Alright!
I’ve updated these parts of my design theory:
Z-Axis
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Switched around to a Maxwell-style mount – 10mm ball on the bed, couplers on the Rail Pieces
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For now, no Steel Spring Sheet. The plan is to mount the PEI directly to the bed for now, removes just one little bit of complexity.
X-Axis
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Steel Core was a bad idea. Switching back to regular Fiberglass-reinforced GT2 belts.
Frame
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Z+Y axis was Counterbored for 80-20 anchors.
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L brackets are not stiff enough for a large machine. I will be making custom corner gussets out of additional 2040 pcs that will go across the back.
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This will significantly stiffen the machine and doesn’t add much cost, only effort to properly counterbore the mitered pieces.
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Turns out Menards sells 8’x4’ ¼” HDPE sheets in black for around $50. This is what I’ll be using for my rear panel as well as the future enclosing parts.
Electronics
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Downgraded to 5” touchscreen, but upgraded to capacitive and higher-resolution
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Initially identified screen had compatibility issues with the RPI
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Will be creating PCB to take the power from any ATX power supply to split it out into its component voltages
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Will be capable of ~30A on the high-voltage side
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Has USB connector for 5V SB, so PI can be powered on at all times
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Allows remote wake up for scheduled prints
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PCB will be available for sale by itself.
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Mosfets will be used to provide polarity protection for units down stream
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Will be more costly than diodes, but avoids a pretty big voltage drop from a safety diode.
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Will be switching to toolchanger independent boards instead of the 3HC board, as the e3d Hermes seems to be the best option for modular tools
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Will have fully separated high-voltage and low-voltage sides – Means that when you’re operating on your wiring in the back, you’ll not have to worry about touching some powerful wires and getting zapped!
New features I want to try:
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Adding Spaghetti Detective support into duet!
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Automated tool addition with home “server” to allow for tool swapping between machines
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Automatic backlash calibration using probe
Some lessons learned:
Pieces bought from 80-20.net are significantly more expensive on top of NOT being the European standard. I was very used to being able to use hammer nuts in the European-style extrusion (drop in, don’t have to pre-place the parts/hardware. Would not recommend, but I didn’t know of any other places that had 20-4040 extrusion in the lengths I needed. It also didn’t tap on the ends as well as I expected it
Hardware, Hardware, Hardware – I’ve run out of every piece of hardware that I thought I had plenty of -m3x8mm for the linear rails, m5x8mm for the extrusion, hammer nuts, and a few other things. Crazy. Figure out what you think you need, and triple it. Just do it.
I’ll have a build log in the next few days posted with my current progress. Pretty pleased overall with how its coming together.
Stay Tuned!
