Reprap Forum - General New Machines Topics Designs that do not fit in other categories. Previously named New RepStraps and Post Mendel https://reprap.org/forum/list.php?152 Fri, 13 Mar 2026 07:29:58 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,894914,894914#msg-894914 SAK-Bot by GA3D (no replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,894914,894914#msg-894914
If so, I invite you to follow my little SAK-Bot project. It might just inspire you to start tinkering like crazy again.

By liking, sharing, and following the SAK-Bot project, you're not only supporting the creation of a unique machine but also encouraging the spirit of creativity and innovation that lies at the heart of every maker. This project has the potential to reignite your passion for tinkering and kickstart your next ambitious DIY endeavor. Let the SAK-Bot be a reminder that with determination and a little ingenuity, we can bring our wildest ideas to life. So follow along, get inspired, and who knows? You might just find yourself embarking on an exciting new maker adventure of your own.

it's the continuation of these pre-projects :
Reprap forum GA3D M1

Reprap forum GA3D M2


]]> Alvon3DprinTor General New Machines Topics Sun, 26 May 2024 09:33:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,894793,894793#msg-894793 Maybe a new 3d printer design? (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,894793,894793#msg-894793
I made a quick design in Tinkercad]]> petereprap General New Machines Topics Sat, 18 May 2024 02:32:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,893659,893659#msg-893659 Considering building a Darwin with modern twists. Thoughts? (3 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,893659,893659#msg-893659
I have a ton of leftover parts from working on Ender printers and was thinking... how cool would it be to build a Darwin, using a modern extruder and electronics? I am imagining a 24v system with an E3D V6, geared extruder, and Klipper running from a Raspberry Pi I have sitting around. Heated bed as well. I think it would be an interesting experiment to see how capable the design is, given the advantage of a modern slicer and firmware.

I have most, if not all, of the electronics already in hand. Power supply, heated bed, Ender LCD display, Creality 4.2.2 mainboard, and many other parts as well. I would print the RP parts in ASA on my other printers... so it would mostly be a case of getting the threaded rods, smooth rods, misc. hardware, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. I would love to document this build, maybe make a Youtube series of the process. The only videos I could find are very short clips from the early days - nothing recent, showcasing the original Darwin in action.]]> odonnell General New Machines Topics Fri, 07 Nov 2025 03:18:08 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,892704,892704#msg-892704 Possibly building 3D printer - seek a bit of advice ... (13 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,892704,892704#msg-892704

I have decided to enter the world of 3D printing but am a bit unsure of which of the many paths into 3D printing to choose. Thus, I am posting here - hoping that one of you may help narrow the scope of options ...


... As it is I built a CNC mill a couple of years ago which proved to be quite successful in that it holds a precision of ~3/1000mm within a square of 100x100mm and ~2/100mm in its full milling volume. Built in cast iron I am very pleased with it. BUT it also took A LOT of time to design & build - and although I am tempted to build a 3D printer I cannot set aside (this) much time to do so (50 hours could be fine, though).

On the other hand I am looking for a quality 3D printer which is very reliable in use and will allow me to make precision 3D prints with many different filament materials, including high temp filaments, and heavy weight filaments (e.g. copper filled filaments). Absolute dimension precision matters as well as surface finish.


Additionally, I have a somewhat limited budget, as I would prefer to not go beyond around USD 500. This is something that I reckon does not make things easier, as it, as far as I can see, unfortunately excludes Voron, SK-Go, & Ratrig builds.

One more limitation is that I am in no way a programmer - nor do I have any experience with setting up firmwares etc. on e.g a Raspberry Pi. I am aware that this is less than optimal - to amend this I have instead considered buying a Creality Sonic Pad and set it up to work with the printer I get/have. I can see that on Github there are firmwares for different printers - and on youtube videos on how to load a new firmware onto the Sonic Pad. Even without experience I think it looks accessible to do.


One possible advantage is that I have access to some 40*25mm rectangular aluminum rods than can be precision milled on the CNC mill. I reckon such rods could make for a rigid 3D printer structure.


With the above in mind I am considering:

- either buying an Ender 3 S1 Pro which I may eventually rebuild to a larger volume and more rigid construction, or

- e.g. something like the TwoTrees Sapphire Plus (https://www.twotrees3dofficial.com/en-de/products/corexy-3d-printer-sapphire-plus-sp-5-dual-z-axis?variant=42712549720284) - again with the aim of modifying it along the way.

Given that I will be printing heavy objects I have excluded the Ender 5 because it only supports the print bed on one side and also has a bit too small print volume.


