Building a large format printer...where do I start? Hi! I want to build a 3D printer, and considering the usage, I decided a large format printer would be the best choice. After looking at several kits, and not finding anything big enough, I've started trying to research what I would need to build a printer with a build area of 4'L x 3'W x 2'H (24 cubic feet). I've already started pricing the materials for the frame and housing, but as far as the electronics, what would I need? I also would like to incorporate an extruder that moves in all three axes, if it's possible. If not, then go with XY and a Z bed, I haven't decided yet. And yes, I know that RepStrapping is the hardest method for a first time builder, but I'm no slouch when it comes to working with electronics. I'm just stumped as to where I should start. Thanks, and I look forward to your advice! https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371845#msg-371845 Sat, 07 Mar 2026 01:43:11 -0500 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374474#msg-374474 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374474#msg-374474
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Ohmarinus
Why don't we use what we already have?
Now that just sounds like a silly question around here... :P

One thing to consider is that China went through a rash of minor disasters because of brick theves. I know the concept of stealing bricks out from under the building directly over one's head to resell to shady construction companies at pennies a piece seems like the dumbest crime ever invented, but in China it happens. Enough that they want to move away from brick-based construction.

Right now, the "house printing" (I wish there was a different term for it, as it's pretty far removed from 3D printers) technology they have only makes the most basic of structures, but that's more due to a lack of programming than the technology itself. In a year or two, they'll have some things coming off of these that you just can't do with mold making.

EDIT: Looks like China has another house printer, though this one looks more like a corporate publicity stunt, but it's pretty impressive looking nonetheless.
[attachment 35466 qingdao-largest-3d-printer-41.jpg]
the article on 3Ders says it uses a "graphene and glass fiber reinforced plastic" to print, but then later says it uses about 60% recycled concrete, so who even knows... I seriously doubt it actually uses graphene, but at such a large scale, using fiberglass reinforcement makes a lot of sense.

...The article goes on to say how envoronmentally friendly it is, but that's probably the best joke I've heard all week. (Sometimes 3Ders is pretty bad about translating Chinese articles without researching a bit to knock the propaganda parts out of it.)]]> Feign General Wed, 25 Jun 2014 09:13:05 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374285#msg-374285 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374285#msg-374285
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Feign
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Ohmarinus
Here in the Netherlands, DUS architects is also talking about printing houses.. I think it's a terrible idea :(
Frankly, I think the houses printed in China are pretty impressive inspite of being only the most basic house profile, their method has some pretty great potential, printing a vertical slice, waiting for it to dry and then tilting it up. If someone comes up with a good rigid-but-removable support material that can withstand the concrete drying against it, then the method can really become viable for complex shapes.

Well, in the Netherlands, we create houses by putting up just a few walls and pouring concrete in between. The roof is made with premade concrete and most of the concrete is poured in-situ.

I think it's still kind of useless to create new processes as an efficient method. However it does have it's charmes. And might be a nice project for one-off houses. But still, it feels cheesy ;) Come on, bricks are so beautiful, I did a brick-design course last semester, and it was awesome. There is so much possible with clay and bricks... Why don't we use what we already have?]]> Ohmarinus General Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:07:25 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374155#msg-374155 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,374155#msg-374155
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Ohmarinus
Here in the Netherlands, DUS architects is also talking about printing houses.. I think it's a terrible idea :(
Frankly, I think the houses printed in China are pretty impressive inspite of being only the most basic house profile, their method has some pretty great potential, printing a vertical slice, waiting for it to dry and then tilting it up. If someone comes up with a good rigid-but-removable support material that can withstand the concrete drying against it, then the method can really become viable for complex shapes.]]> Feign General Tue, 24 Jun 2014 14:23:22 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373269#msg-373269 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373269#msg-373269
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MrDoctorDIV
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Ohmarinus
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MrDoctorDIV
Biggest one I know of, and good luck affording that, let alone building one as stable at a larger dimension.

Hahaha, what a tiny thing! ;)

This printer overrules them all!!!!
[vimeo.com]

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cnc dick
That size is probably a little unreasonable even a professional FDM machine is not available in that size.

I was going for commercially available ones, but the other game has more than I care to research.

Here in the Netherlands, DUS architects is also talking about printing houses.. I think it's a terrible idea :(

But, product design, like what I showed you before, is still within the desired scale i.m.o.]]> Ohmarinus General Sun, 22 Jun 2014 17:00:19 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373254#msg-373254 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373254#msg-373254 bigrep.de]]]> sungod3k General Sun, 22 Jun 2014 16:31:35 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373231#msg-373231 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373231#msg-373231
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Ohmarinus
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MrDoctorDIV
Biggest one I know of, and good luck affording that, let alone building one as stable at a larger dimension.

