VZBot 330 AWD

[Penatr8tor]

Ohhhh Kayyyyyyeeeeee...

Time to build something fast. As the title says, I'm building a VZBot. I'm going with the AWD (All Wheel Drive), 330x330x330 size in black.

Mellow 3D VZBot 330 AWD

If you're not already familiar, this is a core xy with 4, 48v steppers on the gantry and is capable of printing at 1500 mm/s and 50K mm/s acceleration, but TBH... I would be happy to print at 300 mm/s.

What attracted me to this kit wasn't so much about how well it was designed, because it is, nor how fast it can print either. What blew me away was the hotend and extruder design. 

...and there are some other features which drew me in like the CPAP fan for part cooling. The thinking behind this being that because the fan is mounted outside of the print volume... you're always blowing cool air onto the part. Could be a good or bad thing, I guess we will find out once the printer is up and running.

Oddly enough, the printer is designed to not have a bed probe and instead the bed is manually leveled with screws at each corner. I can relate to the philosophy of, if it's setup correctly and the bed is flat... you don't need a probe but, I think every FDM printer can benefit from bed mesh so.... I also ordered a Beacon probe. Because who doesn't like probing the entire bed at 2000 mm/s 

That's all for now... Kit arrives on August 12th so we will see what we will see.

Cheers everyone! Looking forward to another cool build!

[Simon2.4]

Whoaa,  nice!  looking forward to following this.

[mvdveer]

Ohhhhh exiting!  Looking forward to this. See all parts are CNC- parts. What have they got for the enclosure - Aluminium plates with plexiglass?

My VZBot 330 is being prepared for an overhaul. Parts printed - waiting for the heatbed. 

 

 

 

[claudermilk]

Cool! Something different. Looking forward to following the build.

[Penatr8tor]

14 hours ago, mvdveer said:

My VZBot 330 is being prepared for an overhaul. Parts printed - waiting for the heatbed. 

...and here I thought I was breaking new ground LOL. @mvdveer I'm glad you're the one that already built one. I like having someone with experience around. 

 

 

 

...just in case.

[Buurman]

Like I mentioned in the other PEEK thread, I will buy this one too, Mellow CNC kit.

But I am VERY curious about your findings!!! I am going watercooled too, they have pretty cool prepared CNC stuff for it.

[mvdveer]

9 hours ago, Penatr8tor said:

and here I thought I was breaking new ground

You are - ALL CNC - a bit jealous. Mine is ALL. Printed parts. Cannot wait for this build diary.

[Penatr8tor]

19 hours ago, Buurman said:

Like I mentioned in the other PEEK thread, I will buy this one too, Mellow CNC kit.

But I am VERY curious about your findings!!! I am going watercooled too, they have pretty cool prepared CNC stuff for it.

Nice! Question on the watercooled hotend... what pump and radiator do you plan on using? I heard of people using an NZXT Kracken PC AIO cooler.

[Penatr8tor]

14 hours ago, mvdveer said:

You are - ALL CNC - a bit jealous. Mine is ALL. Printed parts. Cannot wait for this build diary.

The CNC parts were a big factor in my decision.

[Buurman]

6 hours ago, Penatr8tor said:

Nice! Question on the watercooled hotend... what pump and radiator do you plan on using? I heard of people using an NZXT Kracken PC AIO cooler.

I have been using that on for years on my PC, so yes for sure its good! I also want a cool tower though, AND possibly 2 sets, one for the motors, one for the extruder motor/hotend.

But havent made a decision yet, been looking on Ali too for sets... I think if you take not the cheapest model, you are ok. And you need flexible piping/tubes of course, I would go as thick as you can, cant have too much flow... so yeah, also take a reasonable pump. But there are good tower/pump combinations out there, I think thats gonna be my choice, and then have 2 towers, OR maybe take a stronger one and split them up, but I prefer 2 sets.

For two sets, this may be an option, but maybe I need a bigger radiator...

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32888175838.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2nld

But this store looks great too, then you can just buy exactly what you want/need.

https://nl.aliexpress.com/store/5792816?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.pcShopHead_1079006112.0

[Penatr8tor]

Agree on the Kracken, I'm running one in my PC for a few years now and it's a good unit.

I like the DNA coolant reservoir; it looks like the T-Virus from Resident Evil LOL. My kit comes with the Goliath Air and I think that will work to get things up and running.

I did buy one of these for $35 and will swap out the CF tube for it.

CNC X Beam

Edited August 6, 2023 by Penatr8tor

[Penatr8tor]

Well... Today was a red-letter day at the old Penatr8tor house. 