However, knowing that when it comes to precision everything matters I just wonder if either of these 3D printers constitute a sufficiently good basis to build on? I.e. is the software/ hardware good enough to form the basis for something like an eventual SK-Go quality printer .... Or, if there may be a better suggestion for a good start-out 3D printer that may eventually be modified to become really good?

Also, I would, if possible, appreciate some information on which "brands" are considered to make precision 3D printer parts: i.e. glass-filled "tooth" belts, the "rollers" & bearings that these belts "roll" on, sufficiently good ball-screws, other bearings that require precision, etc. This would allow me to improve the 3D printer in due time.


Well, I hope the above is not too "fluffy" and that I may meet with someone here who may know/sense where I want to go with this - and have some input ...

In any case thanks for reading & maybe replying ;)

Cheers, Jesper M]]> evalon General New Machines Topics Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:13:19 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,891707,891707#msg-891707 A new hybrid low-inertia SCARA-like machine named "Pythagoras" (3 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,891707,891707#msg-891707
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbs8buYSK_s

[attachment 120047 vlcsnap-2023-01-17-22h10m26s421.jpg]

(Everyone is always concerned about the wobble, note that this wobble does not impact the position where 2 belts meet, and also that was an extreme test with 50 000 acceleration and moving speed up to 1.41 m/s. I also glued on some foam and that worked to prevent violent banging around which was problematic)

An earlier iteration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omeeDLre9Yw

Brief description: position of the print head is controlled directly by 2 tensioned belts, which are controlling two distances to the print head. There is a purely passive SCARA style mechanism which is needed to provide rigidity in the Z direction. (It doesn't have to be rigid in any other direction, allowing very lightweight construction). Alternatively, a hinged Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage, or another mechanism can be used to confine movements to a plane. E.g. an air bearing gliding on a glass plate. Or just a long stick confining movements to a large sphere.

The belts are tensioned by 2 sticks. The sticks are not directly connected to the print head (in the second iteration) and their precision is non critical (I literally use natural bamboo for prototyping since it got surprisingly high specific modulus).

This approach seems new and well suited to self replication, since it has relatively few parts. The only precision critical components in the XY stage are pulleys, belts, and motors.

A lot of variations can be done on this design, that can make it even more self replicated. For example, the arm could be spring loaded at the elbow joint, and the belts can be replaced with winched cable. The Z rail could be replaced with a straight line mechanism (e.g. Sarrus) which can be constructed similarly to the arm.

Less replicably, the sticks I'm using to tension the cable could be replaced with something akin to measuring tape, which can be rolled up in one direction but not the other.

Effective inertia of the Z-stiffening arm can be reduced by attaching a smaller flexure based, foam damped arm at the tip of the larger arm.

It is possible to build a rail-less Delta ish printer, by controlling 3 distances.

I'm hoping to attach an extruder and print the first benchy within the next couple weeks, and resolve remaining issues (add homing switches, add datum points for taking measurements of the machine as built for entering values into the klipper config file, etc). I'll be releasing the whole thing as open source.

edit: I posted it here rather than SCARA forum because it has quite different equations and properties from typical SCARA.]]> Dmytry General New Machines Topics Mon, 22 May 2023 03:36:54 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,887476,887476#msg-887476 Designing an SLA printer (1 reply) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,887476,887476#msg-887476
I am busy designing an SLA printer , I have all the electronics already to build my 6k 12.8" mono printer. I have a small problem with the LCD, it is only 1.25mm thick, so I need to put it on a piece of glass to support it. What is the thickest you can go with the glass?

I have a UV light source that is quite strong and that delivers the light at nearly perfect 90degree straight up. Does anybody have some input into my design please.

Regards

Nic]]> scratchbuild52@gmail.com General New Machines Topics Fri, 17 Dec 2021 08:18:04 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,885208,885208#msg-885208 FEED HOLD (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,885208,885208#msg-885208
The Only thing I can't find that I need on every application is an equivalent to "FEED HOLD". What I mean by feed hold is, during any movement pressing feed hold decelerates all motion in a coordinated fashion. leaving the spindle going. when a continue button (sometimes the same feed hold button) is the machine Accelerates in a coordinated fashion from where it left off.

I do realize all of this was originally designed for printing but these controllers are proliferating into many other applications.

