Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling Hi, about half a year ago, when I was building a frame for a Mendel, I started wondering if it was possible to design a printer that uses the inside of a house as its frame? I haven't been able to get the idea out of my head, so I thought I might as well try to build one. What if we could just skip arms, smooth rods and frames, and just use wires instead? Like this: [img]http://vitana.se/opr3d/tbear/bilder/absolute_first_sketch.png[/img] This is just the simplified geometry of the idea. I suspect I need at least three wires from the ceiling to even get close to printing a single line reliably in the real world. The further development of this idea that I like the most is to but all the hardware in one single unit, so the whole printer (except maybe power supply and filament spool) hangs in the anchor points in the house walls and ceiling. [b]Difficulties[/b] [list] [*] Avoiding rotations around the x- and y-axis (or assuring that every rotation happens around the tip of the print head exactly, but acheiving that seems unlikelily hard) The hanging part of the printer will be subject to forces from the filament and a power chord, and forces from the four wires will not always point in the same direction. All motors must have vertically aligned motor shafts, and accelerations will have to be really low [*] The special geometry imposes extra work on the math, writing the firmware (or gcode preprocessor) and possibly introducing hardware to help keep the xy-plane wires tight [*] Finding a reasonable home position without imposing lots of constraints on the print start process and/or the position of anchor points [/list] [b]Potential Rewards[/b] [list] [*] The most compact, easily printed, easily installed and easily distributed RepRap out there [*] Possibility to retract its strings and park close to the ceiling when not in use. Could make it popular where indoor area is scarce [*] Extreme print heights (> 1 m) [/list] I already have electronics, motors, power supply lying around, and 9 m of synchromesh cable is purchased. I just need some anchor points, a first version of the CAD and a gcode preprocessor (I'll start with 2d, no z-compensation) in order to try to draw my first open hardware logo. What do you guys think? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,344022#msg-344022 Sun, 08 Mar 2026 12:16:25 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,796314#msg-796314 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,796314#msg-796314
Sorry didn't see this before now because the thread is so old.

I actually have some friends building a Mechaduino-style closed loop stepper using esp32's. They're on early testing stages, and I don't think they've published anything. Esp32 is a really nice processor.

If you'd like to continue esp32 discussion, I suggest creating a new thread on the topic ;)]]> tobben Delta Machines Tue, 14 Nov 2017 07:27:09 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,760718#msg-760718 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,760718#msg-760718 espressif.com]

If you are moving away from steppers, you are probably going to move to a custom driver board instead of ramps, it should be easy to add the pads to attach something like this module to it as the brains.]]> dlang Delta Machines Thu, 06 Apr 2017 03:01:44 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,623330#msg-623330 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,623330#msg-623330
Clerck Assembly Manual v0.

Comments, improvements and builds welcome!]]> tobben Delta Machines Mon, 08 Feb 2016 10:00:26 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619954#msg-619954 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619954#msg-619954
The moment you decide to do a Clerck+Smoothie build, send be the board, and I'll help you as much as I can. Since you have the coding skills, chances of success are high :)]]> tobben Delta Machines Tue, 02 Feb 2016 07:42:11 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619916#msg-619916 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619916#msg-619916 arthurwolf Delta Machines Tue, 02 Feb 2016 06:32:39 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619914#msg-619914 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619914#msg-619914 tobben Delta Machines Tue, 02 Feb 2016 06:31:12 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619863#msg-619863 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619863#msg-619863
Quote
tobben
Thx =)

By the way, if you ever want to implement an arm solution for this machine-type into Smoothieware, I can send you a broken board ( with like a mosfet or ethernet not functional ) for free.]]> arthurwolf Delta Machines Tue, 02 Feb 2016 04:31:50 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619663#msg-619663 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619663#msg-619663 tobben Delta Machines Mon, 01 Feb 2016 17:45:56 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619358#msg-619358 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,619358#msg-619358 arthurwolf Delta Machines Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:44:51 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,603967#msg-603967 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,603967#msg-603967 There is much potential in this. (tu)]]> tusz Delta Machines Sun, 03 Jan 2016 10:42:24 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,597415#msg-597415 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,597415#msg-597415 tobben Delta Machines Wed, 16 Dec 2015 07:08:17 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,597395#msg-597395 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,597395#msg-597395 DjDemonD Delta Machines Wed, 16 Dec 2015 05:45:28 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,593952#msg-593952 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,593952#msg-593952 Vimeo and blog.

I see this concept as proven now, maybe I'll put on a smaller nozzle just to be able to comparable level of detail directly to other RepRaps. Final exams are getting close, so development will slow down again.]]> tobben Delta Machines Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:21:29 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,588348#msg-588348 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,588348#msg-588348
I've done some rough calculations on resulting forces and momentum if lighter Nema14 motors were used. My qualified guess from this is that hanging RepRaps with smaller motors are feasible, so I will try to go for smaller, cheaper more easily frameable in my next design.

