Starting to look like a 3D printer

Been working some long hours in the workshop and made great progress on the Delta 3D Printer! I have the three main structural pieces and motor mounts finished. I have also almost finished the electronics enclosure.

Above you can see the three big white platforms that I have machined. They are like layers in a tasty 3D printer sandwich. The base and bed pieces or platforms make up the bottom part of the machine that houses the stepper motors and electronics.

On top of the bed piece is the heated bed pcb and finally the top piece sits right on top of the linear rods. It forms this long tower looking machine. Each piece is made from 10mm white PVC foam. The PVC foam is very light but surprisingly strong.

Due to my design I needed some horizontal holes made in the large structural pieces. I couldn’t do this with my CNC, so I made two little jigs to help me manually drill these holes. I made the jigs from HDPE which is self lubricating so it works well for letting a drill bit spin in it without losing any material.

Next is the Nema 17 stepper motor mounts. They are made from 5mm grey rigid PVC. Very basic design but should hold the steppers in nice and strong.

I’ll have a lot more updates to come as I get more done. I’m kind of just working on what I feel like, when I feel like so I imagine I’ll get the electronics in next and some wiring done. But definitely pictures of the electronics enclosure will be next up.