Sonny Lowe published a new build:

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Thanks Mark, I'm looking forward to completing the preliminary design so I can start ordering parts

 

My initial thoughts for the X-Axis stepper motor is a NEMA 14. I like it's small form factor and I think it would have plenty of power to move a small acrylic gantry plate with a E3D V6 Bowden Hotend (not much total weight there). Maybe running a 16 tooth pulley would help as well!?!?

Any thoughts on that motor choice?

Thanks,
Sonny

 

Thanks Mark

 

That's great to hear, thanks for your input!! I honest didn't think they'd be powerful enough for all three axis, but now you have me rethinking things

I must say I absolutely love your IndieLC. If I had decided to build an existing design it would have been this one, it is one of the printers that inspired me to try one on my our...nice work!!!

 

Thanks Mark, it's coming together nicely, but not without it's setbacks

I must admit, it's great having a Laser Cutter at home I had to add some additional support to the 20x40 vertical rail and it literally took me less than ten minutes to draw the bracket, export it and cut them (I needed two)...that in itself makes the laser worth the price of admission

Sonny

 

Mark, very cool video...I never imagined!!!

I am very new to the Laser World, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated

Sonny

 

feric,

I don't use PLA much so I can speak from personal experience, but I can tell you that a friend of mine printed parts for my FT X-Axis Upgrade out of PLA and the X Carraige Rail Mounts cracked when he tightened the screws down around the bearings. I am currently printing him new ones out of ABS.

The cracking could have been a problem due to brittle nature of PLA (ABS would be more forgiving), or possible the layer direction of the print. That's the small issue with printing the Angle Corner Connectors in the first place, with them taking load in two direction they will always be susceptible to cracking in one of those directions, by either over-tightening or fatigue/stress. Although I think load and stress are far less of an issue considering how small the printer is. The only Angle Corner Connector that take a lot of load would be the ones for the Vertical Z -Rail. I added the tie plates because of that and would suggest using two of the aluminum brackets for that rail.

I actually printed mine in two different direction to see if one will hold up any better than the other, as far as assembly they both seemed to be fine. I'll let you know how they hold up and if I favor one layer direction over the other once the printer is up and running.

Final note: I think adding the washers under the screws (a must really) on the brackets helps as well, they keep the screw from wanting to spread the hole open and push the bracket apart.

Sonny

 

Feric,

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the "Cast" corner brackets, much prefer the Black Ones, they don't have the extrusions and have a much larger variety of uses. If they are being used in a high stress area, I would definitely recommend ABS at the least, if not the aluminum ones.

Is your design posted here, I'd love to see it, and if anything I've designed helps please feel free to take cues from it.

Regards,
Sonny

 

@Mark Carew Thanks...It has been and continues to be a really fun build, and is coming together nicely. My Hotend will be in today so I need to get cracken' on the Extruder...it's the last piece of the hardware puzzle Then a whole new world of fun opens up

Sonny

 

@Mark Carew

I couldn't agree more, between my FT 3D Printer and the Laser Cutter there is little that ever held me back on this build. Only the occasional outsourced parts caused delays.

Now I just need to get started on a CNC build (C-Beam, OX, Full Custom...so many choices ;-)...then I'll have all bases covered

 

@Redmayne Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, I am still working the BOM, however the cost of the printer without he LCD should fall around $375.00 or so. That's based on my current level of the build...you could certainly come in a bit under that number, or of course go over it as well. Many of the components can be had a bit cheaper if you are willing to shop around or drop in quality a bit. One example is the board, an Adruino/Ramps setup can be had for $23.00 from Banggood, the MKS Base I used was $45.00 from Amazon. Another small issue are things like the small GT2 belt for the extruder (or the small bumpers), they were sourced from Amazon as well but I had to buy 10 of them @~$14.00, if you could buy them in a smaller quantity that would a few bucks as well.

Although I haven't decided if I'll offer any kits, I could certainly provide the Laser Cut parts as well as the Printed Parts. Considering the whole GT2 belt issue I would most likely through one of those in as well sense I have 10 and only need a spare or two!?!?

