Hi all,
I'm starting into 3d printing, from scratch. I could buy a kit but I'd say what's the fun. I did robotics during my college years, using mostly salvaged parts so I'm not reeeally starting from scratch experience-wise. I salvaged some stuff going to the bin at work. Goal is to have a printer able to print some parts for a more advanced build afterwards. I have some questions to decide which drives and structure I can start and make from what I have.
-I got Aluminum smooth rods axes. They are 16 mm diameter. I'd go with plastic bushing, not ball bearings of course. I'd be afraid of static friction-induced "backlash" hysteresis, but if all lubrificated well I think it's OK?
- Freestanding rods? The rods are 55 cm long (can be cut ofc) They are tapped both ends and I can screw/nut them pretty tightly onto a 10 mm plate aluminum. Would wobble be a problem at these sizes? I'm not going to put a lot of mass up there, only an X axis with a gantry-style of printer. If it's out of the question I'd just add mdf to make a single plate prusa i3-like.
- Asymmetric delta? The rods and plates I got can be put into a delta-like position with plates on the bottom/top and three rods going up, but the triangle is not equal-sided, more like 25-27.3-27.3 cm. From what I briefly looked in the delta firmwares, I think it's hardcoded symmetric, but I'm not sure. I could just drill another set of holes (or slits, so I can correct misalignements). Add to that, a delta with a single rod, ain't gonna work
I'll probably post pictures so you guys can better see what's going on.
Cheers