Ceramic delta

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Ceramic delta

Release status: working

Ceramic delta1.jpg
Description
This is a delta 3D printer designed specifically for printing in clay and to be built with basic DIY skills.
License
GPL
Author
Contributors
Based-on
Categories
CAD Models
External Link

Ceramic delta is a 3D printer built in 2013 by JKeep in Suffolk, UK.


Design Goals

  • To build a printer specifically for printing with clay.
  • To keep it simple so other artists, designers and potters could build it.
  • That all parts could be made with basic DIY skills or ordered of the internet.
  • That it was made of easily accessible materials and you would not need printed plastic part.
  • A print area of 20x20x25 cm.

Parts

The full BOM is in my Studio Journal on my website.

Build

The build documentation is also in my Studio Journal. Note: The accompanying PDF parts templates where sketched out in Microsoft Word so are not very accurate but are printable on a standard A4 printer and gives a basic cutting pattern that I have altered as I have gone along.

Print head

The clay extruder is simply parts adapted from the adhesives industry. The soft clay is extruded out of the cartridge with the use of compressed air, around 30 psi (pounds per square inch) or 2 bar. The air pressure set against the consistency of the clay controls the rate of flow of the printing material.

Copying the UNFOLD technique I originally used syringes to hold the clay, as big as I could find and would glue two together to get a better volume of material. Then I found the Techcon Systems TS Series dispensing gun and so make use of the cartridges, retainer body and cap but not the gun grip. In the UK these parts can be bought separately. I use the 8 oz or 237 ml cartridges. A standard ¼ inch ball vale on/off switch is attached to the cap where the air pressure hose comes in to manually switch the pressure on at the start of a print and off at the end.

CeramicPrintHead 1.jpg

CeramicPrintHead 2.jpg