# Just Showing Off My Printer



## cs900 (Sep 21, 2016)

I'll never claim to be a really good machinist, and I certainly can't say i'm any good at 3d printing, but you'll never get better unless you do it. So in the spirit of learning I decided to make my own printer. And by make, I mean design from scratch and machined it myself. So anything that looks custom machined, absolutely is. Now I can't take all the credit, my brother Chris designed the belt drive routing and help machine a few of the parts, so my hat's off to him. It runs off the Marlin software which I have configured for my application. It's also got a lot of cool things like: 
 - integrated limit switches
 - AC mains heat bed
 - 24Vdc nozzel heater
 - linear ball bearing slides on all axis
 - double lead screw design for the Z axis table
 - mic6 build platform
 - and of course the cool LCD display! 

If any one wants build photos i'll be happy to upload some later, but for now enjoy the (mostly) finished photos.


----------



## JimDawson (Sep 21, 2016)

Very nice work!  That's an interesting drive system, took some major thought.


----------



## brav65 (Sep 21, 2016)

That is a beast, looks like you could support a small spindle for light duty CNC!  Nice!


----------



## cs900 (Sep 21, 2016)

brav65 said:


> That is a beast, looks like you could support a small spindle for light duty CNC!  Nice!


 funny you say that, the mounting of the head is modular, and I fully plan on making a print head and mill spindle configuration. Print it to near net shape, and finish with the mill.

thanks Jim. The pulley configuration is actually based off an old chinese slide rule table design. It works great, and is very easy to scale if I ever wanted a larger print area.


----------



## Boswell (Sep 21, 2016)

That is an awesome printer. How are the prints?


----------



## TOOLMASTER (Sep 22, 2016)

where does the paper go? ;-p


----------



## cs900 (Sep 22, 2016)

Boswell said:


> That is an awesome printer. How are the prints?


Great.....when I get the print settings right, haha.

Toolmaster, they make wood filled filament, does that count?


----------



## Boswell (Sep 22, 2016)

I have not tried any of the wood filled filament yet but I have made some O-Rings with NinjaFlex.


----------



## cs900 (Sep 23, 2016)

Neat, they work well?


----------



## Boswell (Sep 25, 2016)

cs900 said:


> Neat, they work well?



They worked great for what I wanted them for. I was not make a seal but rather adding them for grip on a handle and cosmetics. I cut several groove in an aluminum handle (1" Round Bar)  and then printed square cross section round rings using the NinjaFlex. so they both had the same O.D.  Then stretched the "o-Rings"  [not sure what to call them because they have square cross section and not a round one] over the handle and into the grooves. They added a nice bit of color and a friction grip to the smooth aluminum. I was able to stretch them out and into place with no breakage and they fit very nicely. Looks like I don't have any pictures  .


----------



## brino (Sep 25, 2016)

Hey cs900,

Very nice work!

I am extremely interested in build photos, and anything else you'd like to share about the build.
I am "watching" this thread so I don't miss them.

What is the outer frame size?
What is the max. print envelope?

Thanks,
-brino


----------



## cs900 (Sep 26, 2016)

thanks. I'll get a bunch more pictures. They are all on my grabcad account, and I have yet to figure out how to share them without needing a log-in first. but if you have an account, you're welcome to try and look at them.

https://workbench.grabcad.com/workb...72S7I7asxT9WX2rIEYfHl9sFtogp1#/folder/1615607

also, I was curious how uniformly the bed was heating, so i borrowed my buddies flir1. Pretty neat stuff, and looks pretty uniform. I'm happy with it!






Underside has a bit of variation, but that MIC6 table seems to even it out well





And just for fun, the E3d volcano head:


----------



## Wreck™Wreck (Dec 11, 2016)

Very nice work.

You have knowledge of the printing game, how far away is compositing other materials to replace what is now done by powder metallurgy?


----------



## cs900 (Dec 11, 2016)

you mean like this?


----------



## cs900 (Dec 21, 2016)

not to get anyone too excited, but looks like santa will be bringing me another E3d volcano assembly as well an an IR differential prox sensor, so duel heads and self leveling bed are just around the corner...


----------



## Groundhog (Dec 21, 2016)

Please keep us posted. You've done a super nice job and it is something I am very interested in. I may want to copy a bunch of your ideas and build my own printer in the future.


----------



## cs900 (Dec 21, 2016)

Thanks 

and good news for you then. My CAD model is a free download on grabCAD.

https://grabcad.com/library/gli3dr-3d-printer-1

Take it, use it, and make it better!


