Large Delta printer build - advice and suggestions welcome

[Reefsider416]

Hi everyone, I have been given some aluminum extrusions and decided I would build a Delta printer with them.

The extrusions are pieces of a sailboat mast that has been cut up. Each section is aproximately 1.5m tall but once they are cut square and all the same length i figure I'll probably have about 1.3M left. I have decided to cut the extrusions so the steppers and sliders will be mounted inside the extrusions. I found a 15" aluminum Mag rim from an old sports car that i plan to cut down and use as the center rim of the printer that the extrusions bolt to. The bolt holes will be used for lighting unless the face ends up being too heavy for the top of the printer. I will probably also use 20x40mm extrusions to link each upright around the outer part of the printer to form the triangle. I am hoping to be able to achieve a 500mm print bed/area.

For electronics, I have an SKR 1.3 to use. I planned to use nema 23 motors for the sliders and I hope to use Hiwin rails and carriages if i can afford them. I am not sure what size is appropriate; I'm thinking 15mm but maybe someone can advise me on the right size? I will be liquid cooling the print head and maybe the steppers, the electronics will be underneath and cooled with fans. I would like to use the E3D Kraken 4 Head hot end with titan extruders but I may settle for the Chrimera or to start maybe even the NF W-01 with an e3d V6 block and heat break. I have the NF W-01 already.

I don't really have much experience with delta printers but i have been working on cnc machines and printers for a number of years. I am going to start by designing the components on Fusion 360 and then creating an assembly and seeing what I can come up with. I know the minimum angle to the bed should be 15-20 Deg. besides that i don't know a lot about building this or rules of thumb for a delta.I will post pictures and 3D files as they are created. If anyone has an opinion or advice please feel free to share it. It should end up being a pretty cool looking and very sturdy printer... I hope anyways lol.


Thanks for any input you guys have