Sourcing hardware

Maybe off-topic, but I know that a few people are, like myself, looking at designing & building a printer. I was looking at the possibility of using V-slots and wheels instead of ground rods and linear bearings for the axis runners of a coreXY design, and came across this UK website that appears to be a very good source for most of the hardware needed to build your own design, modify or find replacement parts for an existing printer. Having a single source for all the hardware (extrusions, belts, pulleys, fasteners, drive electronics, motors etc.) makes life a little easier.

[ooznest.co.uk]

I have not tried it nor have I any vested interest, just passing on something I found while searching the web. The prices do not look unreasonable.

Dave

David, thanks for that, it looks a useful site if a little pricey.

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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].

Quote
dmould
Maybe off-topic, but I know that a few people are, like myself, looking at designing & building a printer. I was looking at the possibility of using V-slots and wheels instead of ground rods and linear bearings for the axis runners of a coreXY design, and came across this UK website that appears to be a very good source for most of the hardware needed to build your own design, modify or find replacement parts for an existing printer. Having a single source for all the hardware (extrusions, belts, pulleys, fasteners, drive electronics, motors etc.) makes life a little easier.

[ooznest.co.uk]

I have not tried it nor have I any vested interest, just passing on something I found while searching the web. The prices do not look unreasonable.

Dave

I have used them for the mini Vee Wheels at £3 ea but the openbuild extrusion is very expensive when compared to Motedis.co.uk (Not exactly Vee Groove but it does work with the wheels I have them on both my Delts and CoreXY Builds)
other usefull company is [www.dold-mechatronik.de] especially if you want smooth rods or Trapezoidal leadscrews (you may need to use google translate mind tho the owner does speak good english) for example 1 mtr length's of tr10x2 is 6.70 euro a piece

Motedis also have some very nice ancillary hardware for there extrusion's and they go to 45x45 profile.

HTH

Doug

Yes, I see there are cheaper sites, though it may be better to use a V profile for the runners when building from scratch rather than a profile that is not specifically designed to match the wheels. I suspect that the correct section would be cheaper if bought from a manufacturer (if you can find it listed). However it is often worth paying a bit extra for the convenience of a one-stop shop (and you usually save a bit on the shipping cost to offset the higher price). There are all sorts of things to juggle - what parts could be printed without compromising the strength and accuracy overly much, what machining to outsource and what to do yourself which is connected with what tools to invest in. I'm presently seriously tempted by a combination milling machine & lathe (I don't have either) which is a fairly hefty outlay but I could probably justify it with a little imagination! [www.amazon.co.uk] But then there's the cost of the tools and other stuff that go with it to consider.

I've looked at CNC machines (which I'd prefer), but the affordable ones are very small and don't look particularly strong, so I think it is going to be a chicken-and-egg situation and I'll need to build my own. I did come across a very beefy second-hand CNC machine from a factory sale that I could just about have afforded, but it would have meant knocking a hole in a wall to get it in the house after which it would have pretty much filled the spare room completely, not to mention the need to get a 3-phase supply installed. I don't have a place to put a large garden shed, so I have decided to limit myself to machines that will fit through the front door!

Dave

Quote
dmould
Yes, I see there are cheaper sites, though it may be better to use a V profile for the runners when building from scratch rather than a profile that is not specifically designed to match the wheels. I suspect that the correct section would be cheaper if bought from a manufacturer (if you can find it listed). However it is often worth paying a bit extra for the convenience of a one-stop shop (and you usually save a bit on the shipping cost to offset the higher price). There are all sorts of things to juggle - what parts could be printed without compromising the strength and accuracy overly much, what machining to outsource and what to do yourself which is connected with what tools to invest in. I'm presently seriously tempted by a combination milling machine & lathe (I don't have either) which is a fairly hefty outlay but I could probably justify it with a little imagination! [www.amazon.co.uk] But then there's the cost of the tools and other stuff that go with it to consider.

I've looked at CNC machines (which I'd prefer), but the affordable ones are very small and don't look particularly strong, so I think it is going to be a chicken-and-egg situation and I'll need to build my own. I did come across a very beefy second-hand CNC machine from a factory sale that I could just about have afforded, but it would have meant knocking a hole in a wall to get it in the house after which it would have pretty much filled the spare room completely, not to mention the need to get a 3-phase supply installed. I don't have a place to put a large garden shed, so I have decided to limit myself to machines that will fit through the front door!

Dave

Dave

I know exactly what you mean if it wasn't for the fact that makerslide always goes out of stock as soon as he gets it in I would have used that see Makerslide I have one of his eShapeoko machines that needs finishing as well just keep running out of time and/or Money lol

Doug

Dave

It may also be worth looking at ASL Megarail

This I think will be a killer product once he get's it to market.

Doug

Quote
dmould
Yes, I see there are cheaper sites, though it may be better to use a V profile for the runners when building from scratch rather than a profile that is not specifically designed to match the wheels. I suspect that the correct section would be cheaper if bought from a manufacturer (if you can find it listed). However it is often worth paying a bit extra for the convenience of a one-stop shop (and you usually save a bit on the shipping cost to offset the higher price). There are all sorts of things to juggle - what parts could be printed without compromising the strength and accuracy overly much, what machining to outsource and what to do yourself which is connected with what tools to invest in. I'm presently seriously tempted by a combination milling machine & lathe (I don't have either) which is a fairly hefty outlay but I could probably justify it with a little imagination! [www.amazon.co.uk] But then there's the cost of the tools and other stuff that go with it to consider.

I've looked at CNC machines (which I'd prefer), but the affordable ones are very small and don't look particularly strong, so I think it is going to be a chicken-and-egg situation and I'll need to build my own. I did come across a very beefy second-hand CNC machine from a factory sale that I could just about have afforded, but it would have meant knocking a hole in a wall to get it in the house after which it would have pretty much filled the spare room completely, not to mention the need to get a 3-phase supply installed. I don't have a place to put a large garden shed, so I have decided to limit myself to machines that will fit through the front door!

Dave

I've got one of those - the lathe is ok but the milling attachment is very flimsy and chatter prone. I've CNC'd mine which has improved it (ballscrews to reduce the backlash etc) but it's still not great - I have cut stainless steel on it but it won't take a deep enough cut without flexing badly so it wears tools out rapidly. There are better combination machines...