Heaven help me - I've just bought a delta kit :-)

[curious aardvark]

these are just test peices.
Each one is currently different :-)

The third one will have wedge shaped rails for the horizontal struts.
Just to lock them into place. 2 Bolts each side ought to do it.
Might end up with more - depends if I have to make the base much bigger. Still not convinced the struts are long enough.
Looking at build plate I reckon I can extend each side by at least another 10 cm if necessary.

Mind you once you stick a couple struts into the corner pieces it looks pretty big :-)

The vertical strut does not need anything else. I have to hammer it in and out. This flashforge pla is tough stuff. I had some aluminium powder come out the last time - pla isn't scratched at all :-)

Been banging it on the floor to get it in and against the underside of the table to get it out.
Need a rubber mallet :-)

first 2 printed at 100mm/s - thought I'd do the 3rd one at 150 - just to see if it's still dimensionally accurate. Plus it cuts the print time down to 1 hour :-)

Meanwhile using flsshforge to make some 30x30 strutnuts :-)

Sorted :-)

3mm strutnuts1_640x480.jpg

3mm strutnuts2_640x480.jpg

Lock really nicely in place and can be tightened pretty much as much as the metal ones.
These use nuts for 3mm bolts - not sure if 4 mm nuts would be too big.
I'll see :-)
Nope - nuts don't physically fit the 6mm channel.
No problem I have a lot of of 3mm nuts and my local hardware store does well cheap different length 3mm bolts.
Given that these are sized for 30mm extrusion - not going to bother posting the stl. If anyone wants it - pm me :-)

They're actually better than the strutnits meant for the 2-x20 as they fill the slot and give a lot more surface area to grip with.
I'll see if I can break one.

Yep. Left a fairly deep gouge in the aluminium mind you.
I'll use the metal ones for structural joining. These will be fine for anything not under a lot of stress.

[curious aardvark]

Houston - we have a problem.

houston_640x412.jpg

The glass disc is the unused 200mm glass bed from the k200 - just for a bit of perspective :-)
The cardboard is 370mm - which once you add 10mm for bolts to the 350mm print area - is the size the aluminium plate will be.
somewhere down the line I bogged the maths up (are we surprised ? didn't think so :-).

Corner piece redesign I reckon.
Looks like If I make them a bit wider, it should do the job. Although making the strut holders longer would be a lot easier. I'll try that first.
I will measure it - but hey, I did that last time.
doh !

Oh yeah made a bunch of strutnuts:

strutnuts_473x480.jpg

***
added 45mm to length of struts - basically lining struts up with end of corners adds 45mm and is bang on size wise. So extrusion should have been 460 not 415.
Oh well, plastic cheaper than aluminium and there will be an aluminium baseplate as well. So it's not losing anything structural integrity wise. Right hope the new corner piece fits the printer bed.

Yep - and the 150mm/s print was just as good as the 100 and 75's - so that's good :-)


More once I've printed the new corners.

[curious aardvark]

Calculation wise I just scaled up from alexa. 1.7 something I think it was.
Would have been better making a cardboard mockup first. Or finding out if there was a standard calculation already online somewhere.
Well we live and learn :-)

given how much cornerpiece there now is, plenty space for the belts.
Hell, all it needs is a crosspeice and a hole - the crosspiece will further reinforce the corners as well. Can get them pretty close to the uprights without any problems.
Need to do the carriages first, I think.

Bought some £10 kg filament a few weeks back, that was supposed to ship from the uk. No sign of it, so presumably it's on the slow boat from china. A lot of amazon suppliers lie through their teeth about stuff like that ;-)
Shame as I'm running out of flashforge filament. Mind you, plenty of other stuff lying around.

Sliced the larger corner for the flashforge last night: 60mm/s - reckoned 6hours 54mins. Given that alexa knocks them out at 1 hour 48, didn't bother doing one on geraldine lol

***


bigcorners_640x349.jpg

So that's the right size.
Now need to move the upright sockets inwards and reshape the cornerpieces.