As far as I have observed this function is a hardware feature of CNC equipment. I do not know of a G or M code for this function

How can I accomplish this? I can't be the only one needing to pause motion.
Perhaps using an I/O bit and an addition to the firmware.]]> Techman2930 General New Machines Topics Mon, 28 Nov 2022 13:49:25 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,885098,885098#msg-885098 Pressure sensor (2 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,885098,885098#msg-885098
Monoprice Delta Pro Auto Level Sensor | Replacement/Spare Parts for Monoprice Delta 3D Printers - 136568 [www.amazon.com]]]> MikeCL General New Machines Topics Mon, 09 Aug 2021 18:12:15 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,875892,875892#msg-875892 "Infinite" Axis Printer (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,875892,875892#msg-875892
Link to quick video: [www.youtube.com]]]> epicurus2020 General New Machines Topics Sun, 09 Aug 2020 14:25:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,875381,875381#msg-875381 PrintHero SLA 3D printer (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,875381,875381#msg-875381 KickStarter. It seems like a great deal.

Having been bitten once by the ONO/OLO dog, I'm suspicious... at the price and performance, it seems *way* too good to be true. There's also a couple of other red flags that I'm uncertain about, so I'll keep them to myself for now.

Opinions please!]]> frankvdh General New Machines Topics Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:26:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,873443,873443#msg-873443 IDEX/IDYX (2 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,873443,873443#msg-873443 was wondering how can write print file for a IDEX/IDXY printer that prints two models at the same time?

thanks]]> CJ.BRAVO General New Machines Topics Sat, 06 Jun 2020 13:53:36 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,868046,868046#msg-868046 Megatronics V2.0 (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,868046,868046#msg-868046
I would like to use a 24v heater bed with Megatronics V2.0 Megatronics V2.0 . The board only allows 12v input, how can I do this.

Andrew]]> wamaker General New Machines Topics Mon, 09 Mar 2020 11:30:33 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,864822,864822#msg-864822 Hephaistos - IDEX Ultimaker style (8 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,864822,864822#msg-864822
I would like to present and discuss my new project. A 400x400x600 IDEX printer with Ultimaker style gantry. The printer is now in design phase and I'm hoping to get some feedback from you guys.

Frame
3030 Motedis B Aluminium extrusion
Not sure yet if I'm going to connect them with only an endbolt, which requires milling, or with connectors, which is more expensive.

Electronics
Bigtreetech SKR V1.1 Pro mainboard
E3d Volcano hotend (clone)
48mm 42BYGH Nema 17 for Z
40mm 17HS4401 Nema 17 for others
24v 240w power supply
380x380 230V 800W silicone heater
BLtouch clone

Basic design
So the printer will feature two independent X carriages to be able to do multi material, multi color of duplication prints. The printer will have a sealed filament storage on the side as well as electronics outside the build chamber. Everything will be covered with 2/3mm polycarbonate. The Carriage will ride on 16mm fixed rods with 12mm rods for the moving parts. The steppers will drive 5mm carbon tubes which will be attached to belts and to the moving rods.
The Z will be supported by triple leadscrew and triple 16mm rods.
All 3D printed parts for the printer part will be PETG, parts for the filament and electronics side will be PLA (or PETG if needed).

That's it for now. I hope to get your feedback on the design. The current design is viewable with this link Click (Please note that what you can see is what was visible when I saved, so it might appear emtpy).]]> Fabiandelete General New Machines Topics Thu, 02 Jan 2020 14:31:21 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,864159,864159#msg-864159 LargeScaleAdditiveManufacturing... (8 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,864159,864159#msg-864159
I am about to build a 3d printer for large scale printing.

I am thinking to use Servos for X & Y axes and steppers for Z & extruder.

I am exploring how to connect servos to controller board like RAMPS/MKS/etc.. Any suggestions?

Also thinking on to control all axes using CNC servos and extruder through stepper but I don't know how to procees on this..

Can the CNC controller read gcode file prepared by slicing software for the axes movement only?

Anyone can help/suggest me in this....

Regards,
Prashant.]]> prashantdshinde General New Machines Topics Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:19:23 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,863938,863938#msg-863938 Independent X Axis & Control Board (3 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,863938,863938#msg-863938
I like having the option for dual extrusion, and I do use it on 10% of my prints or so, but there are some drawbacks to the dual extrusion that I would like to resolve. My biggest complaint is the print quality hit I take from the unused print head dragging across the part I while I'm printing and leaving some ghosting or print artifacts behind. I also have to deal with the slight oozing that the other nozzle gives off when printing with dual print heads. I would like to make the hot ends independent of each other so I can leave the unused hot end parked off the side of the build area while it's not in use. I may even add some kind of an ooze shield by the park position so as it parks or moves back into the print area, the drippings from the nozzles get removed when the hot end passes by.

