Impressive – PrintNC V3.0 opensource metal cutting DIY CNC router

The PrintNC V3.0 is a open source metal cutting CNC machine that was designed to be more capable and professional than the current offering of DIY open source cnc machines.

What makes the PrintNC so special vs other offering?

The printNC’s design makes use of rectangular steel beams which are interconnected with bolts to keep it DIY friendly.

It avoided all the shortcomings from entry level desktop CNC-routers that are on the market.

Such as the Indymill which is far less capable then the PrintNc

To name a few:

• ballscrews on all axes
• powerful and heavy duty spindle (2,2kW water cooled spindle options)
• rigid steel frame
• 3D-printed parts on the parts you can get away with less tensile strength
• able to mill non ferrous metals with ease and steel to some extent

To put it briefly, it was the best entry level machine in the price to performance category i ever came across.
The only downside is the extensive time commitment required. You must build the framework for the project and set up everything yourself.

Resources

If you want to know if this is the right machine for you, check out all the available resources.

To name a few:

• Wiki of the printNC
• Discord (Very active, friendly and noob friendly)
• Fusion360 model
• PrintNC building playlist by Christoph Lehner – youtube
• PrintNC building playlist by Projects by Brian – youtube

What is the machine capable of

Fully flexible design

The machine concept is fully parametric. You can customize the build to your needed dimensions.
I mainly do sheets of wood so i wanted to be able to pass a full sheet through the machine. Therefore i increased my X-axis to a work area of over 1250mm.
Due to the size of my workshop the biggest dimensions i could get away with, was a footprint of 1600mm x 1000mm.
There is a calculator on the printNC website to calculate all your machine dimensions based on your work area. It even shows you which profiles, screws and other hardware you should get.

Essential parts

• Metal cutting G-penny CNC spindle kit 2.2KW 80MM – Tested and verified by PrintNC members
• High quality HGR20 / HGW20CC linear guides – HLTC – Verified and tested hundreds of builds
• High quality clean & debris free 16MM 10 C7 ballscrew – machined to length – verified by PrintNC
• G-Penny – Casted 80mm spindle holder PrintNC verified

Conclusion

While it takes some time investment to build a diy cnc router yourself, I must say personally it was worth it!

All in build cost are ~2000 USD and that offers you the most capable open source cnc router currently out there.

Frequently asked questions – FAQ

Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions relating to the PrintNC

Where can I find the PrintNC discord

You can find the discord here

What are the PrintNC dimensions

The PrintNC is designed with parametric modelling. You can scale-up and scale-down the design within reason. The standard machine footprint is 1300 x 900 mm

Where can I find the PrintNC size calculator

The frame size calculator can be found on the Threedesign.store website

What is the PrintNC mini

The PrintNC mini is the latest and greatest development in the PrintNC project. It is a machine with a smaller footprint featuring double linear carriages all over. It is however not open source anymore and requires a payment to access the files.