Nearly done with ‘Voyager1’ - Using Tension Assisted Ball Joints.
Originally shared by Tim Jacobsen
New Tension Assisted Ball Joint Delta printer nearly complete! Can’t wait to have this baby finished. Have it plugged in and moving delta kinematics all sweet, next is to cut a circle out of some glass which I failed at, need to find a glass cutter. Then get the hotend and extruder installed. It’s name is Voyager1
String tensioned or something else?
Looks like belts to me. solid and heavy. Nice job.
ive been looking into the tensioned arm ball joint setup for my kossel too, i would be interested in any details you are willing to share.
Cheers. The system is completely open source. I’ll release the plans once I have it working well. Build volume is pretty easy to increase, for this one I just need to make larger hex plates. This is really just a prototype, the little bugs are already crawling out but all in all I’m pretty happy with it. The build volume should be about 280mm diameter once I rearrange the end effector. I’m using the same rods from my other machine which are shorter than I want, but I’m in a hurry for a TEDx event tomorrow to show it off lol. +Mathew Q the tension assistance is in the kite rods parts not the belts, sorry I’ll put some better photos up soon .
The 12mm rods are 760mm and 114mm between centres btw, to give it extra support when milling…
Good Luck at your Event! Every generation of machine gets better… So many choices So little time…
Local custom round glass is pricey ($25 for 6" 1/4in glass), internet sourced is cheaper, but when it’s 1/8" narrower than you need, it throws a wrench in things. I used zipties to take up the space.
If a reasonably sized square piece of glass can be made to work, you may find it substantially cheaper, tho looking at your build, I could see it being rejected for aesthetic reasons. 
Sure. I am going to try cut a hex shape in a rather flat mirror I have a straight lines are way easier. I’m only doing PLA so not concerned with heat warpage. Tried doing circles yesterday and smashed a few oops!
Oh and the weight of this thing is nearly 20KG’s!!
the benefit of having a company do it for you is the ground edges…I used a 1/8" mirror and it was unable to handle the thermal load and cracked, I also ground one to size and spent quite a bit of time cleaning up glass shards in and around the belt sander.
