DiggerJ - Cheers mate. I understand asking first. Thanks for your help

 

hi

what is the max volume that can be built using this setup??

 

How big do you want? You can go 400mm build surface for sure, with the right sized extrusions. At some point, the rods between the effector and carriers might get a bit weak without some redesign, but SeeMeCNC has a 14ft tall delta known as Part Daddy

 

with the original 300,700 mm set up what is max the build volume can be achieved.

 

Somebody who has built a stock one will have to chime in. I will say 280x280x the Z depends on how you set it up.

 

Going along with what was said earlier, I have looked for many delta printer calculators that will not give me accurate results for this printer. I am using a 310mm heated bed from SeeMeeCnc, so how long should my base extrusions be? I have heard 300mm, but that does not seem right.

 

Yes 300 is correct as the verts will allow space for the belts still and you will have a little overhang on you bed to allow for some sort of mounting scheme

 

Thanks Robert! I also wanted to ask if anyone has video documented their build of the Delta-Six, if not, I may need to be the first...

 

Not yet, the author of this build disappeared, and no one did finish the build yet

 

So weird, you don't create something as good as this and then go AWOL...

 

I have started the build (kids leave me little to no free time). I finally got all of my vertex printed (still waiting on effector and idler parts). Once I get all of the printed parts around I will be taking a day off work to assemble and get it up and running.

Does anyone have a good resource for what dimensions need to be inserted in the firmware to get this thing up and running. That is the only thing I question. I have no issues with the physical build in my head yet have no idea where to start when it comes to getting the software side up and running (not so much the arduino code side of things thats easy just what do I need to measure and input into the fw before I flash the arduino). I have seen some vids online but the majority of them are for auto-leveling and doing tight calibration. Any info on this side of thing would be much appreciated. I like to plan out my build from start to finish in my head and this is the only thing I am struggling with.

Neil

 

anybody successfully completed one with modifications from the original one???

 

Talk to Robert Hummel and DDDMan

 

Not yet, but our frames are completed, the electronic is bought, the design of the heatbed is near final, just have to give it a little time to finish it

 

Diggerj - you're doing some fine looking ABS printing. I ran a github Vertex ABS print today 50% infill, kapton and abs juice and ended up with about 1mm of lift off around the edges. Pretty much what I was expecting without a heated chamber. Not a lot of stress relief built into the parts. Kapton bubbled off the bed in a few spots and stayed with the print until I broke it loose. Is PEI the magic? 0.030" thick w/ 468MP Tape? Are you using a heated chamber? What brand of filament are you using?

dddman - Are there newer files than what is posted on github?

BalaKrishnan - what does "modifications from the original one" mean?

Anybody else able to print the stock files in ABS/Kapton?

AWOL is strange. This looks like a fine build... looking at building one for my buddy.

-Zappo

 

I meant to ask anybody built a bigger one.

 

Yes there are some for the carriage (now uses eccentrics) and some people did some modifications to the vertex file too

 

I print Hatchbox ABS at 235C with bed temp at 95C for the first couple of layers and then drop to 93C. The vertices would be better if they had pads on the ends of the legs (like many of the kossel models), but the trick I found is to print 2 at a time with the legs pointing towards each othe and using 7mm brim to hoild them down. I use a clean glass plate with Elmeserws purple glue. Works great for me. Oh, BTW, we have a stupid plastic bag over our Rostock to create a heat space. It really does help.
this is how the legs go (I hope this works:

^
v

 

Wow. Great info. Thanks everybody!

Kyo/Diggerj - with each of your methods, do you get zero lift off? So like maybe a tiny bit of detach on the edges? or none?

Kyo do the edges of the pads lift off saving the main print?

I played with glue stick a while back. Works great for small parts. Found the Elmer's Extra Strength to stick better than the Purple. Eventually added a bit of water and lathered it up on the glass bed. (Is there a better way to apply?) Even better putting an ABS juice layer on top of the glue stick layer. Pretty fair results, but could never do really big parts. Usually running the bed 105C but might try some experiments this weekend at lower temps like the 93C. But since then, migrated to kapton/ABS juice for better adhesion. Somewhere along the line, I started using Windex Glass cleaner to float the kapton onto the bed, but never ran a comparison of wet/dry kapton.

Ordered a roll of Hatchbox Blue 1.75 ABS. I have been using Toy Builder ABS which likes to run hot. Found I could get killer layer to layer adhesion by running 250C and keeping the fans on full tilt. At lower temps like 230C I was always dinking with the slic3r fan settings because if I was running a big part, the surface would cool down too much even with the fan off to get reliable attach. Running at high temp/full fan instantly freezes (sort of) the filament in place, so upturned edges on overhangs are a thing of the past. I can print at some crazy horizontal angles now. Never saw a difference in the amount of up lift going from 230C to 250C. Guess is stress does not build up in the ABS as it cools until it hits is plastic trans temp. But worth trying a different filament brand that might have a different transition point.

Found out my printer was set up to print about 0.86% oversize to compensate for shrinkage. This was the Marlin setting for an Ultimaker that somehow was selected in the build. Not all ABS is the same but some shrinkage tables on the web suggest 0.73% shrink going from 120C to 25C. That's a lot of shrinkage when you think about it.

