Tank3d printer build

[Chaz]

We used to do the DIY 3D printing kits a few years ago. We did the MendelMax design, then did our own design. Played with Rostock too. I was thinking to look at this again, now that I know more about cnc and have better tools available.

The extruder for me is the key thing to get right, then the bed / heating setup. The movement (XYZ) is almost the easy part.

The Ultimaker 3 shows what can be done in the 'DIY' market but I cant see the value in the cost of that.

[Boyan Silyavski]

We used to do the DIY 3D printing kits a few years ago. We did the MendelMax design, then did our own design. Played with Rostock too. I was thinking to look at this again, now that I know more about cnc and have better tools available.

The extruder for me is the key thing to get right, then the bed / heating setup. The movement (XYZ) is almost the easy part.

The Ultimaker 3 shows what can be done in the 'DIY' market but I cant see the value in the cost of that.

The bed is easy. The extruder/hotend is difficult as needs lot of experiments and tiny adjustments. Thats why most go with established combos. You say the linear motion and frame is easy, but then where are the good designs? I dont see any, and if i see some they are >1500euro

There is growing market even with the cheap Chinese printers. Many people will buy one only to upgrade at a later time when they find they can not make money with it.

I did not enter earlier as they seemed quite under developed and funny. Material was expensive, hot ends were ugly. In other words- unreliable expensive toy with no real world purpose / at least to me/.



I think-- how to combine all this is the key and offer sth reliable, well supported and most of all easy. Even now i find all not so easy. Easy to me after designing a couple of machines and building them and being in the CNC world a couple of years. But things still are not "push and play", i would say far from it.

Right now i am into a couple of Facebook groups where printer guys speak, i see many real life problems with the machines priced 1000-3000$, that are ridiculous especially for the lack of support and warranty. To me its speaks: not well designed robust product.

[Chaz]

The bed is easy. The extruder/hotend is difficult as needs lot of experiments and tiny adjustments. Thats why most go with established combos. You say the linear motion and frame is easy, but then where are the good designs? I dont see any, and if i see some they are >1500euro

There is growing market even with the cheap Chinese printers. Many people will buy one only to upgrade at a later time when they find they can not make money with it.

I did not enter earlier as they seemed quite under developed and funny. Material was expensive, hot ends were ugly. In other words- unreliable expensive toy with no real world purpose / at least to me/.



I think-- how to combine all this is the key and offer sth reliable, well supported and most of all easy. Even now i find all not so easy. Easy to me after designing a couple of machines and building them and being in the CNC world a couple of years. But things still are not "push and play", i would say far from it.

Right now i am into a couple of Facebook groups where printer guys speak, i see many real life problems with the machines priced 1000-3000$, that are ridiculous especially for the lack of support and warranty. To me its speaks: not well designed robust product.

I agree, its on my to do list to get something out. Time however is not on my side, too much to do.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Today was a busy day, but while resting managed to finish printing a couple of popular cable guide chains and found that not one is working properly. Mehh, i was not into designing a cable guide but it seemed that i had to. Luckily having the printer at hand i did some prototypes and at the end i have sth that i am very proud of. Its strong, impossible to break and to break apart using normal force by hand and most of all moves freely cause i left the necessary clearances. if i further compromise a mm or two and make it bigger here and there , i can make it even to be printed assembled, though dint see reason to do that for now as its good as it is.

I wanted a cable chain not that i could not use just the proper flex cable, but because i would lke to be easily scalable, that means all has to be perfect from the beginning. So later just scale and do.

About the bed. Any idea what heating wire i could use to achieve the proper 0.4w per cm2? 12VDC , 24VDC or even better 230VAC ????? I would like to route the aluminum with channels and insert the wire from below. Certanly sb will know a silicone wire or similar that could do the job, instead of the ugly silicone pads?







in case anybody is wondering that is the proper way to print a cable chain links, i tried all possible today and thats how they are printed strongest:




Ok to be more exact like that:





By the way i would like to remind you that this will be open source so if sb needs some CAD, meanwhile i am finishing the drawing just drop me a line. I draw in Nx and can send you solids.

[magicniner]

It would be nice if the hot end could deal with printable wax, speaking as a man with a furnace or two ;-)

[Boyan Silyavski]

It would be nice if the hot end could deal with printable wax, speaking as a man with a furnace or two ;-)

Of course, speaking as a man also with a furnace or two :-)

But isn't that possible with the e3d hotend? I thought of using wax PLA filament with my neew printer, so when heated in furnace is similar to wax and dissapears. Or yo mean extruder head where wax is melted and injected into nozzle? I think that bearing will support similar setup plus there is almost none overhang if you look at pictures from side

[magicniner]

Of course, speaking as a man also with a furnace or two :-)

But isn't that possible with the e3d hotend? I thought of using wax PLA filament

I was thinking of this -

http://www.machinablewax.com/product.php?product=52

- Nick

[Robin Hewitt]

By the way i would like to remind you that this will be open source so if sb needs some CAD, meanwhile i am finishing the drawing just drop me a line[/B]. I draw in Nx and can send you solids.

Can you send me this as a .stl file
I don't need cable chain, I am just curious if my prints come out the same as yours.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Can you send me this as a .stl file
I don't need cable chain, I am just curious if my prints come out the same as yours.

Here are how parts come from the printer i use now, meanwhile waiting for the Prusa MK2. I use PlA 3d850, setting same as normal PLA but 230C instead of 200C, 50% infill, 0.4mm nozzle, 40mm/sec as the printer is very wobbly. Outside rectilinear. Parts are very strong.




Here are the files that are most possibly final for now. Note that the link still needs work, for now i heat with hot water when mounting together, then use pliers to straighten and when cold works perfectly.


motor mount.stl link.stl belt clamp plate.stl puley mount.stl

[Robin Hewitt]

I am halfway through a print, I will do a couple of links when it finishes