[Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? Just a quick 1am thought, If you were to add another set of arms, to the same controlled central rotating pipes but 180deg out of phase on a morgan, you could then have another bed, hotend etc. The extra set of arms would then move identically to the opposite set, allowing you to print 2 of the same object at the same time. You just need to add temp control for the hotend. This might be useful in fast scale replication situation. It may be possible to have 3x arm sets at 120deg and print 3-up. I've probably just overlooked some glaring issue with this idea, but thought I should post it anyway and see what people think. Sanjay https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224460#msg-224460 Fri, 09 Oct 2026 21:40:41 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,480227#msg-480227 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,480227#msg-480227
I feel like it's almost Mad Science time.]]> RamDragon Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 06 Mar 2015 15:55:47 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,480210#msg-480210 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,480210#msg-480210 RamDragon Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 06 Mar 2015 15:34:03 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,470486#msg-470486 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,470486#msg-470486
Quote
maboo
Why so complicated? You can print out a dozen parts at the same time if you use a plate with a dozen extruders all in one head.with the appropriate distance to each other. they often have 6 or more tools in one head .

I'd argue that a significant problem with that approach is that it is not generalizable. What happens if you need to print 6 15x100mm objects one day, and five 18x100mm objects the next day? The three-bed or solution will get you 3x the productivity, (number of prints produced per unit time,) regardless of whether the prints are small dice or large skulls. Those PCB drilling rigs are set up to manage the same-size master-board day in and day out.

Starting from Morgan as it exists today, one could get by with only THREE modified parts - the Psi and Theta A arms, (becoming three-pointed stars,) and a similar part to lift 3 Z-bed mounting brackets. And I think you'd want a different shape of supporting structure - the thought of TWELVE of the angled pvc legs in one structure makes my head swim.]]> MacMarty Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 13 Feb 2015 17:48:02 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250716#msg-250716 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250716#msg-250716 -------------------------------------------------------
> Worse case scenario, it is hard to operate but I get some of the coolest 3D printing footage known to man.

Going to the moon was very hard, but the video of the Earthrise was to die for. ::o]]> see3d Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Tue, 01 Oct 2013 21:28:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250553#msg-250553 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250553#msg-250553
BTW, My plan is to have manual adjustment for leveling each bed since I can't do it virtually with the multiple heads. If one quadrant fails, I can pull the power for the hot things and the filament drive to keep from wasting plastic.

Worse case scenario, it is hard to operate but I get some of the coolest 3D printing footage known to man.]]> nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Tue, 01 Oct 2013 13:04:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250540#msg-250540 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,250540#msg-250540 -------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, crazy idea time - what if the multi-Morgan had
> one station with a fixed platform (not attached to
> the Z mechanism like the rest), and an optical
> mouse sensor instead of a hot end? With a printed
> grid taped to the fixed platform, it could
> accurately determine its X/Y position via the
> sensor, independent of motor steps. It wouldn't
> even need stepper motors at all for X/Y, you could
> use much cheaper/easier to drive DC motors, with a
> servo loop in software.
>
> The idea could be applied to a single-station
> printer, too - mouse sensor would be mounted
> directly above the hot end, facing upwards, with
> the "mouse pad" being a ceiling on the printer.
> The arms could be made a lot thinner than a Morgan
> normally needs, if the head was spring-loaded
> upwards so that the sensor rides on the ceiling
> (which just needs to be made perfectly parallel
> with the print bed).

Mouse sensors would not be enough, they have a hard wired rudimentary DSP and the native video resolution is poor at 16x16 to perhaps 64x64 pixels. They might work on the Bamboo Printer [reprap.org] because it still maintains rectilinear motion (even though each actuator swings it through an arc). It could be done with a dedicated camera (USB web cam perhaps) and a bit more processing power to calculate the exact position from the 'map' image. The double hinge tool pivot that was originally considered on the Wally would have maintained the head in rectilinear motion.

The filament feed would have to come from the side if the sensor was above an only arm as well.

Also there are limits to how much one needs to economise on a production printer. If you have enough work for it to print 4 identical parts then it is often faster to clone the printer a few times and pool them. Maintaining a tricky fussy 4 head machine for production does not sound appealing to me, any failure mode will only involve one printer while repairs are taking place.

