RepRap 3DR Delta printer Released

I am final stages of my 3DR build and as a first timer I would like to ask if you have any hints, tips or recommendations on how to go about mounting the extruder and bowden tube? I have used alu square tubing so I have to drill holes to mount it, hopefully only once. I got the spacer tip. Should it be high, low or in the middle? I assume it is best to have as short as possible tube but how short is to short?
Thanks!

I wouldn't worry too much... if you look at it really seriously, the extruder is almost ALWAYS placed in the wrong place ;-)

On my 3DR the tube starts slightly above the middle of the aluminum extrusion.

Ok I see Thanks

I have mounted my aluhotend below the platform instead of above (to have room for a fan). This approach eats valuable Z-length so I will try to rework it soon.

how do you get rid of this seam line ?

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ekaggrat
how do you get rid of this seam line ?

What slicer are you using? For Slic3r, you can try "Randomize starting points" (bottom of page, here).

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How much does it cost to build this?

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landsharkxx
How much does it cost to build this?

You just might be able to build one of these for around $450. The cost is going to vary from person to person, as everyone makes different choices on where to source components, what components to use, and where to cut corners (or not).

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HI,

is it possible to just make the printer higher ? I mean i have some 100cm rods here, could i just scale it higher without any issues ?
I already did it a little big bigger in size but not proportional.

Could this led to any issues ?



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I am sorry i posted this question in another thread by accident.

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TheCrey
is it possible to just make the printer higher ? I mean i have some 100cm rods here, could i just scale it higher without any issues ?

RichRap's blog has your answer:

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RichRap
"Is 3DR scale-able?" Yes, easy to go taller, just needs some thought about rod length. To go wider you will need to consider rod sizes. I always intended to be able to insert another printed part (spacer) and a new bigger middle triangle to get an overall bigger build area with the same parts. I actually wondered about keeping the size smaller to start with and doing extensions that could be printed out in order for it to be able to self reproduce, but that was getting messy.

And to the person who asked me if it's possible to make a Delta printer 3 Meters tall - YES!, Oh yes!, you can and if you build one (or want me to make you one) - please let me know

The only consideration is that you may have stiffness problems if you make it too tall. Theoretically the height isn't constrained, though you may have to reduce print speed to reduce printer wobble at taller heights.

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Help improve the RepRap wiki! Just click "Edit" in the top-right corner of the page and start typing. Anyone can edit the wiki!

Oh yeah... i read it about thousand times... sorry

I am not planing to go so high, but i don't want to cut off the nice rods

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HaDe
How's your 3DR doing? Have you found points and/or solutions for improvements? I still would like to increase frame stiffness, but have no idea how to get real improvements without a major redesign. The main flex appears to be in the top & bottom printed parts.

It is printing...

[youtu.be]

I had to change somethings. Now running with belt and alu puley. I think it s better than printed parts. Maintenance is also easier than fishing lines. I am also using heated bed...but I think i will not need it anymore since I have discovered the magic of the UHU Stick....(glue stick).

The RAMPS board i have is not delevering 12 V but 5 V, I don t know why. The RAMPS from repradiscount delivered 12 V at the fan port on the board.

Now I am trying to figure out how to add autolevel with Force Sensing Resistors to the system....

[www.youtube.com]

I have learned a lot about the delta and it was a fun to build the 3DR.

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video of my 3DR

Thanks for the update... looks fine!! Glad you to see you enjoy the 3DR as much as I do.

Well, I also got into the FSR craze ;-) and have the FSRs (actually the smaller version with short leads) here ready to be integrated... but actually, as the bed levelling on my 3DR appears to be quite good and stable already, I'd rather spend my time designing my next printer - a corexy setup from which I don't expect better printing quality (which is already *very* good on the 3DR) but a platform for experimenting with different kind of extruders etc.

Hey guys, first post here!

I updated (partially) CidVillas' BOM. Any reason why use steel 6mm rods over stainless 6mm rods such as: [www.mcmaster.com]

I'm considering building the 3DR, but it does seem quite daunting for my printer, not to mention where to source the plastic parts.

