The Cabinet Part 1

The bare frame

lower corners showing brackets

Here is the frame complete. I am very happy with this, the parts were all easy to get and quite cheap considering and it only required the correct tool tips to bolt the whole thing together.

Actually if you wanted to you could make anything out of 2020 extrusion and brackets, it is very strong and easy to assemble. 

Okay, it was not all easy: the corner brackets and the nuts I bought to attach the panels are special locknuts that can be dropped into the slots in the 2020 then when turned, the nut is supposed to twist and thus lock into the slots. There is just one problem: they don't always do that. If the nut is too far up the thread to twist or if the bolt hole is not exactly in line with the slot, the nut can just sit there and not twist at all. In the corner brackets you could either mark a dot on the end of the bolt or even cut a screwdriver slot into it to not only make sure the other end locks but turn it if it didn't, but for the panels I had to make do with trial and error, pulling the panels to see if they were locked on. 

Locknut and M5 bolt

The panels were a little more difficult: although the frame cost about $200 the panels were much more expensive. This was a surprise to me. 

For a cabinet that could take a lot of heat I would have needed metal plates and glass windows but that seemed to be too hard and not worth it since the hassle of fitting glass doors with handles and hinges alone would be a pain. I asked one supplier about 45 degree temperature and acrylic panels and he replied that glass and metal would be the only option. I ended up going to another supplier for panels made of plastic coated in alu and I hope it will be good because along with cutting the panels it all came to $450 which is serious money. 

I don't have any way to cut the full size panels myself so it wasn't really a choice – I just liked the metal coated panels better than plain plastic. I think they will last better.

I actually bought a lot more connecting parts than needed, that seems to be the norm when I am working on a project though. Maybe they will end up getting used later.

The project does seem to be expanding though.

I fixed most of the panels to the cabinet today and put wheels on. They make it much easier to work on. I noticed that the panels need fixing about every 250 mm apart or they will rattle.

Raspberry Pi with cooler in fornt of my keyboard for scale: it is tiny!

This is fine apart from the area where panels overlap: I designed the middle area so that the panels could be removed easily since that is where the most complicated bits will be housed: the power boards, raspberry pi and the air ducting. Since the frame is only 2020 there is one slot for nuts so at the moment the idea is to drill 10 mm holes in the inner panels then put the bolts and nuts on the outer panel so the nut passes right through the 10 mm hole. The hard part is drilling 10mm holes in the panels without wrecking them: the metal coated plastic maybe okay but the acrylic clear stuff has a real danger of cracking. Apparently the idea is to drill gradually bigger holes . The holes also are only 10 mm in from the edge so after drilled there will be 5 mm of edge left. I will have to test drill some scrap first to see how well it turns out.

Cabinet with wheels and some panels

I got some 38 mm wheels to make the cabinet more practical and I was pleased to discover that the bolt holes on them fit the flat plates I already had for the bottoms of the corners.

 This is where the filament holder is going for now - it stil needs a 90 degree bender to feed correctly and this is intended to be temporary until I have the filament store underneath done but it is another example of how handy this extrusion system is - since the CR10S frame is also made of extrusion it was easy to fit and it's always adjustable.

A major reason I got the CR10S Pro is that it has automatic bed levelling out of the box.  If there is one thing you do not want to spend time doing it is levelling your printer bed. This auto leelling depends on a sensor stached to the print head that detects the bed very accurately. The CR10S comes with a capacitive sensor and some folks online have compained about it being inconsistent especially when delaing with hot build plates or other variables.  I am also concerned because I am going to replace my build plate with the magnetically "stuck" WhamBam plate - so my answer is to get the reputedly more reliable BLTouch sensor which has a small retractable pin that literally touches the bed to detect it. Tehre is also a video showing how to fit it and a special firmware version available for y specific model of printer which made it a sure thing for me. 

 I bought a BLTouch sensor from 3D Printing Canada who also have a good video on how to fit it to a CR10S Pro – but it was $137. 

There was supposed to be a local firm selling them but they are now calling themselves “Wombot” and selling 3D printers draped in Aussie flags - and they are covering their machines with the same metal/plastic sandwich panels as my cabinet. Their cheapest machine starts at $5k and I am curious to see a review of their products since that seems way more expensive than anything else: perhaps they are aiming for the “professional market” but I can't see that as being viable. Still, what do I know? Perhaps their support will be fabulous and they will outsell all other machines locally. I can't see that happenning myself since the market for serious 3D printers is limited and the big guys (Stratasys etc.) have it pretty much stitched up. Is there a market for more average, small fab machines costing that much? It seems to me that I have seen this all before.

So there it is: What are people doing with their 3D Printers? Making Cosplay Ironmek (Don't wanna get sued here) outfits?  I'm still not exactly sure what I will be doing with my machine once it is running smoothly,  but I have a few ideas. 
All suggestions welcome.