I am a newbie when it comes to designing 3D printers, so I'd like to hear some suggestions from the experienced.
I started a project on designing and building a big 500x500 build area CoreXY 3D printer with the intent of mostly building it for myself. But I will work on improvements and fixes along the way and in the end publish it on Thingiverse. So having a design that everyone can build is definitely a part of what I'm aiming for.
The printer has a 720x740mm footprint, and it uses 2040 extrusions for the most part. Most the corners and joints will be mounted using blind joints and then braced with both corner brackets and plates for the maximum rigidity in those joints, though it's not shown in the pictures.
The goal is to have a printer that is capable of both printing big parts using big nozzles and small parts using small nozzles (with quick-change x-carriage) at a decent speed (100mm/s). Ringing is definitely something I want to minimize with a printer this big, so having a rigid frame and wide belts is important.
I would like to hear some thoughts on the design of the frame. Do I need to upgrade to 4040 extrusions or is this current design going to be rigid enough? What improvements can be made to make the frame more rigid?
I have already designed most of the basic parts required for the printer to function, so I'd prefer to keep the current frame profile if possible, and adding reinforcements may be better than redesigning all the parts touching the extrusions.
(the pictures attached have the frame isolated, but the X and Z gantry extrusions are also included)
Thanks!
PS: the four 2020 extrusions I put at the bottom are partly for mounting electronics, but It'd be interesting to hear if they would stop any shearing in the frame.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2020 03:24AM by CrazyBlackStone.