Can anyone tell me whats the print dimensions? 170mm for the bed and 200mm height? Would you guys recommend the 3dczar/Makerfarm Prusa i3 over this build? Or heck even John's "Simple" 3DR? Thanks.

Hi,
I also would like to share with you my progress on my 3DR build with extension in order to increase the printable radious and that had problems with vibration (not related with the increase in size, read about the problems I had in previous post of this same topic if you are curious or interested).
So, I finally solved the vibration problems switching to Repetier firmware, I don't know if the Marlin configuration that I had was wrong (I don't think so because I used the Richrap one) or it was other thing but the truth is that it has been a huge improvement still with the Repetier default settings. My guess is that Repetier handles better the curved movements (I had checked that in Marlin prints it tended to vibrate much more in curved movements).

Has any of you tried with that firmware?

Now I'm starting to fine tune it and trying to activate the features I liked in Marlin (such as newest SD card files sorted from top to bottom, starting screen with my desired image an so on...)

>> Has any of you tried with that firmware? <<

Yes - but that was last November I think, and I definitely didn't notice any improvement in print quality or perceived smoothness of operation, but alas experienced the common problem of longer builds stopping at random positions after 2, 3 hours, so I switched back to Marlin. I understand that this problem has been taken care of in the meantime so I plan to try Repetier FW again some time.

I am using Repetier as firmware and host software from the begining. I had also that described problem (stopping at random positions) but I couldn t track it down, because it happens very seldom...I don t think it has to do with overheating the printer, sometimes the printer runs the whole day without any problem. I think it has to do with the electronic....buffer overrun that produce a "freezing"? We had such problems some years ago with CD-Burner in the past...

I have started to migrate my old Uventorbot to delta printer...I am missing a calculator like prusa calculator to decide which lengths to use for the diagonal rods and to know what is the minimum high the printer should have. I have 8mm Smooth Rods that are 270 mm and I need to know which would be than the maximum high. Are there any formula out there, that helps designing Delta printers?

Update: I found one, but it does not work, not on windows + explorer nor on ubuntu + firefox :-(

[sites.google.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2014 01:15PM by zacbot.

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video of my 3DR

The basic rule of thumb is a 1:2 ratio, radius of build plate : arm length.

So if you have 6 inch radius the arm length will be best at 12 inches
This allows for the largest build volume and will achieve the most circular of build areas, as this ratio veers away from the 1:2 ratio in either aspect the more triangular the build area becomes
The overall height simply needs to be the arm length plus the size of the build volume you want so if you want a build area of a basic cylinder shape with a 6" radius base and a 15" height then your height would be the 15" plus the 12" for the arm plus any added height to accommodate the base you want so with 6"added for to be the base area you would have an overall length of 33" vertical support pieces, if the pieces go through the base entirely(not compensating for height loss due to addition of brackets and parts required for stabilty)

I currently am constructing one that is fairly large
9" radius
18" arms
66" vertical support(extruded aluminum tslot)
with a 8" base might be 6" not sure yet
so I will have base on the 8" base a build (based on a cylindrical build area)
V = π * r^2 * h
or V = 3.14 * 81 * (66-15.58-8)
or V = 3.14 * 81 * 42.42
or V = 10789 cubic inches
not quite circular so a bit less

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2014 01:44AM by tesseract.

Many thanks for the help.

So if I understand, it means the arm length should be at least equal to the the circumference of the circle print area (the bed).

But how to explain Richrap 3DR has 170 mm bed circumference and in the firmware the arm is 153 mm?

And what is the arm length? Are all the joints included, or is it mean from center to center of the screw ?

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video of my 3DR

No the arm length should be "about" double the RADIUS of the circular build plate that is for optimum design.
Think of it this way take the position of the arm where it mounts to the vertical piece and make a line straight down where this line meets the build plate is the end point of the radius measurement
the start of course is the center of the circular build plate. Double this number and that is the arm length. It ends up being the hypotenuse of a right triangle. So the radius is the short side of the triangle the arm length is the hypotenuse and the height is where the hypotenuse intersects the vertical line that gave you the end point of the radius.

This height is also the dead area that you need to add to your desired build area plus the base size to determine the overall height of your printer

Hi,

Thanks again for your help.