I've used a 2040 V-slot rail for my X gantry. It would be simple mechanically to add a 2nd drive belt (additional stepper motor and idler) to the rail and converting the printer over to have dual independent hot ends. I'm currently using a MKS Gen 1.4 control board with a 24V power supply, and I'm already using up all 5 stepper motor driver positions with the current printer configuration (X, Y, Z, E0, E1). To go with dual independent hot ends, I would need to add a 6th stepper driver to my controller in some way.

Does anyone have any recommendations on options or boards to add another stepper driver and control it for the independent hot end? I've seen stepper motor add-on boards and the like, but I'm not sure where to start. I am familiar with marlin firmware due to my history with it up to this point. I haven't ventured into marlin 2.0 on anything yet. I don't know if there is a standard way to add on a stepper motor to control the 2nd hot end x axis on my current board, or if I need to look for something like this (https://www.amazon.com/BIGTREETECH-high-Frequency-Printer-Control-12864lcd/dp/B07T2RLG2C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8) that has 6 stepper drivers support already built in.

Thanks for the help.]]> markag General New Machines Topics Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:58:38 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,863527,863527#msg-863527 Another version of dual-wire gantry (4 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,863527,863527#msg-863527 [attachment 113576 images.png]


Turns out... if you use the same kind of belt path as on a h-bot, but with fixed ends, then you get a much simpler mechanism, with no need for belt twists and whatnot. Has anyone ever implemented this scheme? I've seen it in a cnc router, thought it was really smart.
[attachment 113575 dualwireboth.jpg]]]> ruyvieira General New Machines Topics Thu, 26 Dec 2019 06:07:08 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,862390,862390#msg-862390 Creality 24v Heatbed (6 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,862390,862390#msg-862390 calaban General New Machines Topics Wed, 11 Dec 2019 21:24:42 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,858754,858754#msg-858754 Oliver - an open source ultra precise MSLA 3D printer (13 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,858754,858754#msg-858754 The market is being flooded by cheap SLA printers offering better resolution than FFF printers. There's one problem, however. They're not open source!

I'm a high school student from Czech Republic and I've decided to change that. I've spent last 18 months developing a custom MSLA 3D printer that's comparable to similarly priced commercial machines (the printer costs roguhly 720 USD).

It uses Sharp LS055R1SX03 2K screen, which can be currently found on almost all cheap MSLA machines. This grants precision of 47.25 microns in XY plane. Z axis resolution is 25 microns. I've developed custom board that is connected to Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and also custom 24W LED array with active cooling (2x 40 mm fans). These boards should be manufacturable by almost any PCB vendor, although I've included the exact requirments in the manual. The printer can be controlled by either built-in 3.5" touchscreen (with Tibus interface[1]), or via browser-based NanoDLP interface [2]. The platform have a full 3-dimensional calibration.

Some pictures:





Regarding manufacturing, you'll need access to the following:

- FFF 3D printer (for printing plastic parts)
- laser cutter (to cut the metal and acrylic parts)
- NO CNC MACHINE REQUIRED

I've written over 100 pages long user's manual with detailed procedures and assembly instructions. You can find it on the website (link below). Whole project is published under CC-BY-NC licence. My hope is that this printer will become a truly competitive open source alternative to the already established commercial machines (Anycubic Photon etc.).

The website: [www.oliver3d.com]

PS: I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes - English is not my native language.

[1] - [github.com]
[2] - [www.nanodlp.com]

Best,
Adam Schuppler
]]> Oliver3D General New Machines Topics Mon, 02 Sep 2019 00:56:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,858432,858432#msg-858432 Laser for sintering of metal powder (39 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,858432,858432#msg-858432 nLIGHT's laser (this is not advert!):
How much power and length of wave should be laser for sintering of metal powder?]]> Nathan_T General New Machines Topics Mon, 20 Dec 2021 07:25:27 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,856777,856777#msg-856777 Biceps, a two headed 3D printer (13 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,856777,856777#msg-856777 The printer is a cartesian type with the build stage moving in both X and Y while the print heads move only in the Z direction. Print heads are swapped out so that only trivial adjustments of X, Y and Z need be done by the printer firmware.
This printer has existed in many stages, some parts have been made and used while others exist only in the imagination of TurboCAD. The frame has been used as an engraving/light milling machine and as a proof of concept for extremely sensitive piezoelectric sensors. The name of the printer is Biceps, Latin for "Two headed".

