Prototype CNC/3D Printer
Ethan Rabideau, 12 March 2019
I made a custom-designed interchangeable 3D printer/CNC machine measuring 16x24x16 using off the shelf components. There were a lot of…problems both in the intermediate and in the final design that I learned a lot from. I now use an Ender 3 with plans to construct a Voron in the near future.
The key issue with both 3d printing, and CNC design lies in the squareness of the structure, as well as its rigidity. High-quality 3d prints rely on accurate measurements and movements as small as 0.05mm during print, and any flex, or vibrations, or even uneven heating and cooling can cause a misalignment. My greatest lesson here was that paper specifications of capabilities (such as for the stepper motors, or motor controllers) are often far less important than properly aligned construction and correctly defined settings.