lenne0815 published a new build:

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Today i ordered all the parts i need for building the printer with a single extruder, so christmas already starts of very well
For the side panels i chosed HPL compact board, which is rather cheap in comparison to other plastics but very rigid structurally.

 

So after the extrusions finally arrived i just quickly assembled them to get an basic idea of the size:



Didnt expect it to be that huge, especially not after roughly checking everything with an carpententers rule

But in the end the cheapest thing on this printer is the size at just 7,30€ a meter for the aluminium extrusions.



El cheapo sainsmart Ramps 1.4, flashing with marlin and setting up the basics to test the steppers was a breeze ( I propably switch the Ramps later on with something better )



And here it gets interesting finally, maybe someone guesses what these blocks are all about and what differenciates this printer from anything ive seen so far


Another closeup where u can see the two smaller bearings inside 2 of 3 block parts which are used to press the belt onto the pulleys.

For finishing the X/Y assembly i gonna need 4 blocks but only two steppers.

 

Cheers ! Yes, the panels act as cross braces. Im really trying to get away with nema 17 steppers and i do hope that the drylin bearings ( and the way im using them ) will make that happen. I have quite some experience with stepper tuning ( i build several big gantry style routers already ) so i think ill get it moving atleast, what tradeoffs i have to make with accel rates / top speed is another thing ( i actually would have a way out if the machine ends up to slow, i can just double up the steppers on x/y and use slaved external drivers for them )

I dont know if i can be of any help with the non moving steppers though, do you supply enough voltage to the stepper drivers ( u need external drivers with nema 23s i suppose ) ? Nema 23s usually run at 48volts, my cnc setups run at 60volts ( with leadshine dm 860 drivers )

Most of the functions i need later on i already saw when flashing the ramps, so i think its more a matter of finetuning than to reinvent anything

 

Yeah, i think u are trying to use the stepstick drivers for the nema 23s, that doesnt really work. U can remove the stepsticks and just use the pinouts for the Step +/- and dir +/- and route them into the external drivers. I had a look at your build and i think the nema 23s are way overkill, they are ( Witch a proper driver ) so strong that they can bend / rip apart the whole construction. I would highly advise to just use nema 17s with the stepsticks u have now !

On another note - i wouldnt insulate the cables like that, with the amps were pushing for the hotend and just one bad solderjoint thats a recipe for disaster Just use proper cable chains, they are so cheap these days on ebay.

 

Tiny steps in the right direction:



My assumption that the original E3D Volcano addon fits into the chinese Ripoff base was right.

The reason i Frankensteined the Hotend should be obvious to anyone who ever saw how a Chinese Nozzle is drilled

( on another note, could a moderator pls change the title in the forum ? I just suck at mathmatics )

 

You will succeed, thats for sure, just make sure your microstep settings match everywhere ! There are different versions of the nema 17s get the ones with the highest holding torque.

One more thing ! Hardwire an EStop Somewhere !!!

Something like this will do: https://www.conrad.de/medias/global/ce/7000_7999/7000/7060/7068/706817_BB_00_FB.EPS_1000.jpg

It will save you from alot of errors when setting the machine up !

 

I needed to cut down the supports from my supported Rails in the workshop ( China at its finest, 1001mm instead on 1000 rails seem fine though ) so i took some pics of one of my monsters



This machine runs on nema 23s with leadshine dm856 drivers, just to get an idea what power to expect out of nema 23s, on x it has so much force it would propably break my arm if i go in its way. Wiring etc is completely foobared but it runs reliably every day.
It has all the yadda yadda of expensive machines like THK linear bearings and ISEL ballscrews / bearings.
It even has custom made driven ballbearings for the gantry ballscrews i havent seen anyone ever use in a diy build.

Back to the Printer i cut some threads for the feet:



I hate cutting threads.

 

I printed some small blocks with two bearings which will later hold the trapezoidal spindle which in turn moves the bed assembly:



All in all i gonna need eight of these but at 1 1/2 hrs per print thex are pretty fast to do.

 

Redrew and printed the holders for the brass trapezoidal nuts.




Almost done !

 

A little update here:

First i drilled all the holes for mounting the linear guides and then mounted them by simply screwing all the way through the support right into the linear guide. I tried mounting them to Profiles the "normal" way before, but even when drilling the profiles with a bench drill the bit runs away and creates really ugly / imprecise holes.



After receiving the Drylin nuts i realised that they are not pretensioned and need some kind of clamping mechanism to squish them to the rails.
So i redesigned the Cross section / Hotend holder and printed it:



Thats it for now, i might even get the first axis to move tonight so i could roughly work out what accel rates / speed i can drive the assembly at.

 

Getting X / Y to work will take a little longer because i needed to refine some of my drawings after realising that bearings with 24mm outer diameter dont press the belt tightly enough onto the stepper pulley.

So i went ahead and started the bed assembly.

Made some Brackets to mount the base frame:



Mounted my trapezoidal spindle holders, drilled the big pulleys to an inner diameter of 12mm and fixed them to the spindle.



After mounting everything i reduced the amount of friction by carefully adjusting the blocks / nut holders.

Pic of one side fully assembled



Pics of the HPL compact board ( 6mm ) which i cut, drilled and beveled for cross bracing / side Panels.

 

Hey david, you can just buy them fortunatly i bought the longest ones i could find at about 800mm to get the rods spaced apart as far as possible.

 

Ive got the Table assembly up and running today !

Firmware wise it was really easy once again, Marlin is prepared to slave the second extruder stepper to Z so i just activated that option, afterwards i did a quick calculation to set up steps per unit properly which was easy once again because the small pulley has 20 teeth and the large one 60.

What was as difficult as expected was to set up the alignment correctly which took the better part of today, these trapezoidal spindles jam extremely easily and need to be set up really carefully.

I needed to reverse one stepper which i achieved by just rotating the plug. dont ask why .

 

Got the X axis up and running, from what ive seen so far i might Gzero @ about 3000mm/m which is okayish for now, maybe i can go a bit further with proper alignment and watercooled stepsticks

 

Goddamit ! Just mounted the Y axis, tested how the axles work together - realised i ordered only 2 meters gt2 belt instead of 4, so no gcode running for me today

Aside from that everything works as expected so far and im sure now that the base concept will work.

 

It could atleast print standard kitchen cabinets

Just sliced one example model in vase mode, the times arent to bad, this thing Twisted 6-sided Vase Basic by MaakMijnIdee would only take about 30 hours at 800mm height.

 

While not being able to work on x / y i made the spool holder / Filament drive assembly:

 

There actually is quite a bit of side support inside



I cant image the spool ( even completely empty ) just hopping over a 2cm ledge.

 

G Code up and running