Once the build is official "Complete" I'll decide if a kit of some sort is viable...again, either way I'd be happy to provide the Laser Cut Parts, as most people don't have the resource readily available.

In closing, $375.00 might seem like a lot for a printer of this size, but please keep in mind, it is constructed from all high quality components. No cheap linear bearings or 8mm rods, no cheap rail and plastic "hardware store" wheels, only OB Hardware was used. It also runs an E3D Hotend, it's not the cheapo Chinese knockoff (although you could go that route as well). I believe in most cases, you get what you pay for and I am thrilled to have this great little printer at what I consider a very reasonable cost

Thanks again for your comment and question, this is exactly why we love to do this stuff

Regards,
Sonny

 

@Redmayne

By all means you can make the build volume larger. I only restricted it to it's current size because I wanted to use stock lengths of rail (250mm). I have designed the printer to do that exact thing. By simply changing rail lengths (while still using mostly stuck components) you can change the travel distance and therefore change the build volume as well. The only current limitation is the actual size of the current build bed (155x155). Depending on how much you wanted to increase the volume you might want to skip the acrylic gantry and go with an Alm OB gantry plate instead...the extra stiffness might come in handy!?!?

The Z rail is fine at 20x40, it is plenty stiff enough to allow the print height to be increased. The only thing I'd suggest would be thicker laser cut mounting plates, maybe even have them T-off at the bottom to add a couple additional screws, and I would also use the OB Black Aluminum Corner brackets...I used "printed" corners on my prototype and although they are fine for the smaller volume I'd go with the Alm version if I made it any larger.

If you run a Bowden Extruder (the only way to go with a Canti IMHO) you'd be fine with the 20x20 for the X rail. It won't flex any more by adding another 100mm or so in length. I made the gantry small and out of thinner acrylic material to keep it light so it could be extended if desired. If you like your Printerbot Simple you could consider running their Ubis Ceramic Hotend, it might be a bit lighter than the E3D and I don't think they require a cooling fan!?!? I thought about using one myself but simply didn't have any experience with them so I stuck to what I knew...E3D

There are Canti 3D printers out there that are running a 200x200x220 build volume using the exact same size rails in both Z & X as my printer, so again, they are more than strong and stiff enough. I will actually be building another one once the MSL-6 DLP Printer build is complete, I'll run that at 250x250x250 with a heated bed. The only change I might make is would be to go with a 20x80 rail for the Y-Axis (it's what I used on my Prusa i3), and I would consider that OVERKILL!!

If you decide to build one I know you'd be happy with it, and if you need anything remodeled in CAD that you can't do yourself, just let me know, I am always happy to help.

Sonny

 

@Redmayne

Yeah, I really like the Printrbot stuff, I've been chatting with Brook about purchasing a few of the Gear Head Extruder gears, I want to design my own version of that Extruder for Nema 14 motor...maybe try it on the Canti!?!?

Funny you mention the DLP Printer again, after a lot of research I've decided on the Flex VAT, a Bottom Up Vertical Setup and I am almost there on the DLP Projector (that's the toughest of the decisions).

I also really like the idea behind the Daylight Resins, I'm with you though and think that system needs some time to develop...I just don't want to wait LOL

I'll get the DLP Printer going and when the Daylight system get ironed out, I might just have to build one of those as well ;-)

Sonny

 

Keith,

From what I understand the stepper drivers are permanently set to 16 micostepping, which I believe is max for an A4982 driver.

This is directly from the MKS RepRap page "MKS Base's A4982 Microstepping is 16 microsteps".

I just bought one of the MKS SBase boards that runs the DRV8825 drivers which will allow 1/32 microstepping, however I've not research it enough to know if you could reduce that!?!? The board runs on Smoothieware so that might drive the limits more than the hardware...here's a Smoothie Thread about the board...I've not read it but it might shed some light!?!?

Hope that helps,
Sonny