A view of the printer showing the toggle heads. The DC motor in this picture has been subsequently replaced with a stepper motor. A video of the toggle operating can be seen on [www.youtube.com]
[attachment 112103 Toggle.jpg]

Present project status.
Many parts are working well. The framework is good and accurate although, if I knew then what I know now, I would have increased the ground rods from 10mm and 8mm diameter to 12mm and 10mm diameter to reduce the small sag and elasticity. The vacuum build stage is now able to reliably hold a vacuum and the kinematic is able to return after a disturbance to within 3 microns. The piezo sensors now also have a repeatability of better than 3 microns.
The head changing mechanism was accurate until I found that 3D printed gears are a bit fragile so is now being redesigned to use Huco Acetal gears - this would be easier if they were available in the sizes that I want.
The heated enclosure is the only part that exists still only in CAD

Apologies for this CAD rendering but the heated enclosure does not yet exist.
[attachment 112110 Chamber2A.jpg]

The history – Polyceps (many heads)
The dual headed mechanism is the final fall back position from what started as a seven headed monster including four print heads, two pick and place heads and a head to spray liquids such as adhesives or dyes during the print. The frame only of this printer was ever built: Converting the CAD blocks into realizable specifications came up against strength of materials, availability of gears and bearings and many other problems – a less gung-ho approach was obviously needed. The existing frame, which after all is simply an XYZ mechanism, was used in all subsequent developments.

Milling a vacuum hold down heated bed for a delta on the 3D printer frame.
[attachment 112105 Milling.jpg]

A PCB machined on the printer. 3Mm square IC with 6 pins. 0.2mm isolation lines demonstrating that the XY mechanism has very little play.
[attachment 112106 ConverterPCB.jpg]

Re-casting my ideas to a five head printer I did get as far as building a mechanism with one motor for all five extruders, a second motor to switch between active heads and a solenoid to lift the heads for position changing. Mechanical fragility and repeatability caused major problems while software to align the gears so that they would mesh correctly when changed finally killed this one.

Five extruders made for the above printer. These have been used for all subsequent iterations including Biceps.
[attachment 112107 FiveExtruders.jpg]

A second iteration of the five head design used five identical extruders with three of them feeding the hotends through short Bowden tubes. As the software was beyond my capabilities I paid for some development work. The less said about this the soonest mended - suffice it to say, if I can’t program it myself in assembler then it ain’t going to happen! For a while the frame was used as milling machine to make vacuum stages for other printers, PCBs and other light duties.

CAD rendering of one of the many 5 head combinations tried. This one has two direct drive extruders for Bowden sensitive materials. The other three feed filament through 250mm long Bowden tubes
[attachment 112109 Multi_Linear3_all_frames.jpg]

Biceps
After the project had languished for a couple of years I needed the space and I had to choose what to throw out. In the end I sent my trusty Prusa type printer 'Caliban' to what I hope is a good home and resurrected Polyceps as Biceps. The hope here is to get a very rapid head change along with sufficient stability that filament in the inactive head can be changed and the nozzle purged and wiped to allow the nozzle to be presented clean after changing filament. Other technologies would be carried through including the water-cooled hotends and the vacuum hold-down used on my Delta printer. The software problems go away as M and G codes are easy to understand as the codes I need already exist and I don’t need to rely on anybody else for this bit

Early attempts at a change mechanism used a DC motor with a gearbox but repeatability prove very poor and resulted in a redesign using a NEMA11 stepper motor. With the new motor and gearbox nozzle returns to the same position within measurable limits (ca 3 microns)

The kinematic mechanism and piezo sensors did pretty much everything they should and the extruders and watercooling are now well proven in earlier trials

Present work

The head changing mechanism gear problem mentioned above is ongoing. New gears have been ordered but will need to have some teeth removed to fit into the framework.

The vacuum hold down is proven but is a lash-up. The vacuum pump is now a small one which switches on only as necessary to keep a good vacuum – about 1 to 2 seconds of pumping per minute. A solenoid which is to be normally open and inexpensive seems to be unavailable – several that solenoids that I have bought are not satisfactory so I am making a new one.

Vacuum, heated bed power lines, thermistors and power and signal to the piezo signal conditioner board have to be got to the build stage (bed) . Variations of cable drag chains have been tried under the bed but this seems to be complex, heavy and snag prone. The most satisfactory answer seems to be simply a conduit hanging down to one side of the bed.

The Heated enclosure so far exists only as some speculatively purchased plastic sheets to check for warping when hot. The purge and wipe exists at the moment only as a guess that there is enough room and a hope that it wont be too hard.

If anybody has any use for any of the ideas here they are most welcome to them. I will endevour to occasionally come back to this thread to report on any progress.

