Fully Printed CNC On An IKEA Table

It seems that many 3D printer owners just aren’t getting the same buzz they used to off their 3D printers, and are taking steps to procure heavier machines. And making them in their home laboratories with, you guessed it, their 3D printers.

Following the pattern, [Michael Reitter], designed a 3D printable CNC around a IKEA MALM table. In order to span the length of the table for his X axis, he came up with a very cool looking truss assembly. The linear rails rest on top of the truss, and a carriage with the Z axis rides on the assembly. The truss has enough space in the center of it to neatly house some of the wiring. The Y-xis mounts on the side of the table.

Overall the mechanical design looks pretty solid for what it is, with all the rails taking their moments in the right orientation. We also like the work-piece hold downs that slide along the edge of the table. It even has a vacuum attachment that comes in right at the milling bit.

We’re not certain how much plastic this build takes, but it looks to be a lot. Monetarily, it will probably weigh in at a bit more than some other options. As many in the 3D printing world are discovering, sometimes there’s no reason not to leverage more mature industrial processes for lower cost large gains in accuracy and strength. Though, it’s pretty clear that one of the design goals of this project was to see how much one can get away with just a 3D printer, and we certainly can’t deny the appealing aesthetic of this CNC.

Video of it in action after the break.

15 thoughts on “Fully Printed CNC On An IKEA Table

  1. That is awesome and some great designing,
    I don’t under stand how it’s a fully printer cnc tho?
    The mostly printed cnc that was posted a few days ago probably used less parts that weren’t printed then this.
    Non the less really damn coo!!!

  2. Very nice job! I really like the white on white look. Makes it look like it should be in a hospital, lol. (cyborg operating room tools?)

    What parts on a CNC BOM are to be excluded when deeming a CNC “fully” printed? Electronics (wires, motors, etc) are an obvious exclusion in my opinion. I could see how someone might say rails are debatable since you could print reasonably(?) functional rails for a smaller sized CNC. Hardware could be argued as unnecessary by printing snap-together or glued components. Using rack and pinion for the drive style would eliminate belts.

    So what do Hackaday readers/authors use as a means to exclude components when calling something “fully 3D printed”.

    1. There is little point in printing components that are just sections of common stock which makes me wonder why the truss was made of printed parts when it looks like it could have been made from cut stock.

  3. looks good but will not work well. Yeah it will be good for pencil, but if you install spindle it will bend and flex. Been there done that ;) Those rods are too flimsy and too long. Yes you will be able to machine wood, but it won`t be precise.

    1. “Looks good but will not work well”, I don’t think there’s a better way to sum it up. The machine in itself looks absolutely beautiful, but I don’t think it will be good for milling.
      My biggest concern are the belts and pulleys used for the X and Y axes, they can skip steps as soon as the tool encounters some resistance from the workpiece, except maybe at *very* slow speeds.
      That said, it will probably work great as a laser engraver, plotter or… well… another 3d printer :P

  4. As people already commented on :
    – What is “full 3d printed” ?
    – That Z axis gets me sleepy
    – rigidity

    I’ll focus on what’s important: On the other videos he shows a “milling” of a clear plastic.
    And i can’t help but notice ALL THE SMALL DUST GOING DIRECTLY INTO THE Y-AXIS LINEAR BEARINGS AND PULLEY. Arg…. So many 3d printed parts but no film or walls to contain the dust :(

    That being said, kudos on doing that on an Ikea table.
    Solid base, easily available worldwide … and handy :)

    1. Hardly a fair criticism given a Shapeoko comes out of the box with no dust collection and will make a massive mess. It doesn’t even come with end stop/limit switches…and the software? Well, how about stop switches that don’t do anything until the current gcode line has been processed? Ugh.

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