't get the tool paths in the right place. I used pstoedit 3.70 to convert the pdf file.
Can you help? Any suggestions?
Hi David
I'm having issues trying with sketchup 2016 w/wine 1.9.4 on xubuntu 14.04 trying to get .dxf files to load into sketchup. Sketchup just crashes. When I reboot in Win7 I can import these files (FT Tiny Trainer.pdf) I don't get the tool paths in the right place. I used pstoedit 3.70 to convert the pdf file.
Can you help? Any suggestions?
Last edited:
dkj4linux
Elite member
Hi David
I'm having issues trying with sketchup 2016 w/wine 1.9.4 on xubuntu 14.04 trying to get .dxf files to load into sketchup. Sketchup just crashes. When I reboot in Win7 I can import these files (FT Tiny Trainer.pdf) I don't get the tool paths in the right place. I used pstoedit 3.70 to convert the pdf file.
Can you help? Any suggestions?
DavidW,
I'm not sure what might be the problem. But for reference I'm using SketchUp 8 and Wine-1.6.2 on a Chromebook running Ubuntu 14.04 "trusty". DXF import isn't available "natively" in the free, non-Pro versions of SketchUp so I use a plugin, FreeDXF v0.57... and it's worked quite well for me. From the command line
pstoedit -f dxf <filename>.pdf <filename>%d.dxf
will get you separate, numbered dxf files for each page in the pdf.
SketchUp crashes sound like they could be an out-of-memory issue... shut down everything but SU and try again. I assume you are using a Pro version that allows DXF import... try the FreeDXF plugin and see if it does any better. Try other, smaller dxf files and see if they too cause crashes. Import your DXF's into a CAD program... LibreCad, FreeCAD, etc. and make sure they look okay. Try anything/everything to knock things off "top-dead-center" and look at any error messages/tracebacks to see what's changing... right or wrong, you're looking to make something move so that you can get a better handle on what might be going on.
I swore off Windows support (pre-Win7) when I retired from the local school system so can't help there but I'm also not sure about your mention of misplaced tool paths when using SU in Windows. How did you get to the "toolpaths" stage in SU? Do you have SketchUCAM plugin installed? Do the DXF's you created and import into SU give you linework to work with? You've got to explode the imported DXF's and clean up all the little disconnects and vertices until you get true faces to work with. That done, you use the SketchUCAM outside/inside/centerline/fold tools to create the toolpaths for all the edges. Be sure to first set the tool diameter, material thickness, material/bounding box, etc. so that your generated gcode reflects your real-world situation.
Zillions of questions, I'd need to know more about your computer and the way you're using SketchUp before I could suggest anything else. I'd make sure your DXF files are good first and then go from there. Whatever version you can get to work for you, go with it... even if it happens to be the Windows version. -- David
Last edited:
Hi David
I'm having issues trying with sketchup 2016 w/wine 1.9.4 on xubuntu 14.04 trying to get .dxf files to load into sketchup. Sketchup just crashes. When I reboot in Win7 I can import these files (FT Tiny Trainer.pdf) I don't get the tool paths in the right place. I used pstoedit 3.70 to convert the pdf file.
Can you help? Any suggestions?
Update
I have a micky mouse way around the issues.
1) boot linux use pstoedit to change pdf to dxf
2) boot win7 start sketchup, import dxf, then save
3) boot linux use the command line to start sketchup (wine SketchUp.exe)
Note if you the switch /DisableRubyAPI you will not have SketchUcam extensions
dkj4linux
Elite member
Okay. I must be missing something and don't really understand why you feel you need to switch back and forth. SketchUp *is* a Windows application after all and since you have Windows installed on your computer you could just give in and use it that way. It can be very frustrating getting wine, SU, and all plugins working on the Linux side but it certainly isn't impossible. Your options:
1) Get the Windows version of "pstoedit" and stay on the Windows side to do everything.
2) Get wine, SU, and all plugins working (set any/all appropriate switches) on the Linux side and work there.
In your case, (1) would be easiest and most straight-forward. For me, I don't have Windows and (2) works very nicely as described in my previous post on a very modest "rooted" Acer Chromebook. -- David
Last edited:
That spring/flex of the plastic parts caught me by surprise. I had seen comments about being able to tighten the one bolt to snug things up - but didn't realize that there was a bit of natural snugness. I still have most of my screws slightly loose and it's still surprisingly stiff. Really neat design.
