Originally shared by Make:
Got a favorite desktop 3D printing or scanning appliance? We want to hear about it!
In preparation for the much-anticipated sequel to last year’s Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing, and in the interest of giving you the most comprehensive coverage possible, we’re opening up the floor for public manufacturer nominations. http://bit.ly/10y6rgY
Ultimaker
Love the picture. No favorite here. I’m starting to seriously believe in the overhead gantry style though, with tall prints it provides a much higher potential for speed without the part wobbling, etc. So basically anything with a moving X or Y, I’m moving away from.
@ThantiK Yes! Same here. Seems crazy to try to move the bed back and forth when you think of it. I’m Working on a 2020 extrusion gantry solution, doubling up nemas on x and y a la qu-bd (to ensure everything is balanced and increase speed/holding torque) . Its working out to have a very similar BOM as a mendelmax.
I assume you’ve looked at the ultimaker approach? Very elegant use of the linear rails to also support the pulleys that drive the belts.
@ThantiK Huh, I wasn’t aware of its existence. What sort of build volume you looking at? I guess as long as you scale the rod diameter along with build volume the sky’s the limit (ish) . Not sure about those nemas sticking out of the sides though.
Yeah, I’ll be modifying mine to be a bit more like the ultimaker. Motors on the inside, haven’t worked out what I want for X/Y yet. I might keep it tiny to save on linear rod costs and be able to keep something portable with me. Also, my hackerspace just got on “permanent loan” a Ultimaker that I get to teach people how to not fuck with. So I regularly and actively work with pretty much all builds of machines ranging from the Prusa i3, to Ultimaker, to Doboz (H-bot), Printrbots, MendelMax, Prusa “i2” (Mendel), etc.
It’s what I do all day every day…now if I could only just find a way to get PAID for it…
That makes sense wrt to going for internal motors. The form factor would have to be a bit bigger than the default Tantillus to fit them in I suppose. I see SDP-SI sells 8mm bore GT2 pulleys and really short belts so it would be pretty easy to replicate the Ultimaker’s set-up. I have to say, looking that the design, and seeing how it could scale, I’m inclined to give up on my own project and see how big you can get a T-Slot Tantillus. I was looking at an external H/W/D of 600x450x450mm for the design I was working on, I’ve got the virtually all of the hardware to hand… hmmm. Only things I’m slightly afraid of is the spectra line and the pretty much mandatory Bowden requirement. I fear the Bowden. I hear you on finding a way to get payed for doing this stuff - I’ve got a slightly different problem of having a well paid day job that can fund this fairly expensive obsession but doesn’t give me enough time to tinker (especially with a wee monster to wrangle).
