Enlarging Ivan Miranda’s DIY CNC Router

Ivan Miranda does all kinds of amazing things with 3D printers and that includes building machines that fill the gaps in the capabilities of those 3D printers. He has, for example, designed partially 3D-printable CNC routers for cutting wood and aluminum. He even released some of those designs, including the “Tiny 3D Printed CNC MK II.” Modern Hobbyist built one of those a while back, but it is no longer suiting his needs. So, he set out to improve Miranda’s design in his most recent video.

Modern Hobbyist’s biggest goal for this project was to make Miranda’s machine design bigger. The “stock” machine is quite small and that is good for rigidity, which is something desperately needed by a CNC router made with aluminum extrusion and 3D-printed parts. But that size wasn’t enough for what Modern Hobbyist wanted to do, so he dramatically expanded the X axis. The Y and Z axes sizes were already sufficient, so they were only altered enough to accommodate the wider X axis.

That did, of course, require new aluminum extrusion frame pieces. That is where Modern Hobbyist spent the majority of his time. The extended X axis also required longer rails and belts. On top of that, the larger size necessitated significant rewiring.

Aside from some minor mishaps, including an Arduino UNO Rev3 fried as a result of incorrect wiring, the embiggening process went well. The improved machine works pretty well and does what Modern Hobbyist needs.

However, there is some flex and sag on that extra long X axis, which means it is now mostly only good for wood and not aluminum. It likely needs beefier aluminum extrusion on the X axis gantry. And personally, I think it may have been easier to extend the Y axis instead of the X axis. Even so, it is still a good upgrade and should serve as inspiration for others who have built Miranda’s Tiny 3D Printed CNC MK II.