Diggerj - I hear you on the plastic bag. I have pieces of paper hanging on mine to create a heat box until the plexi-box is ready. Getting interior temp up to 40C. It made a huge difference but obviously I am not as far along as you guys. Hope to get temp up to 55C, but plan to monitor steppers. They loose their magnet juice at 80C. Any idea what temp your bag interior is running at? not running PEI?

Cheers

-Zappo

 

Hope nobody minds the thread being hijacked for a bit to exchange print tips.

This was the first attempt. I got the light just right and you can see the uplift pattern. Separation was at least partially caused by the Kapton coming off the boro bed. The legs separated as wells a the "ears". Second pic side view you can see the uplift on the table side, and along with a tiny crack/split that started just inside the left rail groove. Hatchbox Blue won't arrive from Amazon until next week, so in the mean time, I'll try dry attach on Kapton instead of Windex float. I only had a 3mm brim so I'll try bumping it to 7mm like Diggerj. Also try slicing the part to make a test section and have two legs facing as suggested by Diggerj.

Kyo - and smooth flat bed attach with no lift off....can you post your slic3r settings? using version stable 1.7? (the experimental versions of slic3r have been really seriously flakey) Also seem to get more consistent infill with Cura. I'd love to learn how to print long, narrow, tall rectangles without the ends splitting. What brand of filament are you using? MeshMixer for your stl mods? If I end up tracing the stl in FreeCad, I'll be sure to post source.

Diggerj - might also try glue stick again with lower bed temps like you are using. Do you have way to measure your bag temp on the next print?

 

BTW guys, the print from Zappo shown above this post will work fine. Just put your lift areas facing up (for the bottoms) and down (for the tops) Get your printers going and tuned and then you can always make some newbies. Remember, function over form for tools - and usually the opposite for finding women!

 

Diggerj - lower rail groove has a curve from when the bottom lifted. Probably work in a pinch. These parts were printed in Prototype Pink which is the goofing around filament. Pink doesn't look that bad against black rails. (I've got two rolls I need to burn thru; my wife had me order them for a project; don't ask). The real stuff - Hatchbox Blue will be here next week. I should start machining plates and wheels. One goal is to build some printers; other goal is to achieve print perfection. duh - Earth to Zappo; we've got scad source files....Zappo needed the FreeCad practice anyway (right).

 

Speaking of heatbeds lol yours is on it's way soon just waiting on the glass
Here you can see the base that is milled from a high temp/impact insulation fiber board to act as a base /insolater for the heat plate.
More pics to come

 

OK guys...for those who asked, here are a couple of phone shots of how I am printing. The temps, the print, and the bag.

 

I am thinking about building this printer.....I also ran across this site that looks close to this one, but made out of metal...others might find good ideas from this site....
http://www.atom3dp.com/en/atom2/
The horizontal printing is really impressive....I wonder how much tweaking it took to print like that....

 

Mr Diggerj -tkx for the pics. Luv the Bag. Any chance you could get a thermocouple or thermometer inside the bag to see what air temp is? I was at 40-45C. Hoping to see a big improvement with Hatchbox over ToyBuilder filament.

Kyo -yup but mine were with abs slurry & 3mm brim. Got my Hatchbox Blue from Amazon, the hex ini file: configSlic3r9.9i3v10-40Hexagon175.ini Gonna try your stl w/ Hatchbox and your ini fan settings next. Be sure to report back on the new ABS brand results.

I traced the Vertex stl into FreeCad and started looking at rigidity. Not a bad design, but only two screws holding the vertical 20x40's in place. It would be neat if there was some cam or collet action that grabbed the vertical and locked it against the horizontal sections. Even just going to 4 screws attaching the verticals would help and spread the contact area.

Ken W. -print quality on that atom2 looks pretty. And you are right. Everything has to be perfectly tweaked and designed to get that kind of print. Big diff is they show linear rail slides. I assume they are precision ground with metal balls. I am running linear rails on my y axis with two carriages per rail and the rigidity is unbelievable. Part of my interest in the delta6 is to see how well the external Openbuild wheels/carriages perform compared to $300 of linear rails.

Robert - Nice. Care to share the "high temp/impact insulation fiber board" material name?

 

SO I've printed all my vertices from ABS. The first attempt cracked on one of the legs but that was probably due to the overnight temperature. The others where printed with a bag over the top and came out really well. I used a 20mm brim and 70% infill and didn't get any lifting or cracking. I also had retraction turned of so they looked messy after printing but they cleaned up fine.
My question to others is did you get any shrinkage in the upright part of the vertices? Mine measure 39.2 x 19.5 on the internals. I damaged one of my vertices trying to put it on before getting out the vernier callipers and taking measurements. I expected it to be tight but not that tight.
I'm Australian based and have most of my parts. Just working on sourcing ball bearings for the carriage and arms as well as carbon fibre rod.
I'll be running a smoothieboard. Major hurdle at the moment is lack of financial support from my wife. When I already have a makerbot she asks why would I need another one. Hence purchasing of parts is on dribs and brabs at this stage. Electronics will be the last thing I buy.


Digger J - Did you hear back from Commander K as to the effector file? I've pinched another one off thingiverse but the holes are about 0.5 mm different.