Finally getting back in the garage for evil experiments. I picked up a cheap 3d printer kit (OneUp) but not that happy with the design. Starting a rebuild to put together something that is structurally functional. Will be reusing the bought parts but going to a two z axis stepper setup.
I’d definitely recommend a frame made of something other than wood, unless you live in a very dry area. Moisture will cause that frame to expand and contract pretty significantly, causing issues with your bed level and squareness.
@Nick_Parker Thanks. It is all plywood that is going to be a lot more stable than if it were plain wood. It will also be sealed. Probably with epoxy as that is what I have on hand.
Are those plain bearings…UHMW-PE? … you may want two of them per slide on the Z. And be mindful of how close you place them to each other. Its mighty tempting to place them close together but plain bearings need more register than their rolling element friends do. Looks interesting though. I take it both the fixed gantry and the bed are some manner of boxed assembly?
Yes to the UHMW-PE. I have some bronze bushings and some ball bearing stuff if I don’t like how it performs. I have a whole stack of the blocks made up. I was just placing things together to see how they line up. I am going to mount the z-axis motors through the bed along with the stepper and bearing for the belt on the bed. I will probably take off the bearing supports on the bottom of the vertical rails and just bolt them through the bed. I have drilled and tapped the rails for M6 screws but I won’t know where they align yet until I get the gantry complete. The upright piece is just held on by friction right now. Still deciding between some 1/4-20 threaded rod and 1/2-10 acme screws for lifting the gantry.
The bed and gantry are 1/4 luan glued and stapled to 2" wide 1/2 in birch spacers. The bottom of the bed is open right now. I will be making a better body for it once I see how I like the design. I didn’t worry too much about aesthetics. This is pretty much a 3-d sketch. The only things bought in the pic are the rail supports. The rest was just scavenged printer and scanner rails and scrap ply.
Nice i like scavenged and reused parts 