Prusa i3 Aluminium Rework by Nutz95

Last crawled date: 2 years, 12 months ago

#Description:
This printer is a rework from another Chinese guy that came up with this build that we found pretty simple and straight forward to make.
#Updates:
**July 8th 2015: UploadedY_Axis_LM8UU_Holder.rsdoc: can be opened with DesignSpark Mechanical
**July 2nd 2015: Uploaded YAxis_8mm_Rod_Holder.rsdoc: can be opened with DesignSpark Mechanical
**July 01st 2015**: This model has been upgraded into this thing:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:891409
It's also available on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/3dmodularsystems/scalar-m-xl-3d-modular-printers-imprimantes-3d-mod, enjoy! (the new plastic parts will be coming very soon).
You can also see some videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aifqco3Ef18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEqcwTLVNc
**April 04th 2015**: add x_idler_v12_8mm.stl and x_motor_mount_v12_8mm.stl compatible for 8mm vertical rods
Also added Top_Rod_Holders_8mm.stl that are the top holders compatible with 8mm threaded rods
**April 01th 2015**: Add missing build_plate_8.stl containing belt holder for Y axis and also x carriage
**Feb 08th 2015**:Updated some comments
**Dec 02nd 2014**: Added some link about how to choose your pulley and update length of GT2 belt needed
**Nov 22nd 2014**: Add Video of the printer in action
**Nov 14th 2014**: Update BOM
**Nov 10th 2014**: Uploaded some new pictures
**Oct 26th 2014**: Added Aluminium Hot end V1.1 supports.
**aluminium_hotend_v1.1.stl** is the full plate updated
**aluminium_hotend_v1.1_box.stl** is the E3D hot end holder box alone
**aluminium_hotend_v1.1_support_for_e3d.stl** is the non box support for E3D hot end
**build_plate_4_v1.1** is to be used with M6X12mm screws. It seems that the previous version needed M6X10mm to properly fit the Aluminium profile with it's Tnut. You will neet M6x12 or M6X10 Hex nuts to use with this plate. Else you might have troubles to screw them inside their respective holes, or you will get stuck later on when mounting the stepper motors..
**Oct 16th 2014**: Updated provided coupler to 5mm-5mm coupler. the one uploaded before was for openbeam 1.4 (5mm-8mm).
**Sept 12th 2014**: I updated all parts containing belt tensioner because the tensioner was not long enough and y axis tensioner holder box didn't allow the belt to go inside when the tensioner was tightened at max position.
Also i removed the "ball bearing bumps holder" from the tensioner and replaced the bumps by special clamps made for 608zz ball bearings.
The clamps properly fit inside the bearing and you will have easy access inside the tensioner. Plus the bearing was shaking because it was not properly hold in place inside the tensioner. Those clamp solve that issue.
#Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNrM8R4_1w
#Features:
* The aluminium extrusions makes the whole design very rigid.
* The aluminium extrusions are cheap :
About **50€** for 8'' printer and **60€** for 16'' printer)
* The extrusion frames are very easy to scale on any direction you want
#Requirements
##Hardware Requirements (quick BOM)
If you want to use all the same extrusion here is what you need
* You require 7 pieces of Aluminium extrusion (3030). All of the same size:
**7 X 45cm** for 8'' printer
**7 X 66 cm** for 16'' printer
* You also require a few meters of **8mm smooth rods**. Depending on the size of your printer you might adjust the length of the rods. for 16'' printer we used 6 8mm rod of 1Meter each.
**Note**: For Y Axis you might want to use 10 or 12mm smooth rods (the provided plastic parts however only support 8mm smooth rods. ) SBR-12 rail are also quite nice for this axis. the main point with them is that they cannot bend due to build plate weight.
For those you will require some different plastic part to keep the rails in place. I'll provide all those models in another version of this printer very soon.
* 1 Meters of 5mm threaded rod. (5mm will work only if they are straight and they don't bind. Other way prefer 1Meter of 8mm diameter threaded rod but the provided plastic parts needs to be adjusted however.).
* 54 x M6X12mm
* 54 x TNuts for above M6 screws
* 12 x LM8UU linear bearings
* 4 x 608ZZ ball bearings
* 4 x springs for heat bed support
* 1 x hobbed bolt M8 for wade extruder
* 4 x M8 Spacers
* 2 x M5 nuts
* about 10 x M3 screws
* 1-4 x MK2A/MK2B 8'' heat beds
* Either 20x20cm mirrors (from Ikea or any hardware store) or 20x20 cm glass to put over the heat bed for plastic adhesion.
* 50mm Kapton tape is also recommended to prepare Heat bed thermistor
* 360W power supply for 1 bed. (if you wonder how much power a 3D printer use please check this (https://nutz95.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5361)
* you will need **at least 220W** per heat bed if you wire them in parallel. You might require less if you wire them in series but you will heat them slower. 280-300W per bed can be nice if you take into account current peaks.