Mike]]> leadinglights General New Machines Topics Fri, 01 Jan 2021 14:15:41 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,853101,853101#msg-853101 3pod - a simple printer (7 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,853101,853101#msg-853101
In researching what's available, I discovered that the Ultimaker machines use the type of crosshead that I had in mind and that there are several aftermarket hot end holders available. I chose the most vanilla one which mounts a standard hot end. This determined the 18mm cross slide centers and allows me to use other heads w/ up to 4 nozzles. Being new to this and given the costs, it was easy to choose the same MKS Gen L V1.0 controller used i n my 2 other printers. Now all I had to do was fill in the space between the controller and that printhead.

In this prototype, many of the parts are printed plastic and work well enough. For good reliability and dependable repeated knock down/ set up, I am replacing most printed parts with solid metal. The first pictures were taken at home before a trip to Greece, where the printer has been reassembled & has produced first prints, now for the second improved version. On the way over one of the printed bearing mounts was broken & needed bonding back together.

As said, I have used the CHEAPEST components I could find here, but there's no reason not to use better now that I know it works. This was under $150 for everything, but will be creeping up as I add metal parts. And I am upgrading to 24V as soon as the PS,fans & heater cartridges arrive. There is much tweaking of the firmware yet to do as well as mechanical refinements that can be done. I will be working with a friend here with the right equipment to inspect and straighten all the leadscrews for example as well as aligning and squaring the assembly more perfectly.

The new version will print 200 x 200 x up to 300 or more(depending on length of leadscrew motor and three 8mm rods) and still fit in my rollon , after removing only the three 8mm rods. The first one was a bit too big & came in here my checked luggage. I will report the final weight after I fabricate the base which will be two acrylic plates attached to a perimeter separating them about an inch for stiffness. The base can be about just about anything flat - I left the original 3/4 plywood base in Seattle & made a new one here from particleboard laminate. Actually, I made a heavy chassis that also encloses the electrics and the weight down low is nice for stability. The machine is fairly quiet and there's only very low mass moving around at speed so it doesn't want to go anywhere even w/ just a plywood base.

I welcome your criticisms, comments and suggestions. I'm new at this but an old hand at fixing and making mechanical things of all sorts.

In the pictures, the silver monkey was printed by my JGAurora A5, the orange by my heavily modified FLSun and the purple by this new machine. The new one is may be 20% slower than the older more experienced machines. A few pics also of the machine here in Greece with its fancy new base and the new one which is almost done.



If any body wants to make one of these, I can provide the BOM and some .stl's once it's all debugged...
]]> scoot General New Machines Topics Wed, 06 Nov 2019 06:41:03 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,850839,850839#msg-850839 Piper 1 version 2 (7 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,850839,850839#msg-850839

Only 2 - 10 foot lengths of E.M.T. were enough to
build the frame


From 1 of the 10 foot lengths I was able to cut..

1 Each, Base front along X axis 385mm
1 Each, Base back along X axis 367mm
2 Each, X rails 477mm
1 Each, Top along X axis 385mm
2 Each, Z support 446mm


From the other piece I was able to cut these lengths.

2 Each, Base along Y axis 400mm
2 Each, Y rails 477mm
2 Each, Z rails 427mm


All of the pipe was cut with a inexpensive tubing cutter I bought from
Bangood. It makes for a much cleaner and more
precise cut than can be had with a hacksaw.

All of the tube connectors, staps, motor mounts, and extruder mount were printed in ABS.
The Roller blocks are printed in PLA. Both materials at 30% infill, 3 perimeters & 3 top/bottom layers.
I scaled up the ABS prints by 1% before printing. All printed with no support material.
The design of the parts are Top Notch ! I can only imagine the amount of time and effort that went in to this design.

Of the four RepRap printer designs I have downloaded and built from Thingiverse files,
this is by far the best in the terms in the quality of the printed parts and the ease of assembly. Whether or not the prints
to be produced by this printer are on par with the others remains to be seen. My build came to a halt when
I found out that I had ordered the wrong size belt pulleys.]]> Shank man General New Machines Topics Sun, 26 May 2019 16:30:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,850647,850647#msg-850647 Nitro´s A.R.P.E.G. 230°C Chamber printer for PPSU (22 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,850647,850647#msg-850647 I wanted to shortly introduce my new printer that i built especially for a student competition from Solvay. They challenged us to print PPSU, a high performance polymer similar to PEEK, with a HDT of 207°C and a Tg of 220°C. Extrusion temperature 380-410°C.
SInce we had a severe time constraint during the competition, some parts are not built quite up to spec or visual pleasure. Everything is purely based on functionality, i will have to do the cable management and the like later on (when i build an electronic cabinet)

Basic concept: Old convection oven from the scrapyard.

