Considering Delta Printer. What to look for?

Hello all,

I currently own a Prusa i3xl kit from DIY Techshop (no longer in business). It's a functional printer and has a nice practical build volume of about 160mm*140mm*150mm.

I've been reading about delta printers on an off since they started appearing on the wiki and kits started to appear in the market, but I haven't actively considering getting one until recently. For me, I like the fact that the build plate is stationary and that the print speeds are higher.

So I have some questions for everyone here:

1. If you have a delta printer, what do you like about it?
2. Which delta printer do you have? Is it pre-build or a kit?
3. What firmware do you use?
4. If you have a delta and a cartesian, which do you prefer and why?
5. What things do you find really frustrating about delta printers?

Thanks in advance!

1: Needed space on the Desk much less than cartesian for same build volume
2: ebay sintron (see Forum on this kit)
3: Marlin 1.1.0 RC3
4: - no cartesian
5: calibration, especially stability of endstop switches is a pain in the a** - Autocalibration did never work sufficiantly for me, and every 1-2 weeks I have to adjust M666-Command...

If I had the place an my desk I now would choose cartesian, but with my limmited space, Delta is quite OK. - Maybe some day in future I'll get a cartesian too...

1. Less space needed on desk, fewer different parts, all the electronics and the power supply under the bed, lower maintenance, retains its calibration better than my Cartesian printer, higher print speed, solid frame to hang things on e.g. filament spool holder and LCD touch panel.
2. Originally a Mini Kossel kit from Think3DPrint3D, but it gradually metamorphosed into the large delta i describe at [miscsolutions.wordpress.com]. I think the only parts left from the Mini Kossel now are the pulleys and the endstop switches.
3. RepRapFirmware 1.09r, which supports segmentation-free delta movement, 30-second least-squares autocalibration, and a web interface.
4. I prefer the delta because it's easier to use, faster, and has a larger print area. It's also more fun to watch. I mostly use the Cartesian printer to print delta parts when the delta is in pieces.
5. The same things that I also find frustrating with Cartesian printers, e.g. PLA filament going brittle and breaking if I leave it in the machine overnight.

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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].

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KD0SKH
some questions for everyone here:

1. If you have a delta printer, what do you like about it?
2. Which delta printer do you have? Is it pre-build or a kit?
3. What firmware do you use?
4. If you have a delta and a cartesian, which do you prefer and why?
5. What things do you find really frustrating about delta printers?

Thanks in advance!

1. Fast (lighter effector/no bed movement means higher speeds yield less speed-related artifacts). Stationary bed means calibration is needed very rarely. Motion is eye-catching--people want to watch it work. Easy maintenance.
2. Neither. Self-built, heavily modified, based on Cherry Pi III. Currently working on a flying extruder mod.
3. Smoothie Edge, running on AZSMZ board. But I was perhaps more pleased with Marlin on RAMPS.
4. Delta, due to speed, maintenance, and demonstration value.
5. Never liked auto-cal. I don't trust the math involved and it's often not perfect, so I just do it manually. Also, different firmware seems to yield more or less-pronounced "moire" pattern. Was least pronounced for me on Marlin on RAMPS, but I'm still looking. And I could see if someone was used to direct-drive, they might find bowden extrusion challenging.

I think initial set-up on a delta can be tougher for someone who's not motivated. There are more factors that have to come together to make it work at first (steps per mm, arm length, radius, etc) but once they're settled everything works really well.

1. If you have a delta printer, what do you like about it?

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Easy to put together, bed is stationary.

2. Which delta printer do you have? Is it pre-build or a kit?

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I have a Rostock Mini Pro kit from 3D Printer Czar that I have since upgraded to an E3D v6 hot end from the cheap chinese J-head clone that came with it and added an FSR leveling kit from Utlibots. I also have a 170mm heated bed I have been planning to add for the occasional printing in ABS and just purchased a 32-bit Duet 0.85 to replace my 8-bit RAMPS board.

3. What firmware do you use?

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Currently using Rich Cattel's testing branch of Marlin 1.02 (?) for the auto-calibration routine. Will move to DC42's RepRap Firmware once I upgrade the controller.

4. If you have a delta and a cartesian, which do you prefer and why?

5. What things do you find really frustrating about delta printers?

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Calibration. Issues when trying to use 12864 LCD panel with 8-bit board on a delta printer. Calibration. Support for Rostock Mini in a Kossel Mini world. Did I mention calibration?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2016 02:32PM by Kurzaa.

1. If you have a delta printer, what do you like about it?
   Simple easy construction, fun to watch.
2. Which delta printer do you have? Is it pre-build or a kit?
   Kit - Ultibots V-Slot 250
3. What firmware do you use?
   Started with Marlin on RAMPS High Power version, moved to Smoothie on AZSMZ Mini, now moving to RepRap on Duet (DC42 branch)
4. If you have a delta and a cartesian, which do you prefer and why?
   Started with Delta.
5. What things do you find really frustrating about delta printers?
   Calibration, Calibration, Calibration.

I have had some issues with my build and the FSR that taint my opinion of calibrations. Of the three firmware's I've experimented with I think RepRap on the Duet offers the best user experience in operation. As far as setup complication I'd rate them from hardest to easiest Marlin -> RepRap -> Smoothie. Once you get the RepRap firmware setup I think it's the easiest for day to day operation. For a Delta I recommend staying away from the 8-bit boards due to all the complexities in tuning them to get a good setup. For Delta's the 32-bit world makes life much easier. The Ultibots V-Slot 250 now comes with the Azteeg X5/Smoothie (when I got it, it had RAMPS/Marlin) and is a great kit with everything needed except filament. They also sell FSR upgrades. Most people have had no problems with the stock FSR setup but I did. When it worked it was great, mine just has been flaky (I'm in the process of redoing that).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2016 04:35PM by WZ9V.

1. Simple in concept to build and I like the motion.
2. Custom, no kit
3. Smoothie at first, switched to reprapfirmware
4. No cartesian printers, but I have plenty of cartesian robots.
5. Nothing that wouldn't be an issue on any other printer.

Deltas are less forgiving in general, and less tolerant of sloppy calibrations than a Cartesian. I have lots of tools t build and measure that most folks don't, so for me it's easier, and I thing a great many people lean too hard on "auto calibration" to "fix" a poor build. In my opinion (only mine, others disagree) if you don't know what a micrometer, caliper and dial indicator are and how to use them, your results will not be the best they can be.

1. Large build volume compared to foot-print;
Bed stays still
Easy access to build bed
Fast printing (print moves are same speed as Cartesian but non-print moves are blindingly fast)
Just bloody cool to watch in action!

2. First one (now in pieces) was a mini-Kossel kit. Latest one is a Rostock Max V2 from SeeMeCNC, kit.
Prusa i3 in between, scratch built.

3. mini-Kossel was Repetier Firmware. Rostock Max uses SeeMeCNC version of Repetier Firmware.

4. Definitely the delta for all the reasons listed in #1.

5. At first firmware and building advice was hard to find for deltas but that has changed considerably.
Calibration was hard to do, and keep, on the mini-Kossel. However the Rostock is a much better, more solid
machine in every way so calibration (manually) for it has been straight-forward, reliable and consistent.

What controller are you using? Can the rep rap firmware be used with AZSMZ mini or Mega2560 solution like MKS mini?