>>Think of it this way take the position of the arm where it mounts to the vertical piece and make a line straight down where this line meets the build plate is the end point of the radius measurement the start of course is the center of the circular build plate.

You mean like described on this picture?



But as you see, the start is not the center of the circular build plate. I played with it in Solidworks and came out with this:



The start point is (in the above case for the Rostock) 33.5 mm away from the center...And diagonal Rod had to be 246 to have the optimal angel of 30 degrees... I think it was just rounded to 250 mm.

By the way, this value of 33 mm is also in the 3DR firmware, so I took the one from John, which is the same as Rich and took the measure:



Now, I know that the offset of the reflector is for the Rostock 33 mm and for 3DR 23 mm. So what is the distance left...the radius of the 3DR?



The horizontal distance from the center of the 3DR to the screw of ball on the carriage is 90 mm. Minus 23 mm reflector offset = 67 mm (the raidus of 3DR)

The optimal length of the diagonal rod would be: 134 mm



What do you think, is this correct ?? And what is the difference between optimal length of the rod and not optimal. I mean in my case, I have 150 mm rods and others have 153 mm but the calculation recommends 134 mm. So what? What is the impact on the print or calibration ? All I can see is the change of the angle...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2014 08:06PM by zacbot.

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video of my 3DR

From what I have seen from a while back was to the center of the build plate but others may have it setup differently.
The motion of the arms is what will determine the build shape of the base of the build area volume a 1:2 was said to get you the optimum build size and as you veer away from it it will change the shape to a more triangular shape reducing the build volume. This should be the only casualty print quality should not be affected.

Thanks to Richrap, my printer is alive.

I tried to put FSR to put to the bed.
Connected first only 1 FSR to Heatbed Tempsensor.
Installed the Marlin FSR branch.
Used Pronterface as host.
putting G29 command to g-code startup

Thanks also to Johann Rocholl
http://reprap.org/wiki/FSR


Works fine, see video.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0f_LnsO5II6MUYwMmYwdzRzQTg/edit?usp=sharing

Has anyone a good idea how to fix the FSR under the print bed ?

I'm curious if double sided adhesive tape applied to the top and bottom of the FSR would work.

Neoprene Rubber (not foam). This seems to have the proper flexibility and lack of compression.
[www.thingiverse.com]

Force Sensitive Resistors (FSRs)
[www.openmusiclabs.com]

FSR Guide
[www.openmusiclabs.com]

Autolevel with Force Sensing Resistors works better than expected
[groups.google.com]

Thanks for the links. Now I see how it works...I have completely misunderstood FSR.

What I thought was...that this sensor produce a kind of electrical or magnetic field when fixed on the print platform and as the hotend touch the plate, the sensor detect the change in the field without any physical contact... something like this [en.wikipedia.org]

So this thing is mechanical and works only with Marlin and it needs extra supports so the mechanic can work and 3 sensors are needed...Hmmm it means a lot of work and more money.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2014 01:13PM by zacbot.

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video of my 3DR

It worked also with only one FSR. But on 3 feets it's more stable then on one.
It's also for sure easier to install as a servo.
The only thing is to fix the plate so that its's fixed in x/y and can a little bit move in Z.
The costs are around 9,09€ * 3 if you use this ones
[www.conrad.at]

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Self-adhesive sensor surface.

[www.conrad.at]

Conrad uses adhesive.

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Romank
It worked also with only one FSR.

Got a link.

Preview of my 3DR “Simple” modified....I need much longer smooth rods and I want to put the electronic in the base...but don t know yet how....

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video of my 3DR

Hi guys,

I am super excited to announce that I am joining the world of 3D printing and have started my own 3DR build!

You may be hearing from me soon with plenty of novice questions.

Cheers
Matt

[in3dimensions.blogspot.com]

Finally i found a easy way to fix the FSR's to
3DR. used a metal-plate (side panel from a old computer.)
fixed it to ground base
glued FSR with double sided tape to it.
used Magnetic stand off to fix the glass.
Had to use some M8 nuts over the FSR. otherwise they did not work.