----------



## rwm (Dec 24, 2016)

Fantastic looking machine. Please post some more on this. We would love to see some video and some prints. I am seriously considering a build like this.
Can you elaborate on the belt drive and why it looks so complex?
Why do you need a self leveling bed if driven by lead screws on steppers?
Robert


----------



## Firestopper (Dec 24, 2016)

Cool build, please keep us posted on this interesting project.


----------



## Groundhog (Dec 24, 2016)

cs900 said:


> Thanks
> 
> and good news for you then. My CAD model is a free download on grabCAD.
> 
> ...


FYI: the CAD model imports great into Fusion 360.


----------



## cs900 (Dec 24, 2016)

rwm said:


> Fantastic looking machine. Please post some more on this. We would love to see some video and some prints. I am seriously considering a build like this.
> Can you elaborate on the belt drive and why it looks so complex?
> Why do you need a self leveling bed if driven by lead screws on steppers?
> Robert


Here's a better picture of the drive belts.





There are a few advantages to my routing. 
1) it keeps the steppers off the moving part of the axis. Less weight and momentum to move around.
2) there are actually 2 separate belts that connect to the y axis mounts. This provides even force on both sides of the rail so I don't get any skew on the cross bar.

I'd like to add the self leveling so that if I put different media to print on (glass sheet, tape strips, ect) I don't have to readjust the z level limit switch. It'll just do it automatically. It also will adjust for the table being out of square for whatever reason.

I'll be happy to get videos of everything once i have everything reassembled. But for now, this is the current state:







Groundhog said:


> FYI: the CAD model imports great into Fusion 360.


fantastic, thanks for letting me know.


Also, fun story I went to update my firmware to add the second extruder today, and arduino wouldn't connect to the board. decided to try installing an older version of arduino. Well turns out when you reinstall arduino you have to remove the older version. Would have been fine, but my backup sketches were in the arduino folder. Soooo when it uninstalled the old arduino it deleted my backup files. So I get the pleasure of re configuring every thing. Just an excuse to tune it better!


----------



## brino (Dec 24, 2016)

cs900 said:


> Just an excuse to tune it better!



....and to start making backups of your backups!
-brino


----------



## cs900 (Dec 24, 2016)

well i had backups, they just happen to be located in folders that the installation of the new arduino deleted as it uninstalled the old version. Lesson learned, and i keep them in a completely separate folder now, lol.


----------



## rwm (Dec 24, 2016)

This is great. I'm torn between building my own printer or just buying something like a Makerbot for my first attempt. It seems pretty formidable just mastering the software. Any advice?
I still can't figure out the routing of those belts. It looks like an Escher drawing!
What is the cylinder next to the printer?
R


----------



## cs900 (Dec 25, 2016)

Yeah, it's hard to get a picture of all the belts in one shot. Maybe this will help:

Y axis. Drive wheel is circled and the termination of the belts is pointed too. Belts is the grey lines, there are 2 for the y axis.




X axis: annotations are the same.




That cylinder is my plastic injection molder

As for the software I'm not an expert by any means, lol. So marlin is the name of the firmware that runs on my arduino. You use arduino to edit everything.


----------



## rwm (Dec 25, 2016)

Got it now. Crazy. Is the plastic injector used with the printer somehow or coincidentally pictured? I assume your printer uses filament?
Robert


----------



## cs900 (Dec 27, 2016)

Hey Robert,
It's a pure coincidence. The printer runs on standard 1.75mm filliment. That said, I keep all my failed prints as I can grind them up and use them in the injection molder! recycling at it's best, lol.


----------



## Catcam (Jan 8, 2017)

I note you said that the heat bed is ac mains powered. Is that mains voltage? 110volts ac?
Also the extruder it appears tob be mounted on them gantry, have you considered a Bowden type with the mass of the drive mounted remotely. It greatly reduces the moving mass of both the x and y axis.
Thoughts?


----------



## cs900 (Jan 8, 2017)

Catcam said:


> I note you said that the heat bed is ac mains powered. Is that mains voltage? 110volts ac?
> Also the extruder it appears tob be mounted on them gantry, have you considered a Bowden type with the mass of the drive mounted remotely. It greatly reduces the moving mass of both the x and y axis.
> Thoughts?


Yes sir, the bed heater is 110VAC run thru a solid state relay.

I considered a bowden set-up, but I've heard they have a real hard with the softer and more flexible materials. They are also a lot harder to tune for oozing and the retraction settings. Ultimately I want a reliable printer, and I thin direct drive is the way to go. And besides, with the linear bearings I can zip the head around at 1200mm/sec with a single head with decent acceleration. I'm working on the second extruder head now, so we'll see how it goes with the added mass.


