PSU for micro sized delta printer

Okay so I'm thinking about/designing a micro sized delta printer. Planning to use ramps/arduino initially, but might switch to something else later if I can find a small enough controller - ramps/mega for all its faults is a small board, and a 40W silicone bed heater for a 100mm circular bed (0.5W/sq cm).

How many watts do you reckon I need to specify for a 12v PSU? Bed heater is around 3A, hot end heater is around 2A, 3xnema 14 motors for movement and 1xnema 14 motor for extruder.

I'd ideally like to be able to fit the PSU into the frame which is pretty small. The equilateral triangle base section has a side length of just 175mm? Some laptop style PSU's will fit but it will depend on the power required?

120w?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2016 09:05AM by DjDemonD.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

It looks like you have this roughly sorted out.

If you get a cheap PSU, over-spec it by at least 30%. If it's brand-name, you can cut it closer.

One strategy would be to separate the PSU. Put a female barrel jack on the printer and just plug it in like you would a laptop. Yes, this adds a separate piece, but it's not too hard to move and it gives a very professional feel.

Thanks, this is what I figured. I might measure the current draw on one of my other printers, minus the bed and see what the min-max is under different conditions. Its a larger machine but it will give me an idea what 4 motors/hot end and ramps/mega need.

Initially I hoped to contain everything in the very small frame, part of the design ethos for this machine is that it would be neat and have a very small footprint, but I agree a PSU under the desk would be okay. It would also mean only needing two vertical sections, one at the base for the controller, and then one at the top for the motors.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

You may find [duet3d.com] helpful in working out the power requirement. If you are using RAMPS/Mega (ugh!), the Arduino Mega draws about 90mA and the RAMPS draws almost nothing until you connect motors/fans/heaters/LCDs etc. to it.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2016 01:28PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Hi David, thanks for the link, as you know I am fully sold on DuetWifi, but this machine I'm designing is going to be very small, I can't actually fit a ramps/mega into the casing without the corners sticking out of the sides and that's a small board, so a Duet board is just physically too large. Are you planning to miniaturise it any time soon?

I would have the electronics in a separate box but the brief here is a tiny self contained delta printer with PSU, motors, electronics and if I can package it bowden extruder within the frame.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2016 12:30PM by DjDemonD.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Out_of_box thinking, I'd use a 11.1-14.8V Lithium battery that fits the frame. Adds the "portable" feature to the "pro" side. ( IMHO there are enough "con's" already )

Sounds appealing I've got loads of lipos. I appreciate this will be a challenge but that's why I'm doing it.

The issue there is that at nominal charge 3.7 x 3 = 11.1v not really ideal,
4 x 3.7v = 14,8v, more like it. But at full charge this would be 16.8v and at minimum charge 13.2v unless I have a fairly beefy regulator of some sort.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2016 07:32AM by DjDemonD.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Sounds like a really interesting project, I hope you'll keep us up to date as it progresses!

Will do once I've got one together and proved that it works I'll do a full write up.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions