C*H*U*D's 3D Printer

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

You inspired me to work on my little laser cutter for side projects!

Do it!

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

What is your linear bearing material/bearing like a reamed Delrin block?

I'll get to that in the next post, but this one will explain the where and why.


This is actually one of the first parts I made from the Solidworks assembly I downloaded. Keep in mind that assembly was done years ago, and there are now much better ways to do this. If I had to do it all over again, this part would be the first thing I would change, but since I had it made I decided to go with it. This was made from some smoked polycarb we had laying around:

Cost: Free



Before I get into the bearings, here is how the Y-Axis connects. First is the leadscrew nut from a previous picture. I machined it down to .5" and drilled and tapped two 8-32 holes through:



I needed a way to adjust the nut vertically, so I made this mount real quick last Saturday. It was from some scrap Delrin we had.

Cost: Free



Finally it bolts to the Y-Axis tray and the nut bolts to it. (in this picture, everything is upside down).



I'm trying to get more pictures done tonight which will show the bearing choice and why I went that way, but I may not be able to get this updated tonight since I have some packing to do.

[Crawling Calvin]

Lookin good so far! I just got to figure out my design and get started is all

Keep up the good work and keep inspiring people... sometimes we just need a nice little starter idea to get things rolling!

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

Lookin good so far! I just got to figure out my design and get started is all

Keep up the good work and keep inspiring people... sometimes we just need a nice little starter idea to get things rolling!

I have a buddy who is building a PCB router right now...he's on here too so maybe he'll do a thread. I was starting to lose some interest in this until he said his goal is to cut copper by New Years, so that got me motivated again

[Charlie-III]

Not your printer, but a "new one" that is out for "cheap"... Deltaprintr: a quick, tall 3D printer for under $700 (video)

[C*H*U*D]

That's based on the Rostock style of printers. We have one at the local hackerspace, and it's pretty interesting to watch. They have the largest print volumes, but usually don't get very good reviews as far as print quality goes.

If I had to do this all over again (which I probably will when this one is done) I would lean towards this:





This one is made by Lulzbot which is just up the road from me in Loveland. They are a full open source company and put all of their designs online which is nice. I plan to get their hot end and maybe extruder once the holiday spending comes to an end.

LulzBot TAZ 3 3D Printer | LulzBot

[C*H*U*D]

The original design used a roller bearing on the top and bottom of the y-axis rods. I started looking into using LM8UU linear bearings but the cost was too high. I already had the 3/8" rods which were free, and converting over to 8MM hardware would have cost just under $200.

I found some skate bearings on Amazon...30 for just under $20 shipped. One thing I didn't think about until after they arrived was the cost of the hardware. Metric hardware is much more expensive here, and all I could find quickly was stainless. The hardware cost me more than the bearings

Bearings - $20
hardware - $30



The delrin blocks are slotted so I can adjust the table up and down on each corner. The set screws are to help hold things in place while I tighten down the M4 bolts.



The original plan was to have a bearing on top and bottom with a third on the side to keep things tracking straight. This wasn't working out since the bearing OD was a bit bigger than I thought. I decided to ditch the bottom bearings, and look around for some smaller bearings to mount on an angle. I found these 1/4" bearings at work and I made some mounts for them.

Cost - Free



I can't remember why I didn't put them on a bit more of an angle...I think there was some kind of interference problems. Anyway, they still hold great and the table is not easy to pop off of the rails. It's also super smooth, so I'm happy with it for now. If I had gone with a different Y table design like I said in an earlier post, I could have made this setup a bit nicer, but for now it will do.

[C*H*U*D]

I spent the morning getting everything installed and hooked up. I'm using a simple Arduino/joystick to run it back and forth.

Y Axis - YouTube

I'm going to hook up the Z-Axis next.

[BigSki]

It looks like kittah got it up and running for you.

[Crawling Calvin]

Your method of making the axes move is a lot different than I had expected but it makes a lot of sense if you have any misalignment in the rods or diameter differences that could jam up a regular "bearing"

[Indetrucks]

Very nice indeed!
Subscribed!