----------



## rwm (Jan 8, 2017)

Very pretty!
R


----------



## cs900 (Jan 8, 2017)

everyone likes action shots right? Enjoy that depth of cut!




My brother liked it so much he wanted a set. All done short of drilling and tapping everything. Figure I'll make him do a bit of the work, haha.


----------



## cs900 (Jan 16, 2017)

making more progress. Made some filament guides to hold the filament straight as it enters the drive gears regardless of how bent it is.:




also made a completely overbuilt mount for the new IR sensor that i'm using for the z axis limit switch/bed leveling system:




and installed:


----------



## cs900 (Jan 17, 2017)

thanks guys. 

I could plug everything in right now, and it would function on a single (left) head. I still need to make the bearing arm for the right hand extruder before it will function well, but past that it's just software configuration.


----------



## rwm (Jan 17, 2017)

Very nice.
Just curious what type of CNC mill you are using?
Robert


----------



## cs900 (Jan 17, 2017)

Hey Robert,
It's a PM45 that I converted to cnc looooong before they offered a CNC version.


----------



## cs900 (Aug 31, 2017)

So updates on this printer. I've been using it since I got everything "finished" (like any good project it's never really finished). The dual extrudes have been a PAIN to work with. It's nearly impossible with my current configuration to get the two heads even at the tip. Even after shimming and getting it right, as soon as you change out the nozzle(s) it's thrown out again. So back to the drawing board! And while I'm at it i've decided that I hate the motors being mounted on the head. Not only do I have to slow the printer down to accommodate for the added weight, they chew into my usable print area by sticking out so far. So the next logical choice is a bowden set-up....oh heck no! Nina flex is still one of my favorite filaments to play around with and that's just not going to happen with a bowden. So I'm embarking on a journey that few had ventured so far...a flexible drive cable. And I know what you're thinking already, "what about torque flex in the cable?" Excellent question Gary. I'm going to attempt to mitigate the flex by using a worm gear at the drive end. I 'm hoping that any flex that does happen will result in so little movement at the extruder gear that It will be inconsequential.  But only time will tell, so stay tuned for the next leg of the the Gli3DR build as she goes under the knife yet again!


----------



## cs900 (Sep 11, 2017)

Slowly making progress. Machined out the first side mount for the flex drive. I also sacrificed one of my cheap dremel flex cables for the prototype. Still need to make a clamping bracket for the outer cable sheathing. and everything for the motor side of things.


----------



## cs900 (Sep 14, 2017)

Got the cable shield attached and the extruder mounted up. Its looking fairly promising at this point, but the proof is in the printing!


----------



## cs900 (Sep 18, 2017)

Made some progress over the weekend. Made a new adapter plate to mount the new extruder mounts to the x axis head. I also got the lever arm that pinches the filament against the drive wheel made up. Still need to make the mount for the other extruder, but i think i may get this side up and running first before expending the effort. And as a bonus, the new adapter plate give me another .5" or so of z height.






You cans also see my easy height adjustment that I've incorporated into this design. The idea being I can home the z axis and then use a gauge block under the nozzle to set the probe height repeatably every time between both sides. There is a boss on the back side of the mount that fits tightly into the slot in the adapter plate so even when i adjust the height everything stays nice and square to the table.


----------



## Qdeathstar (Oct 23, 2017)

I am building a corexy now... I think that corexy machines are superior to h-bots.... I tried flex drives but didn't care for it, not to mention it makes designing an enclosure more difficult... maybe keep your original design w/ pancake steppers to gain more y...


----------



## cs900 (Oct 23, 2017)

I'm not too worried about making an enclosure at this point. Nothing I print needs to be super precision. 

what specifically about the flex drive did you not like?


----------



## Qdeathstar (Oct 23, 2017)

You need an enclosure to print with abs..


I was using it on a delta so not as big of an issue here, but I think it caused effector tilt because of the way the drive chain pushed on the effector. It also increases stepper noice because the stepper spins a lot faster because of the high gear ratio.


----------



## cs900 (Oct 23, 2017)

Qdeathstar said:


> You need an enclosure to print with abs..
> 
> 
> I was using it on a delta so not as big of an issue here, but I think it caused effector tilt because of the way the drive chain pushed on the effector. It also increases stepper noice because the stepper spins a lot faster because of the high gear ratio.


Interesting. That has not been my experience with ABS as I regularly print it on an open makerbot replicator duo (the original wood one)

What part do you mean when you reference the effector? The print nozzle?


