Well, the 2020 extrusion as with any material will be less rigid the longer that it is. Longer material has a greater moment arm when any force is applied to it, so it becomes easier to bend, and relatively weaker as well, so the amount of flex that it will have with any applied force grows exponentially. This is a reason to make the printer as small as possible while still able to manage what you do with it.
You can increase the rigidity of the frame by adding side panels which anchor to the frame and help support it, but this is of course at the cost of additional material and mass. Speaking of mass, the longer the X rail is the more it weighs and flexes as well. The MP3DPv4 uses an unsupported MGN12H rail for the carriage, so at some point this will become a limiting factor. Many CoreXY printers support the linear rail with an additional extrusion, but this also affects mass and limits the possible acceleration of the print head, mostly in the Y dimension.
IMHO, 300mm isn’t unfeasable. I have a larger volume on my MP3DPv3 and get excellent results, even though the gantry is even more flexible than this one. But it is a reason to keep the build volume as small as practical.
To be useful, I think that a 200mm cube build volume is a good target for all-purpose 3D printing. You can already slice a print that will take days in that volume. I have very seldom needed a larger build volume. The reason my Repeat build volume is larger is because of the parts I had ready mostly (A CR-10 build plate which is 300mm by 300mm usable area) as well as the MGN12H linear rails that I could easily obtain, and that I am unwilling to cut. Same with my MP3DP v4, where I had 300mm rails for Y and Z and got a 350mm rail for X to make for a 250mm cube build volume – this time I have a 235mm square build plate. I should probably have cut the rails down and just used 200mm anyway, particularly since I have the Repeat if I need the extra size. I am certain that the 235mm build plate would have fit inside the machine. Well, I can’t resist changing stuff, that’s why I DIY.
It might be useful for some to increase the strength, but it’s not like I’ve done a structural analysis. For a reasonable printer size, I think it will be fine in 2020, unless you have some 2040 hanging around.
I would probably do the X cross pieces in 2040 first, as they are the longest (for a cubed build) but I am not sure where rhe weakest link in the structure really is.
I think its a replacement for an Ender 10, but could be wrong. I modified the support plate to have 4 mounting locations that match the plate, because it did not support a 3 hole setup. My current V4 build is using a build plate that does have a 3 hole mounting solution.
Also, curious if anyone already has a V1E Shop order listing MP3DP v4 related parts they ordered from Ryan on 3D Printer Parts – V1 Engineering Inc ? Figuring on ordering what I can from V1E store before other places.
I have been trying to work on the actual instructions page but some how I blasted my git install and had bash errors for a few days. I found a workaround, and I am currently building another printer so I hope to add to the instructions page now. If you don’t mind I will be borrowing heavily from your mp3dp instruction page.
From the shop you can get
Control board
Steppers
Belt
Pulleys
Idlers toothed and smooth.
Endstops
A few wires for extending, stepper and endstops.
ptfe tube for reverse bowden
maybe some bed springs if you do not have some flexible tubing for the bed mounting. (not used for typical leveling just a soft mount.)
Wire sleeve for wire management
I have a bit of thicker wire available for power supply to board connection if needed.
I think that is it.
Still need extrusions and connections
Extruder
Power supply
heated bed
Screws, nuts, tnuts
Awesome. Cheers for clarifying components available from the Shop. Will order what am missing after rummaging through my existing stock.
Absolutely, happy to contribute when possible, ideally anything I write gets used/absorbed into more broadly used content. I don’t want to duplicate anything you’re doing, am happy to help contribute/review whatever you’re writing up as I do my build, just won’t be as quick as you though.
That’s great, didn’t expect MP3DP instructions to be a priority for you since you’re not selling kits, for now anyway… Honestly have no idea how you manage to balance everything.
There’s an increasing number of detailed MP3DP v4 build topics turning up now, those Makers have collectively helped me feel confident enough to tackle this project.
Every time I build one I do things a bit differently. This new one with the panels for sides. Seems a lot easier to do…it is not done yet. It is also forcing me to rethink wire management a bit. (Honestly, every time I build any of my machines this happens)
Unfortunately there is a good chance the same will happen to me…but I’m really hoping to make it better lol. Right now my concern is on making it function more than it is appearance.
Teethed idlers are need on the toothed side of the belt or you will see print artifacts of each bump. We use 6 Teethed idlers and 2 smooth ones for XY, On the Z axis we use 6 smooth ones.
(Z rail length + 100mm )*3
(Xrail + 100mm) *4
Yrail *4
That should give you plenty of extra.
5 pulleys
yes
yes
5 Steppers
Not optical, and we only use 2. The omron on teh store. work great as well as the red roller ones we used to use.
