Hello from Indianapolis, Indiana

[Mazhar Khan]

Greetings folks, 

My name is Mazhar and well, I'm on a journey to build a pretty ambitious set up for my FDM needs. 

My goals are to be able to print very large scale automotive and other engineering grade parts using my Einscan H 3D scanner.

Given that PLA won't necessarily cut it for racetrack spec parts, the goal is to be able to print with high end thermoplastic filaments and pellets. 

I have a MAHOR V4 pellet extruder that is part of this build for the pellet printing (PEEK, PSU, etc...) 

I have purchased a secondhand network cabinet that is 9 feet tall, 4 feet deep and 3 feet wide. The unit is fully enclosed and thermally shielded. 

The intended build plate is a 2x3 foot sheet of FR4. (I have 2x). 

The idea being - does it make sense to have one pellet printer and a separate filament printer? Or would it be better to make one very large printer that does both, except it would be a matter of changing the print head. 

To complicate things more, my SMRT smart ass decided that the 12 slot ERCF module would serve this monster printer well. 

I'm assuming that I should start a build thread? Any tips and help along the way would be super appreciated. 

 

Thank you all. 

[Simon2.4]

@Mazhar Khan Hi and welcome to teamFDM. If you are here, I suppose it's because you like the Voron designs and would like some of that open source goodness in you highly custom printer(s). Its a fascinating project and would love to help out if I can. We are a Voron forum but I have no issue whatsoever learning more about custom building. I have built an oversized Voron myself and would invite you to check it out in the build diaries. I'M not 100% finished but it's almost done.

Here's my thought on your intro 1 - do you already have access to a printer that can handle ABS or ASA; you are going to need that to make your parts. this said, if you have never build a custom printer, I would start by building a 'normal' Voron to familiarise yourself with the build process, the Firmware, the software config, the issues... since the Voron build is so well documented, its a nice guided learning process and you end up with a printer you can use to build your monster. As for your monster, if your achieve good precision and print performance at that scale, it is advantageous to think about tool changers to maximize all that work you put in the gantry and enclosure. Though after tasting pellet extruders, you may find normal fdm a little slow

From my experience, the key to a successful large scale printer is the quality of the structure. Think heavy steel, stone plates, glass panes, concrete just like other big cnc's. mine uses alot of heavy glass. and looks great with that option. Since you are enclosing it in a cabinet you may think about something like a heavy steel exoskeleton to frame up the outside.

... I love this stuff 

[Mazhar Khan]

Dude! Yes. Reading through your build right now! Epic build mate. @Simon2.4

Edited March 14, 2022 by Mazhar Khan

[Demosth]

@Mazhar Khan - Welcome to the community! Thanks for the intro and I look forward to following more of your ambitious plans.

I think @Simon2.4 has great advice, build a smaller 2.4 or trident to understand the process and quirks of 3d printing before jumping into a HUGE project. Anotehr thing to consider, even with fast FDM printing, the time to build large scale parts is going to be an possibly 2-3 days or more of continuous printing.

I am excited to see your progress on such an ambitious build!

[claudermilk]

Welcome! This sounds like a fascinating project. Like @Simon2.4 and @Demosth stated, you would be best to build a standard Voron first, then take that knowledge to build the monster.

So, what racing series? What sort of parts are you planning on printing?

[Pappy3831]

Welcome to the forum. Wish I could be of any help but just from your intro I’m in the peewee leagues compared to you. Please start a build post so I can read it and learn. Sounds like you have an amazing beast of a printer in the works and I can’t wait to see you bring it to fruition. Welcome again and you’ll find the people here are awesome and of great assistance when you have questions. They’ve helped me so much in my build process.