3D Printer Build - BLV to Voron Trident conversion

[Brass_Machine]

Hi All,

With the amount of amazing printers that are out there for purchase, this may just be an exercise in skill building. However, if some of these consumer grade printers break or the company goes out of business, support and parts are difficult to get a hold of. These printers, while the print fast and have amazing quality, they are NOT open source (I am looking at you Bambu)

That said, I have built a couple of 3D printers that easily keep up with the high end consumer printers. I have built a few Voron Design printers. A while back (4 years or so) I bought parts to build a BLV MGN Cube because of the print volume. I never got around to building it.

I want to build a larger printer and utilize the parts I currently have for it (Waste Not, Want Not).

I have found some info on converting the BLV frame and building a Voron Trident with it. I will eventually add the Enraged Rabbit Carrot Feeder multi material unit to it so I can get cool multi colored prints out of it.

Any interest in seeing a build log? I havent done one in a long time.

Eric

[awemawson]

Of course Eric - need you ask !

[BillTodd]

Yes.

I'm still working on my Leaspfrog  to Frogspawn conversion.; redesigning the extruder yesterday.

[Brass_Machine]

Yes.

I'm still working on my Leaspfrog  to Frogspawn conversion.; redesigning the extruder yesterday.

How is that going?

3D printing is cavernous sinkhole that just pulls you in... before you know it, you have a wall of printers.

[BillTodd]

3D printing is cavernous sinkhole that just pulls you in... before you know it, you have a wall of printers.

I have three, but intend to break the first one I built  - They are bloody useful things (when they're working).

Well, I left it at the end of the last year working OK (segmented bed working etc.) but, when I returned to the other day my resin printed stepper motor end-plates had distorted and jammed due to creep.

So, as a quick fix , yesterday I redesigned it to use the stepper motor with its metal end-plates , it reprinting now after a fail yesterday (too cold I think) .

Next is to design a new extruder with a different (lighter) motor with a mechanism to allow the hot-end / filament guide to be swapped out (with the long-term aim to have a tool changer)

[Brass_Machine]

I am taking the parts for this:



And building this instead:



Voron printers are a proven platform. They print amazing. There is a huge community behind these open source printers.

The print volume should be 350mm x 350mm x 400mm (or so). The build plate is 6mm cast aluminum. The bed will be fully Kinematic.

Fully enclosed but no active chamber heater. I plan on building an open source AMS (multi material unit) to feed the printer with.

I will be using a LDO leviathan control board. A LDO Nighthawk "umbilical' tool head board. A Raspberry Pi 4 with klipper will control the show.

A Nevermore Stealthmax will be used for filtration. I print almost entirely in ASA.

Will be using 9mm belts instead of 6mm belts for motion control.

I have been printing parts for this for weeks. Ordered parts have started showing up, I am getting close to build time...

Eric

[BillTodd]

I'll be following along 

Stop press; another resin print fail, not enough support structure. I replaced the FEP film a few days ago and the clean unscratched surface get too much of a grip on the part.

[Brass_Machine]

...
Stop press; another resin print fail, not enough support structure. I replaced the FEP film a few days ago and the clean unscratched surface get too much of a grip on the part.

That sucks.

I have a resin printer here. Have had it for 10 months and have not printed with it yet. Any tips?

[BillTodd]

Tips:

Wear gloves always. The reasin is nasty stuff and will burn if you get it on your skin BTDT.

Temperature must be above 18°C  (65F?)  .
The material heats as it polymerizes and shrinks as it cools (just like casting) , minimise solid volumes

Object orientation and support are important.
Position part to minimize cross sectional area of each layer.
The fep is trying to pull the part off of the build plate and, until cured, the resin is quite soft, so supports ideally need to be like little tripods .
If possible, add sacrificial support in cad to ensure clean edges

Avoid suction cups , i.e. areas that are fully enclosed that will collapse as the plate is pulled away from the fep film. The slicer has a hole punch tool to make ventilation holes if necessary.
Supports will leave marks, so orient parts with details up on build plate

 Shake well before use and close cover before striking;-)

[BillTodd]

Oh and...

Select the correct bloody resin !   

[Brass_Machine]

I have started printing the required parts.

Most of the parts I have been printing on my tiny Voron 0.2. It is a fantastic little printer. Sits by my desk and prints almost non stop.

Going to start cutting the frame in the next day or two.

[Brass_Machine]

Some of the parts I have acquired for this build:

LDO Leviathan controller: It has a spot for a Raspberry PI (to run klipper) to mount directly to the board.



