MakerGear Forum

I've decided to take on making an inexpensive (relatively speaking) cnc machine using this design
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:724999
seems the designer of this uses PLA for the printed parts, but i wanted to get some opinions on using PETG instead.

this will be a fairly long set of prints, about 2 spools of plastic

Thats pretty cool. Havent seen that and looks like a cool project. I might look into that myself. Definately would never use pla for anything like that. Petg would be fine. If you want rigidity then the new epc would be good.

I had to do some reading on EPC as all i knew about it is that it was fire resistant.
seems to be currently unavailable on amazon.

i like the idea of it being more rigged then petg. and the layer adhesion qualities.

I would say currently thats one of the strongest materials that you can run through your printer. I think more should be in stock end of this month. Layer bonding isnt quite as good as petg but if the temp is up there its pretty good.

Please let us know if you do make that CNC machine. It looks pretty interesting. Although judging from the videos, CNC machining looks like mess central compared to 3D printing. Chips and cooling fluid everywhere.

jsc wrote:CNC machining looks like mess [...] Chips and cooling fluid everywhere.

Periodically, you'll see Yet Another Combined CNC Mill / 3D Printer / Laser Cutter on Kickstarter.

That always prompts the question: Which one is not like the other two?

I'm absolutely certain you can put all of those functions in a single machine, but the only people who think that will work haven't done much subtractive machining. Successful 3D printing requires surgical cleanliness & attention to alignment, which can't possibly happen inside a CNC machine enclosure.

The laser cutter doodads usually omit things like eye protection and gas assist, so...

jsc wrote:Please let us know if you do make that CNC machine. It looks pretty interesting. Although judging from the videos, CNC machining looks like mess central compared to 3D printing. Chips and cooling fluid everywhere.

i'm going to start printing parts as soon as i decide on the plastic. i may go pla after all. seems most have no issue with it. just feel its too brittle.
im looking into in-pla and alloy 910.

milling is messy compared to 3d printing for sure..what many cnc video's do not show is the vacuum attachment, obviously not used on the liquid cooling setups.
you cant see the cutting head with the vacuum attachments installed, so they remove them for video's

when your rolling your own, id like to think you can set it up to be reasonably clean for what you typically do, or at least easy to clean up.
i'll probably have a call to cnc mill aluminum now and then, but i mostly want to do wood. So i will set up some kind of vacuum system ultimately

stll going to e messy...yea i don't think i'll be milling in my liviingroom anytime soon.