Duet Wifi and expansion board
Dual Super whopper for X stage
180W DC Servo for Y stage
single stepper for Z stage
One giant 15mm precision milled cast aluminium plate for the XY stage, everything else including the Z stage screws to this.
20mm Precision THK linear guides for XY stage and 20mm linear rods for the Z stage
Motion components external to the chamber.
15mm Precision milled cast aluminium Vacuum bed, non heated
Dual E3D Volcano copper hotend with PT100´s, auto lifting hotend by two solenoids controlled by Mosfets

Disclaimer: this is not a reprappeable machine, i have used exactly one printed part in this whole build, which is to guide the cooling air for the XY stage.
I have used several hunded thousand dollars worth in equipment to build this machine, thanks to my universities Makerspace. If you want to check it out, www.maker-space.de.


However, since it is still quite an unusual project, i still wanted to share since maybe some people can learn from it.








Waterjet cutting some parts of the sheet metal assemblies







Milling the coldend holders



Vacuum bed held down on vacuum bed :)



Waterjet cutting the Bed holders from 2mm grade 4 Titanium. This made some crazy sparks
[www.youtube.com]



Z stage



Y stage Servo reduction


Aligning the linear guides and mockup




Transition from Bed to Z stage Vacuum line via brake line, then by a polyurethane tube to the vacuum pump




Testing the vacuum bed and the lifting hotend system
[www.youtube.com]

First assembly




Integrating the PanelDue 7i into the oven control panel




Cable chains



The gantry insulators




I only installed a single hotend for the competition, since for the PPSU parts i did not need a support extruder.



Insulation



The Print cooling fan (duct)





After being bent, fit-up for tig welding




First tests with PLA, very good cooling results


Tested also with some strings as low budget flow analysis, showed very uniform flow







First test with ABS and a chamber temp of 90°C, like the stratasys machines. It was proven too much for the low quality ABS, and i had to slowly go down to 65C for it to print nicely.



Then some tests with stratasys P430 ABS. This printed very nicely in a 90°C Chamber with extrusion temperature of 270°C.



Example for difference between undried and dried ABS filament


In S3D, a funny warning came up when i ser rhe bed to 210°C, that did turn out to an annoyance as i had no way of turning off that notification.


Then the first tests with PPSU in a 210°C chamber. It printed nicely, with the spool drying at 150°C at the bottom of the chamber while the print is going. Feeding directly to the hot end






However, the PEI sheets that i was using as a print surface, while sticking nicely to the PPSU, deformed on the Vacuum bed while in the hot chamber.

So i had to go to the glass bed route.





Here it is, the only 3d printed part. Separating two air streams, 2/3 going to the XY stage for cooling, the other for the Z stage.




Here you can see the heating coil glowing red hot while heating the chamber up to temperature.


This was the result in the end.





We were allowed to post process the tensile bars from bigger samples.








Final parts for the competition sent away. For the people wondering about the wavy pipes, they were one of the things we had to print for the Competition. They are going to be burst tested, and then also 4 ASTMD638 Type V tensile tests printed in the Z direction.


These are the parts that I broke during the competition.

1x e3d volcano block
1x e3d pt100 sensor
1x titanium heatbreak
3x heater cartridge

For the record, no they are not the e3d high temperature heater cartridge. I used cheap 12V heater cartridges in my 24v system to 1) get fast heat up times for quick iteration 2) allow the heat block to stay at temperature in the orcan of that print cooling fan. Since i cannot put a silicone sock on it.

Since i am a bit upset about the whole e3d hotend design, i soon want to make my own based on the stratasys uprint tips.



This is the current setup after the competition deadline (1st of april, results come 15th of april)


These are the mosfets for the solenoids. Cable management still a mess, but it works.


First dual extrusion tests



Calibration square similar to the stratasys machines



First tests on the dual hotend, unfortunately i forgot to enable retractions for the red filament, it cleaned up nicely tho.




I also worked on the print bed visualization in S3D, however i have not gotten the offsets right yet. If someone knows how to do that, please chime in


Then the first tests with stratasys ABS + Stratasys SR30 Support material. ABS 270C, Support 285C, Chamber 90C





I used the same technique as them, first a layer of ABS as a basis, then a layer of Support , and then the model to enable equal surfaces on every side.
However it is still very much overextruded as the stratasys ABS has an incredible melt flow and my PLA setting from before was cranked way too high up.
If you want to see more pictures, i went into more detail on the german forum part.
[reprap.org]

Thanks for reading, if you have questions shoot them at me

Cheers
Max
]]> NitroFreak General New Machines Topics Mon, 17 Jan 2022 14:01:48 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,849107,849107#msg-849107 Stacking Extruder Heater Blocks (5 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,849107,849107#msg-849107
I'm conceptualizing a stackable heater block design. Is it simply possible to stack multiple heater block in series like this?