I'm never buying it by choice and if I get it sent by accident again I'm sending it back. This stuff is driving me crazy. Switched back to the purple hatchbox last night to finish a few parts...and it just wasn't extruding right. The eSun had left debris in the nozzle. After 30 minutes of printing it clogged up. So I wasn't able to finish the parts I wanted to yesterday. My printed purple washers came out horrible (first clue it was starting to clog) and then a motor mount got worse and worse before finally giving up halfway through
Spent this morning doing cold pulls to get the junk out of the nozzle. Seems to be doing better now. Gotta get this last motor mount done and then one last Roller_F and I can assemble. So going to hit the hardware store for some 2x4's to make a table next. Need to come up with a design that is stiff enough to keep things stable - but which I can easily break down for storage. Got a few ideas. Will probably ignore all of them and just toss together something that works but isn't easy to deal with
Yeah, all the bolts being just long enough makes it a lot easier. Unfortunately the one stop I'm still not happy about that causes a slightly loose fit for one Z rail is due to me having to drill out the support material in a hole on the middle z piece. Apparently my bit got pushed a bit off center and that hole isn't quite right. But I'm not reprinting that Z in black until I have everything else printed first!
You're making great progress. I'm getting excited to think you're just about ready to assemble it. Assembly goes surprisingly quickly and you'll be playing with your new MPCNC in no time at all.
Well, March 8th is the soonest I'm expecting my electronics, and I haven't ordered the steppers yet. (probably going to do that today.) So I'm at least a week and a half from having this thing going. But I'm hoping I can at least be playing with it "manually" by this evening
Hi there,
I agree the MPCNC machine is a really sweet piece of engineering. Thank you as well your input on how capable Marlin is, I do have 3 stepper motors lying around as well as access to a good 3d printer (Ultimaker 2) so I might well undertake this project. What concerns me is the fact that me, a noob with all of this setup to 3d printers and CNC etc, might forget a stage in the setup etc that could end badly. However you have reassured me that this is unlikely to happen.
Thank you for the detailed reply
Ocean
There's also no reason you have to stick with the recommended setup - unless you want support from the other users
This setup could just as easily run GRBL or a number of other firmware options designed with CNC in mind rather than 3D Printing. In fact IIRC Marlin started as a fork of GRBL. (Yep, from the reprap wiki: http://reprap.org/wiki/Marlin "This RepRap firmware is a mashup between Sprinter and Grbl with many original parts.")
Thing is a 3D printer is basically just a CNC motion platform with an extruder instead of a more traditional tooling option. In fact 3D Printers have to do more than CNC since they have to manage extrusion while CNC machines at most have to deal with RPM of the tooling.
You could just as easily setup GRBL and MACH3 if you're more familiar with traditional CNC tools and don't want to use it for 3D printing just CNC work.
Oh - and it appears my extruder stepper driver is the cause of my problems. Went back to the eSun and had the same issues. Swapped drivers and it's printing again (still crashing repetier server and host if I put in an SD Card, even after formatting the card) but I haven't gone back to the purple yet - just going to print these last two pieces in the "wrong" color so I'll have them then re-print them in the "proper" colors later.
Was already thinking about ordering some DRV8825 stepper drivers to try. Was going to wait until after I did some upgrades on the printer so I could really see any potential benefits from 32 steps over 16. But may go ahead and order those now. And print up a fan mount for the RAMPS.
This setup could just as easily run GRBL or a number of other firmware options designed with CNC in mind rather than 3D Printing. In fact IIRC Marlin started as a fork of GRBL. (Yep, from the reprap wiki: http://reprap.org/wiki/Marlin "This RepRap firmware is a mashup between Sprinter and Grbl with many original parts.")
Thing is a 3D printer is basically just a CNC motion platform with an extruder instead of a more traditional tooling option. In fact 3D Printers have to do more than CNC since they have to manage extrusion while CNC machines at most have to deal with RPM of the tooling.
You could just as easily setup GRBL and MACH3 if you're more familiar with traditional CNC tools and don't want to use it for 3D printing just CNC work.
Oh - and it appears my extruder stepper driver is the cause of my problems. Went back to the eSun and had the same issues. Swapped drivers and it's printing again (still crashing repetier server and host if I put in an SD Card, even after formatting the card) but I haven't gone back to the purple yet - just going to print these last two pieces in the "wrong" color so I'll have them then re-print them in the "proper" colors later.
Was already thinking about ordering some DRV8825 stepper drivers to try. Was going to wait until after I did some upgrades on the printer so I could really see any potential benefits from 32 steps over 16. But may go ahead and order those now. And print up a fan mount for the RAMPS.
Similar threads