I am going to pair that to a Nitehawk Toolhead board



That will give me 1 cable to the toolhead.

[Rester]

Definitely interested in seeing how you marry the BLV frame with the Trident and especially that Carrot Feeder integration.

[Brass_Machine]

Definitely interested in seeing how you marry the BLV frame with the Trident and especially that Carrot Feeder integration.

Won't be too hard as I am not actually using the frame, but disassembling it, cutting, drilling and tapping the pieces and reassembling into a Trident like shape. One of the posts above shows a re-framed BLV (the silver printer) into a trident.

oh, and the fact someone else did most of the hard work. B2V Conversion on Github. I am using some of his frame dimensions, however, I am making mine taller and doing something different with the bed.

[Brass_Machine]

Spent some time last night disassembling the BLV frame and then cutting, drilling and tapping.

The end result is this pile of extrusions. Ignore the mess and dirt. The frame has been sitting in my shop as I have been building the shop out. So it was/is coated in dust... now swarf too!


Eric

[Brass_Machine]

Got the main part of the frame assembled and on it's printed corners (for the electronics skirt).

It stands about 31" (about 79 cm) tall and is about 22" (about 56 cm) deep and wide. The actual build plate will be 355mm x 355mm.

I have to order some more things before I can make any more progress.

Also, I am starting to consider a different open source AMS. The Box Turtle looks very interesting.



Please ignore the mess in the workshop...

[BillTodd]

the box-turtle certainly looks better then the mad carrot thing :-)

Good to see you're making progress 

[Brass_Machine]

the box-turtle certainly looks better then the mad carrot thing :-)

Good to see you're making progress 

I think so too. Trying to figure out if it can scale to more than 4 colors/filaments tho.

[Brass_Machine]

Got a bit more work done on it while I await parts.

Started getting the gantry together. Also printing parts for the boxturtle AMS.

Going to try to get the linear rails for the gantry cut today or tomorrow.

[Brass_Machine]

Once again, as I go to work on this build, I figure out that I have either a. ordered the wrong thing or b. didn't order at all. Hence, me building this thing slowly.

I started to build the build table portion because I SHOULD have all the parts...


...I didn't have all the parts so only got half built .

I got the bed heater mounted up and the carrier frame built. Ordered the correct bearings for the bed mount. Hope to have them in by the end of the week.

[Brass_Machine]

I also got all the linear rails mounted for the gantry. Originally had MGN12's for the Y axis. Would have been fine had I stuck to the Vanilla plan. But NOOOO I had to go and get the metal/9mm belt mod for the Trident. Which meant I needed mgn9 rails for the Y Axis. Of course I didn't have any, so, had to order a set and wait...

Finally arrived and I was able to get the rest of the gantry mounted up. I still need to mount the A/B motors and string the belts. I ordered a cnc'd metal stealthburner mount. As soon as that arrives I can do the belts.

[Brass_Machine]

I also cleaned and greased the 3 linear rails for the Z axis. I then add the motor mounts. For giggles I popped the bottom plate in to see how it fits...

[BillTodd]

Looking good 

[Brass_Machine]

Ok. The bearings came in today. So, I started to assemble the Kinematic bed mount for the printer and have encountered another issue. IF I wanted to build it based solely on the B2V conversion based above I would be OK. However, I want to use the Kinematic bed mounts and WobbleX for the Z screws. Since the BLV MGN calls for MGN12 rails on all axes, the B2V conversion is designed for MGN12s. I have since discovered that the stock Voron Trident uses MGN9s on the Y and Z axes. I found this out when I went to mount the 9mm belt (instead of the 6mm belt) for the gantry. The aluminum parts are designed to use the MGN9. SOOO I ordered 2 MGN9s for the Y axis.

Fast forward to setting up the bed and Z axis. Again, stock Voron Trident uses MGN9s while the conversion uses MGN12s. I have mods that require the MGN9s. Now I have to order 3 more 500mm MGN9 rails. They wont be here until after Christmas 

FYI, this is the WobbleX mod:



It is designed to help reduce "Z Banding" which is a strange artifact from using Acme screws on the Z axis. Printers that use belts for the Z, usually dont see it as bad.

I got some other things done. I finished up the skirt; glued, added heat screw inserts and generally got them ready. I also got the bed frame done and the rest of the parts mounted to the bed. Which, I am going to take apart and rebuild anyway! 

On to more waiting...

[Brass_Machine]

After much researching and testing, it looks like I need to replace one of the frame extrusions to get the motor mounts for the Z axis to fit properly. Ordered... again, nothing until after Christmas 


I will be printing replacement parts until then.