I designed a 3D printer.
I was going to try go it alone and make something of it but after a chat with a consultant for the 3D Printing association I've been advised to rather release it under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
It's a completely new Delta geometry, a Gimbal Delta geometry that has fewer part and is more rigid than traditional Delta 3D printers.
The inverse kinematics is also much easier and should present an easier load on controllers.
I've decided to show it here before doing a public release later this year or early next year.
I might also canvas for beta testers at cost sometime later if there is interest.
This is how it works.
There are 2 versions, the first one uses non-captive stepper and lead/ballscrews or servo's with encoders.
The non-captive stepper version is cheap but slower at 66mm/s and the servo with encoder is expensive but faster at 500mm/s and up, beyond what is feasible for 3D printing, but possible for milling/laser as another application.
These have very high technical resolutions of less than 5 microns but feasible printer is at 50 microns.
The second version uses a smaller stepper and is very cheap and very fast at 300+mm/s but lower resolution 75 to 100 microns.
They are very cheap to manufacture, all parts are laser cut from 5mm Aluminium plate except bearings, steppers and rods/lead screws.
Cost to manufacture including all electronics works out to be under R5k for the fast stepper and under R10k for the non-captive stepper/servo.
The build volumes on these printers are ginormous for the machine height, and it scales very well going up or down for minimal expenditure, just change the extrusion and rod lengths, everything else stays the same.
Simulations have shown high rigidity and and low flex, slop.
This is the non-captive stepper/servo lead screw version.
And this is the fast stepper version.
I cannot model a flexible belt and I've removed the idler pulley but the mechanics are understandable.
I cracked the inverse kinematics at 2am this morning so I can now start working on the firmware. I can share the kinematics if anyone is interested in it.
They are orders of magnitude simpler than the current Delta kinematics.
I was going to try go it alone and make something of it but after a chat with a consultant for the 3D Printing association I've been advised to rather release it under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
It's a completely new Delta geometry, a Gimbal Delta geometry that has fewer part and is more rigid than traditional Delta 3D printers.
The inverse kinematics is also much easier and should present an easier load on controllers.
I've decided to show it here before doing a public release later this year or early next year.
I might also canvas for beta testers at cost sometime later if there is interest.
This is how it works.
There are 2 versions, the first one uses non-captive stepper and lead/ballscrews or servo's with encoders.
The non-captive stepper version is cheap but slower at 66mm/s and the servo with encoder is expensive but faster at 500mm/s and up, beyond what is feasible for 3D printing, but possible for milling/laser as another application.
These have very high technical resolutions of less than 5 microns but feasible printer is at 50 microns.
The second version uses a smaller stepper and is very cheap and very fast at 300+mm/s but lower resolution 75 to 100 microns.
They are very cheap to manufacture, all parts are laser cut from 5mm Aluminium plate except bearings, steppers and rods/lead screws.
Cost to manufacture including all electronics works out to be under R5k for the fast stepper and under R10k for the non-captive stepper/servo.
The build volumes on these printers are ginormous for the machine height, and it scales very well going up or down for minimal expenditure, just change the extrusion and rod lengths, everything else stays the same.
Simulations have shown high rigidity and and low flex, slop.
This is the non-captive stepper/servo lead screw version.
And this is the fast stepper version.
I cannot model a flexible belt and I've removed the idler pulley but the mechanics are understandable.
I cracked the inverse kinematics at 2am this morning so I can now start working on the firmware. I can share the kinematics if anyone is interested in it.
They are orders of magnitude simpler than the current Delta kinematics.
