Beefier Makerfarm i3V 12"

[jheikkila54]

Good Afternoon!

I have just completed a major overhaul on my Makerfarm i3V 12". A quick history, I have had for almost a year, I have added many mods/upgrades over the year including going from a single hex extruder to clough42's dual E3D v6, adding a milled aluminum bed, and other various upgrades. This time is different, however. I have replaced many wood parts, went back to a single extruder, and have designed all the parts myself rather then looking for mods online. Below I have posted pictures and explanation of the picture. I have not printed anything yet as it was late last night when I finished this, but I will post results. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

IMG_0813.jpg
- This is an overview of the printer. As you can see I have replaced the front of the bed rail with a 20x40 aluminum extrusion and have created a new idler for this.
- Replaced the back of the bed rail with a 20x40 extrusion as well, this was very much needed as the bed weighs a good amount more now. I also added a 20x40 extrusion between the two Z extrusions. This piece was the trickiest due to having to cut away the aluminum to allow for the bed to move properly, this added a LOT of strength to the Z axis's.
-I added a 20x20 extrusion with corner brackets to the top of the Z axis.
-Replaced the wooden bed frame with a custom aluminum one, nothing special just a square piece of aluminum with holes drilled out for wheels and heat bed mounting
- Replaced glass with milled aluminum with a PEI top
- Secured the entire printer in 6 locations to the work bench (which is also secured to the wall)
- replaced the x-carriage with an aluminum gantry plate
- replaced clough42's dual extruder to a bowden/direct setup (i rather not use gears and to use all metal, but didnt want to do a full bowden setup, so I came up with this)
- replaced the x axis mounts to the z axis
- replaced threaded rods with 8mm acme rods

IMG_0814.jpg
Here is an upclose of the redesigned z axis motor mounts. I have to make some adjustments to these yet, but they work for now.

IMG_0815.jpg
Here is a good view of the cuts made to the extrusions for the bed movement as well as other various upgrades. I used a meter-saw and dremel to cut out the pieces from the extrusions.

IMG_0816.jpg
This is a good view of the extruder. Works great, still need to design the cooling fan tunnel/bracket

IMG_0819.jpg
And this is the printer covered with my custom enclosure. I have not finished wiring it in yet, but does a great job and the LED lighting up top helps quite a bit.

If you want any other pictures or have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am excited to see what this thing can do.

[beerdart]

Looks solid..

PS you may want to rotate it 90deg prior to printing.. LOL

[adamfilip]

Looks great. can you post the STL files for the Zmotor mounts

[hernejj]

Tons of great upgrades here. Thanks for sharing!

[TopJimmyCooks]

What's the purpose of mounting a Bowden extruder on a moving carriage? Seems like you're getting the worst of both worlds there - the annoyances of Bowden without the accompanying light weight end effector.