* 1 Static relay 24A DC (SSR25-DD) per heat bed, so if you choose 4 heat beds you'll need 4 of them. Also, as each bed will use about 200w each make sure you use the proper power supply or have multiple power supplies.
* 1 microswitch (we used small omron ones for Z probe)
* 2 standard end stop microswitch (for X and Y axis)
* 3 Meters of GT2 5mm belt (you might consider 3 to 4 meters for 16'' version)
* 2 GT2 16 teeth pulleys (you can also print them but buying aluminium ones is a good thing if you consider long term low maintenance)
For more information about Pulley size and how to choose one please see my post here: http://nutz95.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/reprap-how-to-choose-your-pulleys-for-your-3d-printer/
## Electronic Requirements:
In this part you can take any 3D printer electronics as it's a generic design with only 1 extruder.
For the 4 heat beds you might need an additional solid state relay in order to provide the power from a separate power supply.
For people starting in 3D printing, here is what we used:
* Cable kits for 3D printers electronic can be useful (you can get some for about 5€)
* Hot end (you can use any, we are using E3D-V6/Prometheus one and we also recently mounted a AluHotEndV7)
* depending if your hot end has bowden ptfe tube built in or not you might require to buy a 1m PTFE tube if you want a bowden style 3D printer.
* You can either buy a whole 3D printer Ramps 1.4 electronic kit but if you consider having good prices i suggest you buy every component separately (it's cheaper).
So you will need:
* 1X Ramps 1.4
* 1x arduino mega 2560 R3 (or similar)
* 5 x A4988 stepper stick
* 1 Rep rap Discount LCD (optional of course but very useful if you want to use your printer in stand alone mode).
* 1 thermistors (I suggest 3950-1% thermistor because they are easy to find and also supported by marlin firmware but you can take original EPCOS 100K thermistor if you can find any)
* some 1 or 2mm thermal shrinkable tube might be require to isolate your thermistor also.
* If your hot end has is not prepared for bowden and you want this style of printer, you will require 2x **push in fitting** connectors adjusted to your PTFE tube diameter. watch out for English pneumatic metrics here it's 1/4 BSPT male connector you will want for outer diameter)
* **Stepper motors**: we mounted 5* Nema 17 42BYGHW609 or 42BYGHW804 from wantai. on ebay you can find free shipping from either : china/us/Europe(Germany). They can sell you directly 5 or 10 units and the price is very nice.
They are 1.7A, 1.8*) 4000g.cm 40mm high. Quiet, small and cheap.
The best I found was 42BYGHW804: 1.2A, 4500g.cm 64oz-in 48mm high that always stay very cool and quiet. But i couldn't get any more from directly from Europe.
#Misc
## Reference Designs:
Original design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:322025
I used the following modified parts in order to deal with my different parts:
* PneufitAdaptor for JHead:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:324406/#files
* Auto Bed-Leveling Z-probe for Makerfarm Prusa i3 with E3Dv5 hotend
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:222861
* Z-Probe Aluminium Prusa
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:441146
* AUTO LEVELING Z-Probe for Makerfarm Prusa i3
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:222861
* i3 Prusa X-End to strain the timing belt
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:332071
* J-Adaptor To Pneufit 1/8"
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:324407
* prusa i3 jhead holder 5mm sunken nut with servo mount ver-3
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:363373
* Universal X Carriage
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:97719
* Aluminium i3 Y Idler
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:441151
* Parts from original Greg's extruder:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:65939
About the Aluminium Extrusion:
You can take any Aluminium Extrusion type you want.
The parts are designed however to be fixed on 30mm Aluminium extrusions bars.
The shape of the slot has no real importance.
On our side we bought in Europe the aluminium parts at
http://www.motedis.fr/shop/
You can find a German and English alternative.
The whole chassis on the picture was about 70-80€ including T-Nuts aluminium corners (L shaped supports) and plastic fits.
Screws:
The holes are made for M6 screws.
You might require 50xM6X12mm and about 25xM6x16mm screws.

##Optional Parts:
-Prusa_i3_x_pneufit_Adaptor =>Only needed if your hot end has no bowden connector built in
##Additional Notes :
* About Z probe Holder: make sure to select the one appropriate for your build. I provided a few but maybe they won't fit either your micro switch or the length will be wrong.
* About Hot end supports:
I put 3 different supports. 1 contains 2 supports for E3D like hot end (you will notice the top of the head that is supposed to be used for holding it in place is larger than standard Jhead hot ends)
Another 1 is for standard J-Heads.
* The model in the photos is with E3D hot end with bowden tube built in.
Of course, if you have any questions or require more photos feel free to ask!