I have a really patient wife who lets Clerck take over the kitchen for now, but in a months time I've got to dismount it.]]> tobben Delta Machines Tue, 24 Nov 2015 08:03:52 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,588148#msg-588148 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,588148#msg-588148 While some people are working at getting printers small enough for their desktop, you're pioneering in the other direction!

Maybe someday we'll have folks building Clercks in smaller frames on their desks. For those who can't dedicate a whole room to a 3D printer :)]]> maso Delta Machines Mon, 23 Nov 2015 17:06:34 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587852#msg-587852 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587852#msg-587852 tobben Delta Machines Mon, 23 Nov 2015 06:05:00 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587842#msg-587842 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587842#msg-587842 Linkreincarnate Delta Machines Mon, 23 Nov 2015 05:45:21 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587673#msg-587673 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587673#msg-587673 tobben Delta Machines Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:23:02 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587668#msg-587668 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587668#msg-587668 VDX Delta Machines Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:15:19 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587618#msg-587618 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,587618#msg-587618
video of print on vimeo
See blog for more explanations and stuff.

Does anyone have recommendations regarding driver chips?

I'm soldering on the drv8825s to put them in fast decay mode, like Quentin Harley does here. I would like to get rid of the soldering routine, but keep the smooth running and high current. Would this be achievable with for example SilentStepsticks?
]]> tobben Delta Machines Sun, 22 Nov 2015 15:59:42 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,559973#msg-559973 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,559973#msg-559973

:)(tu)
]]> tobben Delta Machines Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:38:01 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,559338#msg-559338 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,559338#msg-559338
It moves now. Lines tight and all (for a little while before it crashes into the floor). Check it out: Vimeo.]]> tobben Delta Machines Wed, 16 Sep 2015 18:51:07 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,557019#msg-557019 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,557019#msg-557019
That would reduce or maybe eliminate the need to maintain perfect tension.]]> Ezrec Delta Machines Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:27:24 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,556971#msg-556971 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,556971#msg-556971 Video

Looking forward to seeing what the prints are going to look like :P]]> tobben Delta Machines Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:29:56 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524407#msg-524407 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524407#msg-524407 VDX Delta Machines Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:39:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524403#msg-524403 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524403#msg-524403
I'm doing my masters thesis about Hangprinter! :) So we're rich in potential work hours =D

E3D have kindly sponsored the project by sending me a free Volcano power pack, a hobbed bolt and 2 kg of filament =D Big thank you to E3D!

I have put up some pics an comments over at [vitana.se]]]> tobben Delta Machines Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:19:35 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524397#msg-524397 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,524397#msg-524397 since we could use spiral torsion (constant force) springs for winding. Let's limit discussion to springs are made for one full rotation (360 degrees) or less (don't know about realism in this assumption, not my area of expertise). Since the spools on the hangprinter are limited to a ca 80 mm diameter, and we want the lines to be at least 2 m long, we need 8 full rotations. That is, we need to gear up the spring by a factor of 8.

The constant force we need can be approximated like this: If we want acceleration of 500 mm/s^2 when spring is at a 45 degree angle, and the printer weighs 2 kg, we get

F = sqrt(2)*2*0.5

Say F = 1.5 N for simplicity. The spring will need to exert a minimum torque of 8*1.5*0.04=0.48 Nm. Even doubling that to take reality into account sounds totally possible to me. Avoiding the assumptions about the springs and gearings, I imagine retractable dog leash strong enough to lift a mass of ca 300 g in a 2 m span to be entirely realistic.

Avoiding springs all together, weighs at the end of lines would be dead simple, dirt cheap and easy for experimenting with different weights...

To be honest, I'm surprised by these numbers and I'm a litte unsure what to do with it. I'm quite close to actually testing the first prototype now, with 5 motors. If the spring-solution still looks promising when I see the 5-motor protoype move (and test needed forces empirically), I might just try to build the 4-motor 1-spring version! Computational and economical gain seems quite obvious. If you want to try buliding the 4-motor 1-spring before I get the time, and want to fork/branch the repo, please do =) [github.com]

All the best!]]> tobben Delta Machines Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:07:08 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515364#msg-515364 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515364#msg-515364
The main one (I think) is that the printer wouldn't be able to accelerate quickly along the action line of the spring. The printer will be heavy because of all the motors onboard, so it will carry more momentum than for example the Sky Delta.

A smaller issue with a spring is that it would make imprecise firmware harder to detect (lines would never go slack if accelerations are always low). Another smaller issue is that tension would be different depending on position. To get closer to constant-force springs, we would probably use a very long rubber band and wind it many times around a pulley-system, like on the Sky Delta. Not a big issue, but maybe eating up some og the complexity gain from dropping a motor.

With all that said, I don't really know since I haven't tried. I will have to sit down and calculate how large force the spring must have to enable reasonable accelerations along its action line...]]> tobben Delta Machines Fri, 29 May 2015 19:56:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515192#msg-515192 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515192#msg-515192 VDX Delta Machines Fri, 29 May 2015 11:05:21 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515158#msg-515158 Re: Idea: A RepRap Hanging From the Ceiling https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?178,344022,515158#msg-515158 tobben Delta Machines Fri, 29 May 2015 09:35:49 -0400