Could we have some context? 
Absolutely! Although, I can only give out so much as many of the details have been requested to remain non disclosed. I am currently a summer engineer intern at a very large manufacturing company. We outsource a lot for 3D printing which has been quite expensive. My first assignment when I got hired on was to design our own custom in house 3D printer. I’ve been building printers for a few years now and have lots of experience in industrial design and CAD so this was right up my alley. Unfortunately plans wont be released for this printer nor will we be going into production with this. It is a one-off unit. hopefully I will be able to discuss more about this machine later but for now this is all I can share.
looks great!!!
did you fix the crooked beltpath?
How do you handle auto spooling new material when it runs out? With print volume this large I could imagine that happens often.
@Jordan_Cohen We left enough room on the back to hold extra large spools. But normally we calculate prints by volume and approximate weight and then add a safety factor to find out how much plastic we need. Im not sure if we have anything yet that automates the process incase we run out. Im not the one that will be using this though. In a few weeks its getting shipped across the country to another plant of ours.
@Rene_Jurack Myself and a few others have been looking into possible fixes. Do you have any info that goes over the downsides of not having the belt parellel?
@Blake_Dunham re belt path, if the moving parts (any segment that changes length) aren’t parallel then the total length of the belt run varies with head location.
This causes issues because you can’t tighten the belt properly, or one position is slack and another; too tight.
To prove it to yourself, try drawing up the belt path geometrically, and calculating total belt length for two positions. (Eg Pythagoras for non-perpendicular segments)
Like @Patrick_Barnes said:
- variable belt tension depending on the position of the head
- position error of the head because of variable belt-path length and therefor the kinematic system
- “unprofessional” appearance, because it looks like the creator doesn’t know what he was doing (no offense)
@Rene_Jurack what parts of it would you consider unprofessional looking?
@Patrick_Barnes The crooked belt path. It’s a coreXY. The belt on the variable lengths needs to be rectangular to work properly. On this design it doesn’t.
I always wondered why you don’t see more direct gear motor on toothed track rather than belts? No tension issues, always perfectly in sync with it’s axis. Doesn’t that make more sense?
@Jordan_Cohen Backlash, expensive, heavy, loud, …
What is backlash in this context?
Backlash meaning being able to move the carriages a little even when the machine is stopped or the carriages not reacting immediately to a movement change. Rack systems that don’t suffer from the symptoms are expensive. They can be decently quiet but running them at high speeds can be loud.
Ah, I didn’t know that. Cool.
Hi, any update on this printer? Pls post some pics of the build. Yes, you told that the printer is not for sale.
But, the design is looking good. So, if we have some photos on the parts, it will be great.