Have you ever visited the website Shapeways? A lot of people sell their 3D projects and creations on there.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by BigSki

It looks like kittah got it up and running for you.

My girlfriend thinks this looks like our cat. I said, "Sure if she was blue".

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

Your method of making the axes move is a lot different than I had expected but it makes a lot of sense if you have any misalignment in the rods or diameter differences that could jam up a regular "bearing"

Like I said in the beginning, most of what I'm doing is because of what I have on hand and what is free or almost free. If I had to do a lot of this over again, it would be different.

Originally Posted by Indetrucks

Very nice indeed!
Subscribed!

Have you ever visited the website Shapeways? A lot of people sell their 3D projects and creations on there.

I have seen that site. I believe there is a member from here who uploaded his MRC Portal knuckles there.

So I actually spent some time on this tonight, and thought I'd give a quick update on the Z. The lead screws we had laying around, but I had to work with the leadscrew nuts that came with them. I was also working with the bearings that I had purchased earlier. I'm showing the Z guides in the first picture, but I'll get to them later.



These are the nuts I had to work with. I just machined in a square for the boss to fit into:

[Duuuuuuuude]

Making your own delrin lead screw nuts is pretty easy. They were my first major project after buying my mill.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Making your own delrin lead screw nuts is pretty easy. They were my first major project after buying my mill.

I actually remember when you did that. The leadscrew I had laying around came with the nut already. Machining in the small rectangle for the tab was pretty easy, and the captive cover was also easy to make.

[C*H*U*D]

I spent some more time downstairs tonight. The 5/16-18 all-thread I had on top was too short, so I picked up another on the way home.

My original plan was to have the Z-axis guide rods inboard of the leadscrews, but I figured I could get a bit more X travel if they were outboard. Luckily the stainless rods I had were long enough for the change.







I've never owned anything that I've had to take apart and reassemble as many times as I have with this printer.

[Fumbles]

Wow Juan,

That thing is coming along nicely. Reminds me of a DC10 simulator we used to have at work. It was supported inside a superstructure and it looked like a giant spider - we used to call it the "Arachnoid".

[C*H*U*D]

I'm heading up to Loveland this Friday (the town not the ski area) for the Lulzbot open house. I've been planning on using their extruder so I hope they have some specials running.

Assembled 3D Printers, 3D Printing Parts, Filament, & more | Lulzbot

[C*H*U*D]

I was able to head up to see the Lulzbot crew last week. It was pretty cool, but I was hoping to buy an extruder and that was not to be. Their printer farm was pretty impressive though:



I have my electronics now. It's a basic Arduino Mega with a standard RAMPS board.

Price: $136



This board was one of the second things I made. It needed some changes but it still worked:

Cost: Free





I made this during lunch today. It's the X-Axis motor mount. I'll make a mirror of it next week for the bearing:

Cost: Free







"Super Shop Cat Roxie" wasn't very impressed with my lunchtime endeavors.


She felt it needed a bit more "Savoir Faire".


I need a less-French cat.

[Fumbles]

Simply fascinating watching this come together!

[C*H*U*D]

I was able to machine the mirror part the other day, and I was also able to get the bearing mount done today. I had a piece of Polycarb that was just the right size so I used it instead of the usual white Delrin that I've been using. I wanted it to match the shape of motors. I might add some LED's into later...just to make it fancy

Cost - Free



I got a bunch of parts in from OpenBuilds yesterday, and the bearings were in there.

Bearing - $1.00



4 bolts come out. I did it this way so that I can remove these motor and bearing mounts without having to take the Z-bearing blocks off at the same time.



Then the bracket goes on with 4 new bolts



Super Shop Cat Roxie was on hand to inspect. Looks like it passed.



And this is where it sits for now.



I'm going back down to start wiring. Roxie is ready to start drinking beer and rocking out to some Old School Dio.

[toybuilder]

Nice work, Juan! Will the extruder hang straight down between the x-axis bearing rods?

I'm going to stop by and help with the Dale's... uh... I mean wiring...