Hahaha, what a tiny thing! ;)

This printer overrules them all!!!!
[vimeo.com]

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cnc dick
That size is probably a little unreasonable even a professional FDM machine is not available in that size.

I was going for commercially available ones, but the other game has more than I care to research.]]> MrDoctorDIV General Sun, 22 Jun 2014 15:35:38 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373088#msg-373088 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373088#msg-373088
5) Break down your huge part into a number of small pieces, to minimize your losses in the event of a print failure.

6) See #1 and #3 above..... ;)]]> vreihen General Sun, 22 Jun 2014 07:59:24 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373014#msg-373014 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,373014#msg-373014
"I'm thinking of building a (insert ridiculous size here) sized printer"

1) Don't - it's not that good an idea
2) If you really insist - then take any of the multitude of the good existing stationary bed basic designs (coreXY, ultimaker etc), and scale it up using really thick linear rails, large motors, custom electronics and then throw some additional $$$ at it for good measure.
3) This is a bad idea]]> konwiddak General Sun, 22 Jun 2014 03:31:35 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372822#msg-372822 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372822#msg-372822
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Ralph.Hilton
Maybe switch to printing with concrete [www.youtube.com]

Hey, nice video, however, I think making a Mold for concrete is first of all quicker, reusable and the mold itself can also be made with a CNC-type machine.

There's another member here on the forum experimenting with printing concrete/plaster/ceramics, but I haven't heard of him for a while. I think he was using a rotary pump to pump the material through the nozzle, I wonder how far he's come.]]> Ohmarinus General Sat, 21 Jun 2014 12:25:52 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372799#msg-372799 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372799#msg-372799 www.youtube.com]]]> Ralph.Hilton General Sat, 21 Jun 2014 10:43:47 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372715#msg-372715 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372715#msg-372715
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MrDoctorDIV
Biggest one I know of, and good luck affording that, let alone building one as stable at a larger dimension.

Hahaha, what a tiny thing! ;)

This printer overrules them all!!!!
[vimeo.com]

Meanwhile he has developed a way better one btw, in this video you see the extrusion isn't the most constant, right now he has improved arms, nozzles, extrusion and best of all, new plastics. He uses ground up fridge plastics, PET etc. Check out his site too, I've been at his workspace, he's a great guy too.

Oh and don't worry about fumes, the new printers have suction tubes next to the nozzle on both sides to capture all the plastic fumes.]]> Ohmarinus General Sat, 21 Jun 2014 04:56:21 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372712#msg-372712 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372712#msg-372712 shafri General Sat, 21 Jun 2014 04:43:29 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372071#msg-372071 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,372071#msg-372071
Also, once you have bigger than about a 2mm nozzle, it's time to abandon filament altogether and get a screw pump to extrude directly from plastic pellets so you can load several kilos of plastic in at a time.]]> Feign General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:29:29 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371989#msg-371989 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371989#msg-371989 Biggest one I know of, and good luck affording that, let alone building one as stable at a larger dimension.]]> MrDoctorDIV General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:59:43 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371978#msg-371978 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371978#msg-371978 cnc dick General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:37:03 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371977#msg-371977 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371977#msg-371977 I've cut it down to 600mm by 600mm and quite frankly I'm still coming accross potential issues and will likely need to cut that back more. I might go to 400mm by 650mm bed, being longer on one axis as far as I've found, it the best idea for getting larger prints.]]> MrDoctorDIV General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:33:16 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371939#msg-371939 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371939#msg-371939 konwiddak General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 07:56:54 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371933#msg-371933 Re: Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371933#msg-371933 vreihen General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 07:46:22 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371845#msg-371845 Building a large format printer...where do I start? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,371845,371845#msg-371845
I want to build a 3D printer, and considering the usage, I decided a large format printer would be the best choice. After looking at several kits, and not finding anything big enough, I've started trying to research what I would need to build a printer with a build area of 4'L x 3'W x 2'H (24 cubic feet). I've already started pricing the materials for the frame and housing, but as far as the electronics, what would I need?

I also would like to incorporate an extruder that moves in all three axes, if it's possible. If not, then go with XY and a Z bed, I haven't decided yet.

And yes, I know that RepStrapping is the hardest method for a first time builder, but I'm no slouch when it comes to working with electronics. I'm just stumped as to where I should start.

Thanks, and I look forward to your advice!]]> WolfDen General Thu, 19 Jun 2014 03:15:32 -0400