Got the XY gantry back in place. Even with the extra span, it's pretty solid. Steppers and idler pulleys are next hopefully in the next two days. Although I don't have the Fled3Drive yet, I do have a BLTouch I can mount to the tool carriage and since all the wiring and electronics are being reused from the prototype, I should at least be able to partially test accuracy in all 3 axes by mid wby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
The Dremel gods are not forgiving of inattention. Luckily, my valiant and brave t-shirt hurled itself in the path of the oncoming tungsten carbide cutter and gave its short life so that it's master's bacon might stay intact.by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Yep, 3 point support is the way to go. Almost impossible to deform or break a bed that way as long as the bed can float slightly on its supports. Tempered glass wasn't my first choice. I've been trying to find a fabricator nearby that can provide a reasonably flat piece of 6061 but no such luck, at least at a reasonable price. You'd think it'd be an easy thing to source. Anyway, I'm still loby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
I made a little design change to the Z axis arrangement to make it more stable and easier to work with. The rail and screw are now offset which makes securing the rail carriage to the bracket easier: I now have to recant my previous statement concerning the use of plastic parts. I was originally going to use only aluminum extrusion bits for the bed support but cutting and tuning the alumiby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
QuoteNathanaelXYZ You mention that you're using CF-HTPLA for the printed parts-- I'm interested to see how that will end up working out in the long run. With the new design, I no longer have to print my own motor and pulley mounts and they would have been the ones to suffer from any creep. The printed parts left are the center tool mount plate, the 4 perimeter rail carriages, and the bearing stby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Here are the parts I used for the Z axis supports. The bottom of the frame is on the right. I'm still thinking about how to actually mount the bed to the lead screw nut and the rail carriage. The Duet has the ability to level the bed by itself when it has control of 3 motors but that means that the joints between the bed and the screw and carriage have to be a little flexible.by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Here are the parts for 1 side panel... 2ea 50x50x800 corner posts. 1ea 50x50x584 bottom rail 3ea 25x50x584 mid and top rails 1ea 25x25x450 Z axis linear rail mount The corner posts and bottom rail took a little figuring out. The bottom 2 angle brackets are actually hidden by the bottom rail itself. I had to use a short piece of 25x50 extrusion to place the bottom brackets, lock them in placby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quoteo_lampe Nice! How much did you get for placing the Duet sticker in the picture Heh, not a penny. Seriously, I should mention that regardless of what I say about the products I used, I paid full price for all of them. There were no freebies. QuoteArchiclem Really like the igus rails! Can't wait to see the final mount! How much does they cost? The ones in the picture (4 ea 584mm and 4 eaby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Continuation of HyperCube OverKill I got a shipment of aluminum extrusions yesterday so it's time to start building for real! I had to build a bigger work surface for this thing. The footprint stands at 684x684 and 800mm tall. The actual build area has been increased to 500x500x500.by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Well, I got a 66lb/30kg shipment of aluminum extrusions yesterday and that means it's time to build for real. Since this thread was more about prototyping, I'm going to start a new one for the actual build and I'm re-christening the project "Black Beauty".by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Thanks guys. The idea was to just buy off the shelf.by gtj - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors
Every NEMA 17 bracket I've found has 30mm on-center mounting slots. Does anyone have a source for ones with 25mm on-center slots? OR slots that run perpendicular to the motor shaft instead of parallel? I need to mount to 50mmx50mm extrusion (8020's 25-5050 stuff) where the shaft is parallel to the length of the extrusion.by gtj - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors
QuoteMutley3D Hello gtj Yes the bearing block can be seperated and removed. Send me an email/contact form through the site, and ill get some files over to you. J I did. Twice. I'll send another.by gtj - General
Does anyone know if the mounting plate with the bearing blocks on the FLEX3DRIVE FOR XY GANTRY PRINTERS is a separate piece that can be removed? The extruder assembly itself is exactly what I need but it needs to fit in something like this... Of course I can make the 2 right-angle mounting blocks anything I want. I just need to get rid of the existing bearing blocks on the extruder assy.by gtj - General
Quotethe_digital_dentist It is laid out in a big circular loop. The frame attached end opens toward the front of the printer and the extruder carriage end opens toward the rear of the printer. That keeps the radius of curvature relatively large which should minimize wire failures due to excessive flexing. It's a little dark but you can see what it's doing in this picture: Gotcha, thanks!by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Interesting application of cable chain. It doesn't bind when both ends are close to each other in XY?by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quoteklcjr89 QuoteTrakyan This may be a stupid idea, but instead of cutting slots, has anyone considered laminating thin sheets of steel/iron and some other material into a stack, then taking a slice of that? As long as your sheet material is the right thickness, and to relatively good tolerance it should give you a strip with alternating magnetic and non magnetic surfaces. Again, could be a stupby gtj - Stepper Motors, Servo Motors, DC Motors