----------



## Qdeathstar (Oct 23, 2017)

A core xy doesn't have an effector I do not think. it is the thing the arms on a delta connect too.

It depends on what you are printing with the abs, if it is a small part you will be ok because the abs doesn't cool differentially. If you are printing a large object with thick walls you will definatey need an enclosure.


----------



## cs900 (Feb 7, 2018)

Ok....so been a while since I gave any updates, but it's alive again!


__
		http://instagr.am/p/BeuAdvPDl35/

I evened up frying by last board somehow...still not sure what happened, but it no longer would communicate with the computer. So 1 new board later and a complete rewire job it's mostly working again. I have all the axis tuned and heaters and fans working again. Just need to tune the new extruder and set up the new Z probe again (that also got fried somehow) and I'll be back in business.

the astute will also notice this is a mirror assembly of the ones pictured...that's right...I now have 2 cable driven extruders!


----------



## DangerZone (Nov 21, 2019)

I hate to dig up old threads, but this is exactly what I've been looking for. I've been interested in 3D printing for a while and I'm leaning toward building my own very similar to yours(Like I need another project to take up my time...). I really like the idea of building a 3D printer that might be upgraded or serve double duty as a CNC router one day. I've got a few questions though.

How did you decide on the size? It seems to me that when DIYing a printer, there's almost no constraint on size other than possibly the lead screws (I haven't looked at these very much yet). Otherwise, slightly longer pieces of aluminum and drive belt shouldn't be hardly any difference in cost.

Also, everyone seems to use this extruded aluminum for the frame. I get that most of the 3D printing community doesn't have the same capabilities as this forum, but I would think that using steel square tubing, and welding it together might make things a fair bit stiffer/heavier particularly if it turns into a CNC router.


----------



## cs900 (Nov 21, 2019)

DangerZone said:


> I hate to dig up old threads, but this is exactly what I've been looking for. I've been interested in 3D printing for a while and I'm leaning toward building my own very similar to yours(Like I need another project to take up my time...). I really like the idea of building a 3D printer that might be upgraded or serve double duty as a CNC router one day. I've got a few questions though.
> 
> How did you decide on the size? It seems to me that when DIYing a printer, there's almost no constraint on size other than possibly the lead screws (I haven't looked at these very much yet). Otherwise, slightly longer pieces of aluminum and drive belt shouldn't be hardly any difference in cost.
> 
> Also, everyone seems to use this extruded aluminum for the frame. I get that most of the 3D printing community doesn't have the same capabilities as this forum, but I would think that using steel square tubing, and welding it together might make things a fair bit stiffer/heavier particularly if it turns into a CNC router.


no worries man, that's why it's here!

The size was an easy choice for me. I salvaged most of the extrusion from some pieces of custom guarding that my work was throwing away and they were already cut to length. If i were starting from scratch i'd size it based on available linear rails or heating mats (assuming you want a heated bed). Yes you could make a giant frame, but i'll tell you if it's not super rigid and you get any bow in your frame, it's going to cause all kind of alignment and first layer issues. But it's very scaleable if your using wheels on the extrusion iteself and some belts.

I'm sure you could make a steel weldment but you may have a very hard time keeping everything flat and planer when welding. That may not be a problem, but it'll take a lot of fidgeting to shim everything to where it needs to be. Steel is also fairly terrible at vibration dampening, which is why you don't see a lot of steel tube CNC machines. Steel filled with sand or epoxy granite might work really well though.


----------



## davidh (Nov 21, 2019)

im not sure ive shown any pix of mine.  started as a router idea, 1 x 2 base frame and verticles. . . added a 3-d print head to it and the other things it needs, still not done with the wiring in the control box. . .  it will fit thru a 34" doorway but takes two strong guys to lift.  life keeps getting in the way


----------



## brino (Nov 21, 2019)

DangerZone said:


> I hate to dig up old threads, but this is exactly what I've been looking for.



No problem on this site, jump in!



DangerZone said:


> Also, everyone seems to use this extruded aluminum for the frame. I get that most of the 3D printing community doesn't have the same capabilities as this forum, but I would think that using steel square tubing, and welding it together might make things a fair bit stiffer/heavier particularly if it turns into a CNC router.



I'm with @cs900 on this.....


cs900 said:


> you could make a steel weldment but you may have a very hard time keeping everything flat and planer when welding



It is difficult to keep anything square when welding a frame. It's the same reason that Dave Gingery stated when he went for bolted and then hand scraped ways for his 'machines from scrap' series.

-brino


----------

