Chaucer - A Vertical 3D Printer
Description
It is modeled after a vertical milling machine. A light and fast print bed moves on the X-Y axis via stepper motor timing belt drive trains. The print head, or extruder is heavier, and moves on the Z-axis via a lead screw drive train.
RonSheely.com IronwoodLabs.com dots.IronwoodLabs.com
Instructions
Chaucer is a derived from an earlier printer designed by David Kennell, posted on thingiverse.com/thing:19891.
When I decided to design and build a printer that would help me develop a deep understanding of the 3d print pipeline, and to provide a test platform for high speed printing with multiple experimental print heads, I knew I needed to model it after a vertical milling machine. David's open source project, which he dubbed the Pocket Printer, gave me a great place to start. David's generous help was instrumental to my success.
The maximum print volume is: xyz = 160, 180, 110 mm.
The current print volume is set in firmware to xyz = 160, 140, 110 mm because I misplaced the heated print bed. I will fix that.
I will submit detailed instructions and files as time permits. If you need something, please let me know.
Here is a video of my first successful print. It's not perfect, but easily fixed. See youtube.com/watch?v=4djXJ5xvO8o
I uploaded the trapezoid foot files in both OpenSCAD and STL format. The scad file makes use of ruler model found at thingiverse.com/thing:30769 The foot is a modified version of the rear feet of the Pocket Printer.
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i am very interested in this and hope you continue to work on it and post the STL.
do you need beta testing of the files? i am willing to help
Hello Joseph.
Thank you for asking to help. Yes, I could use help. Do you use OpenSCAD? That is what I am using for design work. The printer has been working pretty well, given there is a lot of design work left to do. Once it was calibrated, and I didn't do anything rash, prints were okay. Yesterday, I had catastrophic failure. The filament tangled around the spool during a print. The printer is so light, it hoisted itself with filament right off the bench! Yikes. The filament broke off inside the extruder. That was easy to fix. The print bed fell out of calibration, and I'm tweaking as I type.I really need to improve the design of the x and y-axis slides. They require constant tinkering. I have an idea for an improved version. The print bed mounts are also unstable, and the y-axis platform that supports the print bed needs work too.My biggest problem is that this is my only printer, so it has to be stable enough to print its own parts. Before the filament tangle failure, it was working fine. I'm hoping I can nurse it back to health.Most of the parts came from Dave Kennell's Pocker Printer. He has posted most of the parts in STL. Dave has been a great help. He printed a set of parts for me. Unfortunately, some of my parts appear to be different than his STL files. I am attempting to reverse engineer all the printer parts. I will publish both the OpenSCAD and STL as I progress.How exactly would you like to help?
Oh my.
Thinking the feed went upward is not far from what I had in mind when I selected an architecture modeled after a vertical milling machine. Imagine the extruding print head can rotate about two axis such that we could print on the any side of the work piece. i think we could print a horizontal truss. This is something I want to explore in the near future.
Beautiful work! I'd love to see a couple of close up shots of your Z-Axis mounting system!
License
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How big is your build area, 20x20cm?
The practical mechanical limits are xyz = 160, 180, 110 mm, but I currently have the firmware set to xyz = 160, 140, 110 mm because I misplaced the heated print bed.