My 3D Printers

[Kyo]

Hello All,
I forgot I had a acct. here. Well it has been about a year since my introduction post. I did not get nearly as many projects done as I would have liked. However I did purchase a kit and Build my First 3D Printer!! A Makerfarm I3V 10"



It has been assembled and in use for a while now. I will try and organize my photos and post them up. The Makerfarm has been good to me, However I would most likely not buy a wood frame based printer again. I have the source Files for the 10" I3V so at some point I may rebuild it with a Acrylic Frame.

Now on to current Projects, I am starting to design my own 3D Printer ( not yet named lol ). My new printer will be of Solid Metal construction. No (or Minimal ) 3D Printed parts and No wood. Not sure How I am going to build it as of yet due to the fact I do not have a cnc router or mill to make the parts. But I shall cross that bridge when I get there.

It will be running Lead Screws and Aluminum Linear Rail. I am building this printer around a 8x8x8 Build Volume. I have also included a 10x10x8 and 12x12x12 build volumes within the design needing very little changed between sizes. It could go larger as well but at that point I would look into a different lead screw assembly.

It functions very similarly to your basic Prusa ( Such as my makerfarm 10″ I3V and should keep my electronics and software simple ) but with no belts and better accuracy and rigidity, It should be a better printer all around.

Here is a photo of the Printer so far. I have not decided on a hotend mount setup yet. Tho I did leave enough room for dual extruders and the E3D V6 Bowden setup has been decided on.

I am thinking of running this printer with the Beaglebone Black with the Replicape and Manga Screen(when available). Just to try something new. However will most likely start with a Ramps setup to get going.

[ABearden]

Nice! I setup the MakerFarm i3v 12" last month. It's been great, and once I dialed it in the prints were nice. Only real problem I've had were the homing switches, which I traded out for roller switches from Radioshack (more reliable). Why would you avoid a wood frame in the future? What problems did you have? FYI, acrylic frames have a nasty reputation of cracking after not-too-long.

What's the speed penalty for using lead screws? The MakerFarm only uses them on the z-axis where there's little-to-no speed penalty since you're only moving 0.1-0.5mm/layer, but I can't imagine the lead screws can keep up with a belt on the x and y axes. What time difference are you expecting for prints?

[Kyo]

My problems with the wood frame are more of my own making then by design. And should not reflect poorly on makerfarms kit, They put out a nice piece of hardware and Colin has been very helpful with my build even replacing a faulty lcd I had.

I did not consider cracking of the acrylic, thanks for that. I will have to keep that in mind if I decided to replace my frame.
I stained my build as I did not like the look of raw ply. However I dragged it out over a few different days with different humidity's. This resulted in a few of my panels having a small amount of twist in them.

Once dialed in It has been very good to me and puts out some greats prints. (1.75mm Hexagon ABS)


One thing I also did was to print and install a Belt guide as my belt was rubbing the ply and causing it to wear out. this was my first print and has been working out great..




However the results of the twisted panels are evident in all my prints. The twist in the side panel shows on the print when the Z axis is going up it gets shifted to one side and leaves a jagged trace in the print as it goes up and passes over the twist. It does not effect shorter or smaller prints that stay below the twist in the panel.

I do expect some slowing down of prints with a lead screw only build. Rigidity and accuracy are my primary goals with the new printer and I am willing to take a hit on machine speed.

I have not done the math to find out max speed yet, I have chosen a screw with the following specs. 4 Start 2mm Pitch and 8mm Lead
However If I can find the proper acme tap ( TR8x20 I believe ). I will go with a 20mm Pitch Screw.

This guy also uses the same 20mm Pitch lead screws in his build. To give you a idea on speed.

[ABearden]

Enclosure? Those look awesome. I haven't started in on my ABS spools yet because I don't want to stink my wife out of the living room. I printed a carbon filter fan vent, just need to get off my butt and build the enclosure. And I hadn't thought about a belt guide, thanks!

That moves a lot fast than I would have thought. Not that I should be building another machine right now, but I do have spare MakerSlide from my ShapeOko upgrade.... heh.

[Kyo]

Thank you, No enclosure as of yet. I do have a project planed to build one mostly to direct fumes out a window. I try my best to stay out of the room when printing ABS (drives my nose crazzy lol ) but there is also a certain amount of eye watching that needs to be done on prints. It should also help with some of the warping I have gotten with the abs as I can control the enclosure temp.

I want to start trying PLA and other filaments soon to, Have only used ABS so far.

How do you like the Shapeoko? I have been researching smaller desktop cnc machines to help make my patterns for Aluminum Casting.

I purchased the Momus CNC V2 Plans pdf book a while back with intentions to build but have also considered the Shapeoko. No decision has been made as of yet.

[ABearden]

PLA is great, but for awesome prints you need an active cooling system. You can print the shroud and add a 40mm fan for an i3v. The RAMBo board has a hookup to control it in software too.

The ShapeOko is a neat little machine. Does light-duty desktop routing very well and works with tons of software so you have a wide selection of toolchains. Just be prepared to do some upgrades for it to be really useful. At a minimum, I would suggest a better spindle (preferably a router, I went with a Makita), homing switches, and a fan for the GRBL board (preferably with heatsinks on the chips). I recently expanded mine to 1m x 1m so I can work with larger pieces. Just be prepared to spend the time to tweak and adjust the machine so it's more accurate. They're also releasing the SO3 next month. It's a bit more expensive and involved, but supposedly aiming for medium duty routing.

[Kyo]

I am getting closer to finalizing my next 3d printer. It officially has a name now "Adamantine" I still have to figure out how I am going to get all the aluminum plate cut out as I do not have a cnc router to do it myself. Also looking for folks who are familiar with Openbuild's line of V-slot linear rail and V-Wheels and are more skilled with cad / sketchup then I to double check my file for hole spacing / positioning / Dimensions and tolerances..

As this is the most complex project I have completed in Sketchup so far I am sure I have something off or forgotten a few things and I want to correct any errors before getting my V-slot and aluminum plate cut..

I also welcome input on the hotend mount and the X carriage in general. Not 100% happy with that yet. I will be using a e3d v6 hotend.

This printer will use solid V-Wheels. 20x60 V-slot and 20x40 V-slot and 1/4 and 3/8 aluminum plate. No belts all axis will run on the OB lead screws Speed is not a concern with this printer as it is intended for accurate smaller prints. With only the classic 8x8x8 build volume.

Here are some updated pics.