Chris makes topological terrain maps in 3d, and has been chopping them up into taz-sized pieces to print them. The idea behind the Onodrim is to increase the x and y axes of the stock TAZ build volume by 300mm each way to allow for bigger topographical prints, among other things.
The additional challenges here will be modifying the design of the y-chassis to accommodate the larger bed, designing a new bed plate and heating solution, and coming up with a system that will allow adjustment of the level of the bed while minimizing any warpage of the bed.
I drew up a bedplate .dxf for the onodrim. I used a program I’ve never used before, librecad, to make it, and I haven’t verified that the file is readable by whatever software waterjet operators use, but I did have a friend open it up in SolidWorks and it seemed to be fine.
The bushings are spaced for rods that are 300mm apart and the bed should be able to use all the stock printed parts that attach to the bed (belt mount, bed corners and bushing holders).
Yep, just got the bedplate and the glass in today and it’s really heavy. We went to 1/4 inch for the aluminum and borosilicate. We used 10mm rods for the y bed, but they sag like crazy under the weight and are going to have bearings mounted to the frame, so the rods are only there to guide, not to support. DSouth is designing those parts now, so we will get them up as soon as they are finished.
Originally the plan was to run 4 300mm TAZ beds in a series of two beds in parallel (just arrange them so the effective resistance is as close to the same as 1 bed as possible) and just run PLA temps. The current plan is to have one 300mm heatbed in the middle of the glass for ABS, and to only use PLA to print on the full build volume. That may change as we get further into this build.
This is David South, staff at Idea2Product Lab at Colorado State University. Here is the STL of the part I designed in order to use a 608ZZ bearing (22mm diameter) to support the heavy bed weight of the Onodrim. It requires two M5 bolts,two T-slot nuts, one M8 bolt, one M8 X 30 button head capscrew, one M8 nut and two M8 washers.
Thats not bad at all for a first print. You’re going to have a life size giant octopus there. I like those bed bearing wheels. Do you have one right under where the X axis print head meets the bed in whatever position it happens to be in as well?
Thanks, there are 6, and two of them are pretty much directly underneath the x-axis. They are adjustable up and down. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.
Chris Geanious here. Am taking an opportunity to post about the experience of building the Onodrim at the Idea2Product lab at CSU Fort Collins at Mechanical Engineering. Want to thank Dr. David Prawel - Overseer of the lab, Kent Johnson - Then manager of the I2P lab and build partner, and David South - Engineering undergrad who provided much help in drawing designs for custom parts. Also, Lulzbot for being so awesome about sharing designs, files, sources. Funding for this project was provided by CSU Ventures as a part of a project funded in part by Warner College of Natural Resources at CSU.