I am a Newbie, wanted to build my own 3d printer because I would want to print larger projects, I am into large scale R/C Trucks and Quadcopters. Most 3d printers on the market (that I can afford) are only have a small area of printing. If I would build my own I could make it print the size I need. I have read a lot but just have not seen the max size of a custom printer…I do like the smoothieboard,So just asking if there is a limit on size…Many thanks on any help
Imported from wikidot
Smoothieboard does not have any limit on size, and is used in many large-size machines.
Your main concern here, is going to be : you want to make your machine very sturdy. Don’t make the mistake of just taking a normal machine, and lengthening the frame, it will not work. You want a sturdy frame, or it will not print well.
The second problem, is the bed. The bigger the part, the harder it is for the parts to adhere to the bed. You probably want to put lots of work into that.
Cheers.
I prefer Delta printers but as the print bed grows so does the need for faster processing speeds in your controller. I’m currently designing one with a 24" bed. It will be interesting to see how the Smoothie does. It handles the 14" bed I have now very well. The 8 bit RAMBO would slow to a crawl at the outer edges when printing arcs and sometimes skip steps on a rapid move from the edge to the opposite side. Smoothieboard doesn’t even notice it.
Thank you for the information, I am trying to use my Cartesian Style CNC, it is medium duty and not finished yet, I see that the smoothieboard can do both cnc and 3d printing and maybe Laser cutting too. (multipurpose machine)… Is there a lot of changing or reprograming the board if I switch them around to the different cnc,3d,laser. I am trying to save by doing three kinds with one machine. I read that the board can do all.