3D PRINTING
How I Made My Big 3D Printer
By Joshua Henderson
November 24, 2020
Design
I designed the printer in Sketchup. The frame of the printer is made from 500mm lengths of 2020 aluminium extrusion. It uses MGN12 linear rails and is a Core XY gantry design.
1
Making The Parts
I used my CNC router to machine out the gantry parts from 4mm aluminium sheet.
2
Gantry Assembly
The Core XY gantry is assembled from the CNC'd aluminium and 3D printed parts. It uses two long belts that wrap around the gantry to move the extruder around the machine.
3
Extruder
One of the most important parts (if not the most) of a 3D printer is the extruder. I went for the E3D Hemera hotend and extruder.
4
I added a part cooling fan
And a touch probe for bed levelling
Finished Gantry
This is the Core XY gantry all assembled with the NEMA 17 motors added and belts tightened.
5
Frame Assembly
The 2020 aluminium extrusion frame goes together very easily with corner brackets to strengthen the frame.
6
Electronics
To drive the stepper motors I'm using a BigTreePro SKR board using Klipper firmware. The brains is the Raspberry Pi 3 running OctoPrint.
7
Finished
I'm very happy with the final result. I've used it so far to print a battery enclosure for my e-bike and also printed a whole guitar body (in four separate pieces)
8
See it in-action: