print size help

i have a massive motorcycle hobby and one paticular bike needs engine parts i hope i am going the right route and i am planning to build a bigger printer to print engine parts to use as patterns to cast the cylinder 13" square and crank cases 13 x 6 x 8

can anyone help dont be afraid to throw your hat in the ring

i would like to build it myself for gratification !

We built a 3D printer with double the X Y dimensions (So 400x400x180mm).

A rough estimate of the cost was about 1200 GBP.

Main points are;

You'll need a big heated bed. A place on Ebay sells 400x400 Silicon heater pads, which use mains and a thermocouple, so you can plug this into a cheap chinese temperature controller for a heated bed.
RepRapWorld also sell their own borosilicate glass at 400x400mm. But that might not be big enough. They do custom sizes for the pads.

You're best off printing some of these PHA or Copolymer blends to reduce the warping on a size that big. A chamber would also be good.

Aluminium extrusions are your friend.

Alternatively just print it in sections on a smaller 3d printer, glue it together (Wood glue works okay for PLA), and use car filler and lots of sanding to make a nice smooth object. This is how they do it in the industry.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2016 04:48PM by Mitch.

Since the plastic won't have to be especially strong and precision not top notch (I am assuming that the casted part will be machined)

Why not print several plastic parts and mount together?

Just a thought...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2016 04:55PM by fotomas.

There are lots of threads about building large printers in the other forums, e.g. General and RepRappers. I suggest you start by reading those threads, then start a new thread there with your questions. But here are my suggestions:

- Large beds moving in the X or Y direction are best avoided, so you probably want a CoreXY or Delta printer

- The general advice is that the best way of ensuring that a large bed is flat enough is to use a cast aluminium tool plate, with or without glass on top

- Use an AC mains voltage silicone heater to heat the bed plate, controlled by a DC-AC SSR from the Duet or other electronics

- Prints as large as that will take a long time to complete. Depending on the resolution you want, you may be able to use a larger nozzle e.g. e3d volcano to speed it up

See link in my signature for info on my large delta build, but it's too small for you unless you scale some parts of it up by 50%.

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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].

thanks for the help everyone and advice i need to source the frame now ? is there anywhere i can get extrusion ? in any length

In the EU you can try [www.motedis.com]

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Slicer: Simplify3D 4.0; sometimes CraftWare 1.14 or Cura 2.7
Delta with Duet-WiFi, FW: 1.20.1RC2; mini-sensor board by dc42 for auto-leveling
Ormerod common modifications: Mini-sensor board by dc42, aluminum X-arm, 0.4 mm nozzle E3D like, 2nd fan, Z stepper nut M5 x 15, Herringbone gears, Z-axis bearing at top, spring loaded extruder with pneumatic fitting, Y belt axis tensioner
Ormerod 2: FW: 1.19-dc42 on Duet-WiFi. own build, modifications: GT2-belts, silicone heat-bed, different motors and so on. Printed parts: bed support, (PSU holder) and Y-feet.
Ormerod 1: FW: 1.15c-dc42 on 1k Duet-Board. Modifications: Aluminium bed-support, (nearly) all parts reprinted in PLA/ ABS, and so on.

In UK you could try [www.metallin.co.uk]

Dave