I appreciate any advice & suggestions to make a gantry printer from reprap parts. I'd like to add this style to the RepRap community models later once the printer is working with a proven design.
I'm thinking of converting a Prusa i3 to become a gantry style printer. This means the print bed stays stationary and the Y axis movement is made using the gantry moving back and forth.
The first thing I need to do is build a skeleton box to mount the rails and stepper motor for the gantry's Y-axis stepper. I'll be reusing the existing Z mechanism with the gantry so just need to bolt it on to the moving gantry's Y axis.
Second, I'm thinking the wiring doesn't need to be modified (I take the Y-axis stepper along with its wire and mount on the gantry).
Any advice? Avoiding rod sag and backlash? Gotchas? Any other things I missed? Has anybody done this before, just so I can have camaraderie :-) and/or can help/mentor me?
The reason I'm doing this is to get a larger printbed (say 500mm x 500mm x the current Z height), with low cost for the conversion so others can do the same), and for others to build themselves from parts.
I also want to use this as a paste extruder later using Rich's paste extruder design on Thingieverse (cookies, cake icing, chocolate, clay, etc.). I plan to print pretty small height but large diameter/rectangular stuff, put a cooked iced cake on the bed and print a design ("Happy Birth Day Mom!").
Having a larger bed would also help mounting a larger extruder, opening up a possibility of using 4 extruders (Red, Green, Blue, Black) to print in varying color shades (sort of an like inkjet printer with really coarse resolution).
Many Thanks in Advance, Caesar.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2014 12:33PM by csamsi.
