Very nice. I sure would like to hear a follow up to find out if you feel it's sturdy enough.

 

Nice build, will look forward to seeing the cutting performance.

 

Very nice. How are you keeping the adjustment eccentrics from rotating in the holes? Or has that proven to be any problem?

The reason I asked is that I have tried plywood for the plates and the eccentric kept loosening from the vibration of operation. If this isn't a problem with ABS, you just might have broken some less traveled road.

Please keep us up to date as you test, far more than just a couple people are watching this thread.

Larry

 

mabye PETG will better works... is very very strong.... stronger then ABS

 

thanks

 

i am still wondering how accurate this will be i'm very excited...

 

Very cool. I am currently in the process of doing almost exactly the same thing. I even picked the same build to model my design on. I was thinking about doubling up on all the plates (6mm). Do you think this is necessary? I printed a sample plate @ 3mm with ABS and it felt too flexible. I'm also planning to use polycarbonate, which is a little stronger than ABS (but may not hold up as well to vibration?). Like you, I really just want to keep it running long enough to be able to cut my own aluminum replacements. I'm also going to print my own V wheels in polycarbonate, so it will be interesting to see how that works out. I did one in TPU last night as a test and it seems solid.

 

How can I get the stl files so I may also try this build. Thanks for the build.

 

This looks like a great build. It's the route I'm planning to go down with a build of the Kyo Sphinx design. I was planning to make the plates by printing an inner core (pla) with all the holes located and strong infill, with a thickness of 2mm less than the desired thickness, then laminate 1mm aluminium to each face to form a torsion box type of plate. I'm going to use the 3D print to locate all the holes, center them and drill through once glued. I'm hoping that this would give the parts the stiffness while still not needing the CNC I have yet to build. I'm going to use Gorilla glue so I hope the bond between them PLA and the Aluminium will be strong enough.

 

That's an interesting idea and I'd love to see how it works out. Curious why you wouldn't just buy 6mm aluminum and not bother with gluing/laminating, though? You can get 12x12 sheets on ebay for around $20. Seems like if you have the ability to cut/drill 1mm, 6mm wouldn't be significantly harder (just perhaps slower). I was originally toying with the idea of using 3d printed plates, but even with doubled up polycarbonate, there seemed to be too much flex.

 

Out of interest, what 3D printer did you use to print the parts as these are a fair size?.

 

Well a bit about cost, but a bit about trying out something different, I have a thing for torsion boxes and seeing if you can get the same properties from lighter and cheaper materials, there's still the time cost I guess. From the cost point of view I found, 1mm x 250 x 500 = £8 vs 6mm 250 x 250 = £33. In terms of the accuracy I guess I could just use the printer to print a good jig to use for marking out and drilling.

Any how I'll start a new build thread. @IndyMaker, I look forward to seeing any video of this cutting

 

@Brian Popp - Just to say I've posted about my experience with the composite 3D printed/Aluminium plates over here: Composite plates for Sphinx build

They are certainly rigid!!

 

Very cool Steve. Love to see new, original designs like this. I 3d printed some plates and assembled a Sphinx, and was surprised how rigid it was. I decided to try it out and have had very good results, even cutting aluminum. I still don't know how it will hold up over time, but so far it's shown no signs of wear.

 

For anyone who's interested, I've created all the parts for 3D printing and uploaded them on Thingiverse here: Ooznest OX CNC Machine (3D Printed ABS/PETG Parts) by gyrex. I've made all of the plates 8mm thick to ensure rigidity. I don't know if making them 8mm thick will affect the dimensions of the build or not, I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it but since ABS is cheap, I can always reprint. Be sure to print this with 75%+ infill.

The only thing you'll need to buy is electrical gear and fasteners. All aluminium parts are included in the thingiverse file.

 

Increasing the thickness just means you'll need longer screws. This can be problematic if screws that are too long might collide/rub on anything. One way to get around this would be to cut slots for the screw heads back to the original design thickness (ie. 6.35mm). FWIW, I printed most of mine the original thickness (6mm) with ABS and didn't really have any problem with rigidity. The only plates I increased were the side gantry plates (10mm).

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll make some recesses for the screws then. Do you think 8mm would be ok for the side gantry plates or should I increase those to 10mm thickness?

I thought the original aluminium parts were 6mm? Are you sure they're 6.35mm?

 

Probably depends on where you source the aluminum, but the 12x12 6160 plates I bought on ebay were around 6.1mm thick. 6mm is probably a good number since most people will face off a bit. Not sure on the side plates. It's probably fine, but mine do flex a little bit @ 10mm (25% infill). It doesn't seem to be enough to affect cutting, though.

 

Based on your advice, I've modified all the plates to 10mm thickness and provided recesses for the screws to maintain the 3 or 6mm profile (depending on the part). I don't think I'd be printing these parts any lower than a 75% infill... New, updated parts up on thingiverse and thanks for your help

 

Where did you find your files for your plates at?

 

I created/optimised the parts for 3D prints and uploaded them on thingiverse here: Ooznest OX CNC Machine (3D Printed ABS/PETG Parts) by gyrex

 

Remixed the Z axis stuff to fix some problems i ran into with my particular bearings.

 

What was the problem with the z-axis part? Also, can you upload some photos of the build when finished please mate? I haven't had a chance to build mine yet. Have all the other parts worked? Are the parts thick enough? What density did you print in?