I'm getting there, slowly :-)

[curious aardvark]

So I ended up with this:

corner piece test.jpg

Somehow the non-rounded corners make it look more industrial - or maybe that's just me :-)

Anyway it will keep the sturts the right distance, while having the upright a lot nearer the horizontals (see, I do listen ;-)
It's also 40gms lighter, hour 23 print time. I also made the upright socket a half mm larger in both directions. Primarily because it's cold and wet out there and I can't be arsed to go all the way down the garden to get the rubber mallet out of my shed :-)

[curious aardvark]

given the sheer heavidutiness (yeah it's a word) of the 30x30 struts and corner pieces and the fact that I'll have reinforcing bars about 2/3 of the way up (also necessary for the control panel if the printer is on a desk) and an aluminium plate on the base. Also the commercial units will have a top aluminium plate as well. The BB will have a plywood top, so I can move stuff around easily.
Definitely only need one set of horizontals.
Don't forget, all the gear: steppers, psu, motherboard, will be top mounted.
Probably go for a side mounted filament holder, you won't want to stand on a chair to do it.
The only thing going at the bottom is the heated bed, which will be manually adjustable. After the recent threads - going to avoid topographical mapping completely. It's definitely not necessary as long as you have an adjustable bed.

Until I get the cupped magnets and wheels and pulleys - don't know how big the carriages will be - so won't finish the corner pieces with the pulley until I get those.

It does mean I'll need to print an extra set of corner pieces - but at 480 grams a set - I can live with that.
Finally found some decent priced wheels last night. Sets of 9 - so bought 2 - came in at £6.80 - so about 38p a wheel (under 50 cents).
White with bearings.
Haven't decided on final colour scheme yet - but probably go with white pla as it contrasts well with the silver aluminium. Plus it's really hard to see the print lines of white pla :-)
Or I might go with black - or red.

I don't really do colours lol

Currently contemplating whether to buy a set of metal nema 17 brackets or print plastic cages.
Probably go for the metal, for longevity. Plus they aren't exactly expensive.

Cost is currently at £270 and I think, just the printbite (and motor brackets) to go. Though I am also thinking about a volcano hot end with gears.
But should still come in under the £350 mark and that's with upgrading almost everything compared to the k200.

I'll get the frame up this week and cut the top board and maybe get the aluminium cut as well.

[curious aardvark]

So I can actually fit 2 of the new cornerpieces on alexa at one print - 3 hours at 150mm/s.
And one on the flashforge at 3 and a half hours at 65mm/s.
Looks like the 0.5mm nozzle also helps a bit too :-)

Got them down to 67gms.

[curious aardvark]

So here's the thing.
Printing stuff at speed with a fairly large bead - in this case 150mm/s at 0.3mm leyer height and a 0.5mm nozzle - is almost entirely down to how good your filament is and possibly what colour it is.
Must have wasted a couple of hours trying to get yusu black filament to do this.
Not a hope in hell. It's thick ad blobby and clearly only for use i fairly slow prints.

The mystery roll of red pla I bought a while back and was supposed to be sunlu - but clearly isn't, is now cranking it out with no problems.
Also ordered more flashforge as it's gone down to £12 and next day free delivery with my amazon prime.
The red flashforge is easily the best pla I've used since the original wood coloured reprapper-tech stuff stopped being made.
So threw in a roll of flashforge white and black as well.

Now the more I use different filaments, the more I believe it's actually a lot more to do with colourant, than it is with manufacturer,
For example Green filaflex and ninjaflex, prints easily on my replicator clones. But red tpu just won't print at all.
Alexa will print any of them. Which is counter indicative as she's a bowden.

Thinking there is something in the red colourant that lets filament flow better and keeps it that little bit more flexible.
But as no manufactuer currently lists pla ingredients - it's just a theory based on the last 3 1/2 filament usage.

And anyone who still believes pla is brittle needs to take a 30x30mm aluminium strut, wedge it into a pla corner and bang it up and down - hard - on a concrete floor.
I also threw one of the old corners up i the air and let it crash down on the floor - still concrete - it bounced, of course it did :-)

Got a little warp on the flashforge corner - forgot It was set up for printing really small things (strutnuts) and it needs a bit more smoosh for larger items.
Might work - we'll see.

[curious aardvark]

You still need the probe to manual level.

This mystery filament not as good as the flashforge.
dropping speed to 120 for next two pieces. :-(
lol still twice as quick as the flashforge. Plus I don't think I've ever had anything warp, even a little bit on alexa.

[mjf55]

So my CFO ( my wife ) just approved the purchase of my second printer, and based on both curious aardvark's and number40Fan's praise of the HE3d K200 printer, that is my choice.

A couple of questions:
1 - is 3dprintersonline store.com the best place to purchase it. I know that CA had good experience there, how about you, number4Fan?

2 - I trust you guys will be available to provide support as I build this? This is my first kit.

Thanks.

[mjf55]

Thanks for that. Ball ended allen wrenches seem to have the all on the long side, is that ok or is the short side preferred?
I already made my effector ( printed this one https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2417445 ) . Can you recommend a z-probe holder?

Whats your thoughts on dual extrusion? Is it worth while?