1st Layer...

2nd Layer

3rd Layer

4th Layer

5th Layer

Fasteners are sorted and nicely labeled; CNC parts are powder coated. 

If anything... it sure is pretty.

Goliath Hotend

I'm still waiting on a few things, maybe I'll build the frame tomorrow. In the meantime I still have parts to print.

[mvdveer]

Can I say it ..... I am jealous.

That kit looks good - well packaged, no layer adhesion 

So looking forward to this build!

[Penatr8tor]

1 hour ago, mvdveer said:

Can I say it ..... I am jealous.

That kit looks good - well packaged, no layer adhesion 

So looking forward to this build!

Yes, you can say it. 

Everything about this kit has been impressive so far. I expect the build to go pretty smooth. The CNC X Beam is going to take a week or so to get here and that gives me time to decide what im going to do with the two aluminum panels. I'll probably paint them, maybe vinyl wrap, don't know yet.

[claudermilk]

The whole gantry is pre-assembled? Huh.

[Penatr8tor]

1 hour ago, claudermilk said:

The whole gantry is pre-assembled? Huh.

Well it's sort of pre-assembled... It's assembled for shipping but you need to take it apart and replace the printed PLA parts with your own ABS/ASA printed parts.

 

I'm also going to try out a new tool I found on Amazon. This is a corner clamp. The square goes into the inside of the frame corner and then you use the clamps to pull the extrusions onto the square. (Pay no attention to my left foot LOL)

[thegrowingdude]

Looking great bro, loooking forward to seeing this build. 

 

[Penatr8tor]

Adding an Amazon link to the corner clamp. (left foot not included)

Corner Clamp - Amazon

[claudermilk]

So they spend time to assemble it with PLA (and to print the PLA parts) only for you to unbuild it and rebuild with your own ABS? That strikes me as odd, and inefficient. I'm sure there's a reason.

No! More neat tools!  I did very much appreciate having the 1-2-3 blocks for the V0.2 build underway right now. These take that another step.

[Penatr8tor]

Yeah, It strikes me as odd as well but, since I'm changing the color I don't mind so much. But Yeah, Agree Chris, seems counter intuitive.

Tools! Yes! Can't get enough cool tools LOL.

I built one of the corners for the frame with the new corner clamp and I must say that it really helped as it holds everything in place while you screw things together so I count that as $35 well spent, and I can use it for other stuff too.

 

[PFarm]

That one cool squaring tool! 

[Penatr8tor]

This weekend I'm working on the supplied aluminum panels. After a good bit of experimentation, I've concluded that trying to get a nice uniform finish from a rattle can is near impossible. Who knew LOL.

I tried satin black, flat black, hammer tone black... they're all fine for painting exhaust pipes and bicycle frames and the like, painting a 500mmx500mm flat panel... not so much. What I finally hit on, and yes, I considered vinyl wrap, was truck bed liner. A light spray from about 12" away nets a really nice uniform and durable finish. I used Hurculiner from the auto parts store. 

I also got my Beacon Probe in the mail.

I'm still waiting on my CNC X Beam. That will hopefully be here in a week. I did get a message from AliExpress saying that it had left China so a couple days to get to the US then a few more to get to me. At least that's my best guess.

[mvdveer]

Now that I really like - looking goood!. 

[Madz_3]

On 8/11/2023 at 11:55 PM, Penatr8tor said:

Yeah, It strikes me as odd as well but, since I'm changing the color I don't mind so much. But Yeah, Agree Chris, seems counter intuitive.

Tools! Yes! Can't get enough cool tools LOL.

I built one of the corners for the frame with the new corner clamp and I must say that it really helped as it holds everything in place while you screw things together so I count that as $35 well spent, and I can use it for other stuff too.

I have one of these clamps too and while at the time I thought they were to be the ultimate frame building tool (along with a square & a 1-2-3 block the same as you have) I have to say there is a much more less fiddly way to get the job done. If you haven’t seen them already, you should try out the CNC corner right angle square from Chaotic Lab. I know it’s not VzBot as it has a massive Voron symbol on it but hey it gets the job done. https://chaoticlab.xyz/collections/all-products/products/cnc-right-angle-ruler
BTW,  please don’t take this as I’m saying that your way of squaring up the frame is somehow doing this wrong or the tools you’re using isn’t good enough because I’m not. I just thought that you might find it interesting. Also good luck with the build, I look forward to seeing your progress. Cheers! 

[claudermilk]

But...it says it's just for V2.4 & Trident frames.