Anycubic i3 Mega CNC Router Conversion

prusaprinters

<p>This is my Anycubic i3 Mega converted to a CNC milling and engraving machine. For this conversion, you'll need several things. Below is a list of modifications I applied to my machine:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3867986">3D Printer Tube Frame Stand</a><br/> You'll need this as a base for the plexiglass enclosure. The parts for this enclosure are uploaded with this Thing, so you can find them under Thing Files.</li> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3869322">Universal X Carriage Mount</a><br/> This will allow you to mount the dremel mount to the X carriage of the machine.</li> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3868324">X-axis Belt Mount</a><br/> This is a required modification for the universal mount to fit the X carriage.</li> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3934942">Dremel Mount</a><br/> A simple mount that slides into the universal mount. You can securely fit the end of the flexible shaft in this mount.</li> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3908207">Y-axis Stepper Motor Cover</a><br/> A simple dust cover for the Y-axis stepper motor.</li> <li><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3908218">Power Supply Dust Cover</a><br/> Another dust cover, this time for the ventilation holes of the power supply.</li> <li><p><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3909536">Mainboard Dust Cover</a><br/> The final dust cover, this time for the ventilation holes of the mainboard.<br/> Besides these modifications, I performed some more modifications:</p> </li> <li><p>Removed the entire hotend assembly</p> </li> <li>Removed the entire extruder assembly</li> <li>Remounted the hotend temperature sensor (the printer will give an error without it)</li> <li>Remounted the filament sensor (the printer will give an error without it)</li> <li>Removed all the limit switces. These are not needed with the software I use (Estlcam)</li> <li>Mounted an MDF printbed, for which I printed some solid PLA spacers for the right height</li> <li>Mounted an LED strip to create some more light</li> <li>Updated the firmware to allow for G2 and G3 commands, which is done with the #define CNC_WORKSPACE_PLANES line in the Configuration_adv.h file of the firmware (although I'm not sure that this was necessary in the end)</li> <li>Placed a plexiglass enclosure around the printer, the files for which are in the Thing Files. I used 2mm thick acrylic sheets. Note that there might be some gaps between the different mounts, which is because my wooden base wasn't perfect in terms of dimensions. Furthermore, the top corner pieces are an older version than I've installed, so you might want to design your own. Besides that, one of the back mounts has a hole in it, through which you can route your power and USB cables.</li> <li>Removed all the internal wires that were not necessary for the operation of the CNC machine. This means that things like bed heating wires, fan wires, etc. were all removed. </li> <li><p>Placed a 13x1mm aluminium rod within the plexiglass enclosure, that allows me to hang the rotary tool above the printer (this gives the flexible shaft enough room to flex)<br/> As you can see in the third image, this conversion definitely works quite well! All the three tools and the flexible shaft were included with the rotary tool I bought.</p> <p>For the software, I'm using Estlcam to create the .gcode for the CNC machine. I'm importing .DXF files to Estlcam, which I made with SolidWorks. If you have Fusion 360, then you can also export your design to .DXF and then import it to Estlcam.</p> <p>If you have any questions about this conversion, please let me know in the comments.</p> </li> </ul> <p><strong>Support</strong><br/> If you want to support me for the designs I publish for free, please consider using my AliExpress Affiliate Link (<a href="https://aliexpi.com/OTpi">https://aliexpi.com/OTpi</a>) when buying something from AliExpress. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but helps me out a lot :)</p> <p>Some links in this post are affiliate links</p>