3D printer design using a Stewart platform

Has there been much work on building 3D printers using Stewart platforms? I'm thinking that this could be a good way forward for 3D printer design. What I think is needed is a low-cost design for a stepper-motor-driven linear actuator, or a design using a linear motor (I know something about these from way back) along with position-sensing feedback. Either way, cheap enough to be able to afford 6 of them. The rest of the printer construction would be fairly trivial, just one or more hot ends and extruder drives to an existing design (probably direct drive instead of Bowden), and a sturdy frame.

I found this video [www.youtube.com] but it moves the head rather than the bed. If the bed were moved instead, overhangs would be easier to print.

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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].

... as with the step from cartesian to delta systems, it's again more a matter of available controlling software, if/when this will pop up in counts.

Actually a 3+2-axes concept (a pan-tilt-table under a cartesian frame) is much easier to build and program ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

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VDX
... as with the step from cartesian to delta systems, it's again more a matter of available controlling software, if/when this will pop up in counts.

I need a new software challenge, now that I have nearly finished implementing delta movement algorithms precisely in the firmware for the Duet electronics! But I don't feel competent to do the mechanical design for a Stewart platform. OTOH I know how to build linear motors, and there are low-cost linear position sensing transducers available, such as the ones used in digital calipers.

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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].

... look here for some simpler comercial concepts - [www.physikinstrumente.com]

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I was going to post that the Yazzo PolyBot might be worth a more current look, in light of 32-bit processors:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7554

...but then a link to this popped up at the end of the YouTube video:

https://sites.google.com/site/volksrobot/home

Will the Duet have support for both by the end of February?????

Quote
vreihen
I was going to post that the Yazzo PolyBot might be worth a more current look, in light of 32-bit processors:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7554

...but then a link to this popped up at the end of the YouTube video:

https://sites.google.com/site/volksrobot/home

Will the Duet have support for both by the end of February?????

If you want to look at traditional delta designs, have a look at what I've been working on [hackaday.io]
EDIT: oh and of course, the original inspiration: [hackaday.io]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2015 09:36PM by TTN.