The thought of having a second set of opposite arms on the Morgan just for cantilever balancing does appeal to me though I would just put a weight there so there are no tipping forces on the framework rather than trying to calibrate multiple heads and beds together. It is not really required as the Z-axis is used to dynamically zero the bed at all points.]]> KalleP Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Tue, 01 Oct 2013 12:48:02 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,248381#msg-248381 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,248381#msg-248381 nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Tue, 24 Sep 2013 18:32:36 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,246651#msg-246651 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,246651#msg-246651
The idea could be applied to a single-station printer, too - mouse sensor would be mounted directly above the hot end, facing upwards, with the "mouse pad" being a ceiling on the printer. The arms could be made a lot thinner than a Morgan normally needs, if the head was spring-loaded upwards so that the sensor rides on the ceiling (which just needs to be made perfectly parallel with the print bed).]]> jasonharper Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Thu, 19 Sep 2013 01:07:37 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,239039#msg-239039 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,239039#msg-239039 nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 23 Aug 2013 20:08:31 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,239038#msg-239038 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,239038#msg-239038 maboo Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 23 Aug 2013 20:05:46 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,232189#msg-232189 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,232189#msg-232189
The z will pull all up at one. Each side will have a spring loaded platform for independent adjustments.

The filament drive will have a long shaft that has been hobbed 4 times.

If a quadrant messes up you can keep running by releasing the idler for that quadrant and then turning that hot end and heated bed off. I think I will keep all the temp control separate from the controller board. I will have 8 knobs connected to some simple pwm circuitry.

Homing is going to be manual. You push the hot end all the way in or pull it all the way out and then rotate the arms to be centered on a platform. You also push the beds to the bottom position. You only have to do this once while it is being continuously powered. That could be months between homings. I will build in a larger than normal factor of safety so the chance of skipping steps will be relegated to the occasional cosmic ray instead of the occasional bump. With 4 heads that only need to go 60mm/s that should not be a problem.]]> nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 02 Aug 2013 16:39:22 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,232184#msg-232184 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,232184#msg-232184 AJdoodler Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 02 Aug 2013 16:22:56 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224690#msg-224690 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224690#msg-224690 nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 21:46:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224668#msg-224668 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224668#msg-224668 see3d Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 18:13:58 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224599#msg-224599 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224599#msg-224599
I did this as a joke but I think it has value. I am officially crazy.

YOUTUBE CANDY!


]]> nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 11:24:38 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224501#msg-224501 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224501#msg-224501 woo Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 02:03:00 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224498#msg-224498 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224498#msg-224498
YOUTUBE CANDY!


]]> nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:36:52 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224493#msg-224493 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224493#msg-224493
i like polar bots a lot, but from engeneering pow it would be much easier to set up relular cartesian machine with wider X axis and 3-4-5 extruders on it.

you can try put additional extruder on mednel 100 mm x offset and 2 additional y offset 100 mm for try, then you have 4 prints with 100 x 100 mm base.


about 3 set of arms...yes, but not in same Z height., because when arms are in near of tower they are very wide, depends how close is heatbed to tower...]]> woo Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:04:02 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224486#msg-224486 Re: [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224486#msg-224486
I was hoping that 4 could be done at the same time with the elbow joints shared but some mental math shot that idea down. 3 without shared elbows would probably be the coolest machine on earth. I might mock that up for grins.

You can also use standard electronics for this because all the extruders could be slaved together mechanically. Three printers for the price of one.

Keep up the crazy ideas!]]> nicholas.seward Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Sat, 06 Jul 2013 00:31:08 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224460#msg-224460 [Idea?] Can a Scara bot print 2 or more identical parts at the same time? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?185,224460,224460#msg-224460
If you were to add another set of arms, to the same controlled central rotating pipes but 180deg out of phase on a morgan, you could then have another bed, hotend etc. The extra set of arms would then move identically to the opposite set, allowing you to print 2 of the same object at the same time. You just need to add temp control for the hotend.

This might be useful in fast scale replication situation. It may be possible to have 3x arm sets at 120deg and print 3-up.

I've probably just overlooked some glaring issue with this idea, but thought I should post it anyway and see what people think.

Sanjay]]> SanjayM Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms Fri, 05 Jul 2013 20:02:19 -0400