Keith, in your BOM pdf there is an error. If you try the link for "Build plate 12x24x3/16 (1/2)" you get an Amazon listing for wheels.
Thanks for the heads up. That should read 12x24x3/16 (3/16) and be https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CF4AELE I'm going through the BOM to update it. I just finished an 81 step tutorial on building one and saw a number of things to add to the BOM. The tutorial is at Build VulcanPro
I was going to use your extruder build that you've posted a year ago or so but I think I've read that you don't think it's the cat's meow, correct?
There is no gain with that belt driven design. It weighs the same as my regular, simple, design 3dwrx :: Upgrade Your Printer and does not produce any advancement. And it's put together is like being married to a raccoon.
I was initially looking at your build as an idea of putting a V-Slot frame around my 5 year old Makerfarm 10" Prusa i3v, but after looking at your BOM & looking at the parts I already have it might be worth my while to build this machine. I have been considering getting one of the 12" Tevo or Creality machines, but I don't like the Bowden setup & would probably want to change a few other things. If I build this, I probably won't start on it for a few months & maybe wait for black Friday sales in November. Have you looked at sourcing some alternatives to the openbuilds parts from aliexpress? You can get a 10 pack of the Xtreme Mini V Wheels less bearings for $4.16. You can also get them with bearings for a little bit more, but I would probably get the better bearings from openbuilds. Those wheels are probably not as good of quality as openbuilds, but would be worth trying for that price. There are several places on there that sell these & I am not sure which is the best one. [link removed] You can also get the 6 - T Joining plates for $10.67 (I added the shipping into the price). [link removed]
Yes I have looked at other sources. In particular the wheels and T Join plates. I found T Join plates with black anodizing on Amazon for a reasonable price. I actually did the drawing images showing clear anodized because black T Join plates are so hard to find. Also, there are numerous v-wheel providers on Amazon with good prices. About half of them use the wrong thickness shim between bearings and that ruins the wheel, especially on the mini-v-wheels. Have to read the reviews to find the ones that are OK. I imagine the same problem exists on Aliexpress. Crazy that a Chinese manufacturer will tool up for a 1/2 million run and not bother to assemble and see if the parts work together.
Most of the reviews on that site don't really give you much info & I suspect most are like the ones you mentioned on Amazon. Probably would be better to stick with known good wheels from openbuilds. I see the moderator removed my links. I will keep that in mind for future postings & not include links from China sites.
Hi Keith. I really like this build and am planning on building one but have a couple questions. 1) What springs are being used for the heatbed? 2) In one of the pictures of the Vulcan Pro it shows a case for a 128x64 display. Can you provide the files for that? 3) Out of curiosity is there a reason why the bottom screw blocks don't have a bearing? 4) I could be measuring something wrong in Sketchup, but I am getting different distances from the 2040 uprights to the center holes in the z screw blocks for the top (16.5mm) and bottom (15mm). That would make the leadscrew not parallel with the 2040 uprights. Can you confirm if I am missing something? 5) How does the X Axis belt attach to the X Carriage? 6) Is there an STL file for the X Axis Carriage? Thanks, Josh
Hi Josh 1) in my drawings I use transparent tubes to denote springs (I wish I could find some spongy tubing for that) They are just standard bed springs 8 x 4.5mm 2) http://3dwrx.com/VulcanPro/parts/lcd/LCD.zip 3) There is no need for a bearing. The bottom bracket is there just to provide support against bending the screw if the printer gets lifted by grabbing the 20x40s below the X axis. 4) You are correct. The bottom bracket hole has been changed to 16.5mm in the assembly, skp & stl zips. 5) With two M4x20mm screws. The belt ends wrap around each screw and the loops are are secured with a zip tie. The assembled skp now shows those two screws threaded into the x-carriage 6) x-carriage.skp & x-carriage.stl are now in the parts zips Thanks Josh
Hey Keith, I was wondering if you could share the skp file for the fan assembly mount and if you could share some photos of the actual project built, that would be awesome. Thank you
Hi Abdallah Looks like the entire extruder and fan is missing from the SKP & STL zips. I've added them now. I built this and decided to modify it. Still working on the modification, so there wont be a build photo of this version as it has now been cannibalized.
