Delta 3D Printer

Delta 3D Printer, Single hotends, Multiple hotends, Multi-colour hotends(printing heads), plastic filament and 3D prints .

 

 

Glass Delta

 


 

Scalable low cost delta printer with a 4mm window glass structure to enclose the printing area for a heated chamber. (six 900x300 mm glass sheets)
I want to be able to print ABS without de-lamination and lifting from bed problems.
The glass held in place by 6 x 5mm bolts and 20 mm T sections glued at the corners with silicone.
One or two glass panels free to slide at the front.
Top and bottom - 16 mm builders board.

 

Glass towers - two 35 mm x 4mm window glass strips joined with silicone with 60 degree angle between them.
Plastic glider with 4mm ptfe tube spacers between plastic glider and glass towers, lubricated with Wynn's Winflon ptfe superlube
(available at motor spares shops)
The towers can be replaced with aluminium extrusions if you do not want to use the glass towers.

 

Heated bed made from 600x600 ceramic tile cut to a hexagon as the base. The heater pad is an aluminium plate with 6 x ptc ceramic heaters(120 degrees C) stuck to it with motor exhaust putty and later with oogoo that was made from micro glass balloons and builders silicone.(I had the micro balloons from a previous project and used it as thermal insulation)
375 mm diameter printing area (glass bed 420 mm diameter)
Height of the heated bed can be adjusted underneath the printer

 

Braided fishing line driven system - tension can be adjusted underneath printer
The extruder is suspended by 3 cables and counterweight system from the alternate corners at the top
The weights move up and down as the extruder moves sideways while printing.
The sideways swinging of the extruder is limited by the 3 directional cables.
Even with quick infill where the hotend oscillate a lot the extruder does not follow the hotend oscillations
A short feeding tube connects the filament feeder and the hotend.
I use a all metal hotend with water cooling and a .65mm nozzle in the hotend.
The position of the hotend can be adjusted on any one of the 3 holding bolts on the effector.
For the arms I use a system promoted by Tim Jacobsen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM1ytIyH6BQ&feature=youtu.be Youtube file
I modified it a bit and use stainless steel pop rivets(2 mm shaft) as the balls and seat of the arms.
The seats are filled with epoxy and after it hardened I made the ball shape(half ball deep) with a dremel tool fitted with a ball cutter bit.
The arms are 2mm ID stainless tubes that I use to make the hotends(I had to buy a kilogram of it from the Aliexpress)
The line in between the arms is Spectra fishing line with a fairly strong spring in the middle.

 

The electronics and motors are at the top separated from the heated chamber - A fan sucks air in at the top center and the air exits the compartment above the motors, cooling electronics and motors at the same time.

 

It is a work in progress
I am currently testing my Tri-colour hotend on the printer.
More about it here

 

For the short term I need to work on a design to adjust the bottom and top of each of the towers in two directions.
Maybe lexan in the place of glass sides to reduce the weight of the printer.(will depend on the price)
Add more heaters to heat the space in shorter timeframe.

 

Possible problems
Stretching of the braided fishing line in the heated chamber - I had to re-tension the lines
Binding of the gliders - Up to now no problems
Creep in the ABS parts used inside the chamber.
Printing parts to big to remove without effort.

 

 

 

 

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