Quoteklcjr89 Hi, I really like your build! I am considering a cross style XY gantry for my future printer build as well. Thanks! I'm watching your lead screw based ideas!by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quoteo_lampe QuoteI think I want to implement this design, except without moving the mass of the motors like in the video above shows. Will be interesting to see, how? My first idea was: bevelled gears and a keyed smooth rod to drive the bevelled gear. So the "differential" slides along the keyed drive rod? Could be cool. Maybe use a square shaft rather than a keyed round one?by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Well, I think I've gotten as far with the XY Gantry as I can at this point. It might be a little hard to see but the cross rails have aluminum trusses bolted or riveted to them and with that, I can place 1kg block of PVC on the center tool carrier and get no measurable deflection in the Z axis. Yeah I sacrificed in the mass aspect but I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere until I canby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quoteo_lampe The cooling air would then have to pass by all the cables in the silicone tube? Or is it a tube_in_tube design? Same for the filament. You don't want to cover it in dust from the hotend fan, before it enters the hotend...( well, that's probably beens counting ) I'm still thinking about designs here. My original idea was to use 1 flexible plastic cable carrier that had 2 separate boby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quotethe_digital_dentist I've seen printer mechanisms that run at high acceleration and it looks impressive, but making extrusion work so you get a quality print is whole different problem. Well said. I'm on the road this week for work but when I get back, I'll do a sweep with my dial gauge attached and some load places on the tool platform. The problem will be that, since I don't have a Z axiby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
I need to get caught up with pics and measurements but... QuoteVigilant You’ve changed the kinematics, technically that’s no longer a hypercube. It's big and roughly a cube. QuoteVigilant Where did you get the carbon fibre rods? Did you cut them yourself ? The carbon fiber rods I got from Amazon, pre-cut to 500mm. QuoteVigilant Is there a reason why you’re not using 1 huge diameter carbby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Finding good connectors wasn't easy. There are tons out there but the computer sized ones are too small for my hands to work with or the connector was reasonably priced but the crimp tool was $600 or something. Ultimately I found these automotive type on Amazon: $17 for a set of 5 8-pin M/F connectors. I used a not-quite-matching crimp tool but the matching one is only $20. They're a littby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quotethe_digital_dentist If you ever intend to enclose the printer to print ABS, or there's any chance it will ever get left in a hot car, you might want to reconsider use of PLA based filament (CF or not) for the printed parts. Well, it'll be too big to fit in my car! Proto-plant claims that when heat treated, this material "maintains it's properties" to 120C but yeah you're right, I wouldn'by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
QuoteDLF I see. I have not tried carbonfiber filament so I dont know how it compares to other filaments. Still, if this was me building I would gladly sacrifice a bit of travel to gain all the rigidity I can get. It's still a plastic FFF mount we are talking about. Just to be Clear I am not trying to rag on your build, overall I think it looks great! These are just my two cents regarding this detby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
QuoteDLF How come you choose not to make it more massive/box-like? Like DD suggested? Seems unnecessary to build such a strong frame and then add what in my mind looks like a weakpoint. If it doesnt hinder the function I would try to add mass to that mount to prevent flexing/distortion. The box-like structure would prevent full travel of the sliders. The addition of the gusset and the wrapby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Here's the new motor mount design...by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Oh yeah, they're much quieter. I'll do a short video this weekend without the belts attached and you can take a listen. If you're thinking about going this route, I'd suggest getting a short length of rail and a carriage or two just to test with. A half meter of the 17mm wide rail and 2 carriages will run about $30. They have larger sizes of course if 17mm is too small for your application.by gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames
Quotethe_digital_dentist Your design has the motor attached to a relatively thin vertical blade that is attached to thin bottom plates (it sort of looks like an i3 printer frame). The belt tension is going to apply a twisting force to the motor and the blade is going to twist. If you want to make a solid motor mount that fits in the space you have allotted for it, forget the piece that goes undby gtj - Extruded Aluminum Frames