Keith, Can you validate your x-carriage.stl ? I thin that somehow you have a part of the mesh that is messed up. If you look at the "bottom" flat side that I am printing on my bed it seem to be missing features. ie like somehow a triangle section of the mesh is messed up. Thanks for posting your design. I have not had issues printing any other parts. Jahr
Hi Keith, When attaching the Tee plates to the X Axis extrusion, do you just use one screw on each end that you can get at? Or I was wondering if you did that, then unscrew the Tee plates, and add another 2 screws to each Tee plate to extrusion? Thanks, Josh
back on mar 10 i had a stroke. been in rehab since. i cannot get to my design computer yet.suggest you try repairing the stl at Netfabb Online Service
I did notice that the fan shroud (top portion of the cooling fan setup) is mirror so that it does not fit the way it is shown on the xtrdr page on 3dwrx.com. Just mirror in the slicer and it seems to print correctly.
Something else I've noticed. The mounting hole spacing on the xtdr is 20mm. However, the X carriage has the holes spaced at 25mm. Is that correct (or incorrect as it may be) or am I the only who has had that problem?
Not to continue nitpicking, but the entire x-carriage is skewed along multiple axes. Nothing lines up correctly. I'm not the greatest with Sketchup so I'm having trouble getting every flat and straight again.
After I've read your post about the mirrored fan shroud I checked it and you may be right, I didn't notice it since I was not going to use it since I was going to use a different fan, but I think it can be used as it's shown anyway. I imported the extruder .stl to Fusion 360 to adapt it to my X axis. If the holes are not aligned it didn't matter in my case and that's why I didn't notice either.
It's not a big deal. I remodeled the x-carriage in Fusion 360. It's almost identical to the original. As for the fan shroud, I ended up reprinting it mirrored as I wanted to change the color anyway. But you're right, it still works either way.
Here is a reworked x-carriage. I had a stroke last month and I' still in rehab with no access to my development computer, but I think this will work.
No worries, Keith. I wasn't expecting you to jump on anything right now. The one I have now works but thanks for looking at it. Get to feeling better before dealing with us any more.
Hate to ask about this, Keith, but is the website having issues? I can't get to the build pages. I only need it for the measurements for the holes on the build plate.
In the rehab unit I'm at I cannot login to the website with FTP to discontinue making sales that I can no longer deliver. SO, I closed the site at the DNS level. I just now reopened it, so it should be working again when the DNS re-propagates.
Hey Keith, wishing you a fast recovery. I've admired your work a long time in the forums. I'm a makerspace teacher/robotics educator at the elementary level. Thanks for all you do!
I've been talking to high school robotics educator about setting up a student work/study program to get a couple of students to help do assemblies for me, just for R&D work. He's suggested a girl who is really bright named Cayenne. I'm really impressed with the kind of work you guys are doing!! I can't even figure out how I'd start to build a curriculum. I'm also impressed with how students are grasping the potentials of 'distributed manufacturing'.. I sleep good at night knowing you guys are out there.
I would send you students if we were in the same area! You have been building curriculum with your guides and I have learned a lot from you. The biggest thing I try to teach is for kids to not be scared of what they don't know. We did a 3D printer camp last year and I scaffolded the instruction by teaching them to print pre-sliced g-code, then to slice pre-chosen STLs, then let them choose an STL from thingiverse, and finally introducing TinkerCAD. That was with younger students. I would love to host a camp where we would get older students in middle-high school to build something like your printers from scratch in a week and finding funding for the students to take their printers home with them.
A few years ago I had a group in Mississippi who funded setting up a "camp" like that and also bought the BOMs to build some printers including one of mine. They got the funding with a GOFUNDME campaign they set up. The kids then went to businesses for donations. Local TV covered it giving those businesses good exposure. As good as it was,that led to getting funding from the legislature to make it an annual event. TV advertising salesman thought it up and managed it.