By using easy to source M6 threaded rod with through hole, and otherwise using standard E3D heat breaks and nozzles, we should in principle be able to stack 2 or 3 Volcano heater blocks for 80W or 120W.

This would reduce the cost over a monolithic SuperVolcano heater block significantly while attaining equivalent performance and extrusion rate for large prints. The goal is 20-30 lb/day extrusion rates. More info at [wiki.opensourceecology.org]

Does anyone see issues with this approach?

Thanks in advance for your feedback,
Marcin
Open Source Ecology
]]> marcinose General New Machines Topics Sat, 02 May 2020 13:22:34 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,843907,843907#msg-843907 (Probably) a new CoreXY-based design (10 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,843907,843907#msg-843907 [attachment 109321 Assembly_render2.jpg]
Basically it's a non-crossing CoreXY like a D-bot used in some 3d printers, except for the belts are fixed and the motors are movable. I think it's a new design, but let me know if I'm wrong :)
Rest of the machine in Fusion 360
[attachment 109322 Assembly_render3.jpg]
Test-running an unfinshed prototype
[www.youtube.com]


P.S. Posted this to r/hobbycnc earlier today]]> roman_savchuk General New Machines Topics Mon, 02 Dec 2019 11:29:53 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,840042,840042#msg-840042 Part Cooling in a heated chamber (5 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,840042,840042#msg-840042
I am currently Designing an enclosed Printer which I call Rugged Mk I for now. The Rugged MK I is enclosed and has a heated chamber.

3 Years ago I had a Mendel Max 1.5 printer working great. I had 2 cooling fans with a Nozzle like thing blowing air to the print nozzle. This was very important for small Details and Bridges. Now when designing the Rugged Mk I, I am concerned about that Topic in a heated chamber. Is it even worth to blow "hot" air at the Part? Will the Fans last?

Do you have any experience or Idea in those regards? I thought about taking two of those small aquarium pumps and a small nozzle to blow at the Part. Do you think that might do?

Best regards

Julian]]> forreason General New Machines Topics Mon, 17 Dec 2018 08:39:35 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,839120,839120#msg-839120 pantograph 3d printer (27 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,839120,839120#msg-839120
I've got this idea since a couple of weeks.

see pictures.

it's just a model.

lot to do before it works. but it seems interesting.

[attachment 108184 sketch.png]
[attachment 108176 Capturedcran_2018-11-20_21-11-35.png]+
[attachment 108181 Aplan.png][attachment 108182 Bplan.png][attachment 108183 Cplan.png]

[attachment 108180 planD.jpg]]]> herve robert General New Machines Topics Mon, 27 May 2019 01:38:37 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,835659,835659#msg-835659 DRO for Z absolute position? (1 reply) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,835659,835659#msg-835659
X and Y are mass-sensitive, have to move fast, and don't generally need to be super-repeatable when it comes to homing, so limit switches make lots of sense and DROs wouldn't.

Z is typically not so mass-sensitive, moves slow, but should be very repeatable for homing, especially with non-sprung beds where a head crash is extra bad.

Many DROs preserve absolute position across a power-off, and many of them speak known protocols.

I did google and site searches, but I don't see any instances of using a DRO for closed-loop Z absolute position. I would still want a limit switch as a backup, but setting an absolute origin in a DRO and then going straight to the first-layer Z height without dancing on a limit switch feels like it could be a win on a sufficiently stable machine.

Just pondering here...

Am I missing something obvious?]]> mcdanlj General New Machines Topics Sat, 06 Oct 2018 14:35:22 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,833500,833500#msg-833500 Construction 3D printer ? (13 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,833500,833500#msg-833500 Anonymous User General New Machines Topics Thu, 04 Oct 2018 03:56:45 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,832830,832830#msg-832830 New fixed motor movement system? (10 replies) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?152,832830,832830#msg-832830
And thus after a bit of tinkering I made this:


The main idea here was to balance the forces as much as possible. Since the gantry is connected to opposite symmetrical points, as well as at the same level of the center of mass, the rotation alongside the X axis should be non-existent.
Then there's the X carriage, which is connected right at the center to reduce all rotations along the Y axis. This in turn would allow the use of rods without having to worry much about lubrication or binding.
I'd like to receive any and all feedback, as this would really help me decide weather it's worth trying to build something like it or not.
]]> Heracles421 General New Machines Topics Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:59:19 -0400