Building an OrdBot 3D Printer
I've been a fan of MakerSlide ever since building my ShapeOko CNC Mill, and have been interested in 3D printing since first hearing about the RepRap project in 2007. So when I first saw the OrdBot, I knew that it would be the printer I build. It didn't hurt that I had 10 feet of extra MakerSlide and a whole bunch of the special bearings and eccentric spacers left over from my ShapeOko build.
One of my goals was to build all the custom parts myself, the blue and black pieces in the photo above. Cutting aluminum on my new CNC machine pushed it to the limit, but worked out in the end. One of the larger OrdBot pieces is the handle, here is a shot of the ShapeOko making short work of it:
There are a couple parts that I modified or upgraded during the build. Most notably the Z axis. After reading about bent Z-rods I decided to get some ACME rods, and I wanted to use some spare Nema-23 motors that I had on hand.
The NEMA-23 motors for the Z axis were easy, I slightly modified the stock motor part to fit the new motor:
Attaching the ACME rod was a little trickier, but managed to hand fabricate a bracket with some 1/8" thick angle aluminum:
In the spirit of being thrifty, I signed up for one of the (now notorious) Qu-bd extruders during their kickstarter campaign. So far I've managed to get the extruder to work with a couple of simple motifications. Some more hand fabricated mounts and I had the extruder attached:
For the electronics I am using one of the first generation Azteeg X1 boards. So far I've been very happy with it (save for an exciting wiring mistake where I had the polarity backwards). I opted to run the wires through the hollow MakerSlide extrusions whenever possible. Here is the nearly completed wiring, I really appreciated the zip-tie holes:
After a few days of tweaking and calibrating, I'm getting some nice results. Here are some action shots with the machine up and running:
One of my goals was to build all the custom parts myself, the blue and black pieces in the photo above. Cutting aluminum on my new CNC machine pushed it to the limit, but worked out in the end. One of the larger OrdBot pieces is the handle, here is a shot of the ShapeOko making short work of it:
There are a couple parts that I modified or upgraded during the build. Most notably the Z axis. After reading about bent Z-rods I decided to get some ACME rods, and I wanted to use some spare Nema-23 motors that I had on hand.
The NEMA-23 motors for the Z axis were easy, I slightly modified the stock motor part to fit the new motor:
Attaching the ACME rod was a little trickier, but managed to hand fabricate a bracket with some 1/8" thick angle aluminum:
In the spirit of being thrifty, I signed up for one of the (now notorious) Qu-bd extruders during their kickstarter campaign. So far I've managed to get the extruder to work with a couple of simple motifications. Some more hand fabricated mounts and I had the extruder attached:
For the electronics I am using one of the first generation Azteeg X1 boards. So far I've been very happy with it (save for an exciting wiring mistake where I had the polarity backwards). I opted to run the wires through the hollow MakerSlide extrusions whenever possible. Here is the nearly completed wiring, I really appreciated the zip-tie holes:
After a few days of tweaking and calibrating, I'm getting some nice results. Here are some action shots with the machine up and running:
Nice build. I was wondering what you used for belt clamps.
ReplyDeleteHi Mike, I used a belt clamp suggested by someone on the ShapeOko forum. You can see more about it here: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=597&start=30#p9231
ReplyDeleteThanks Will
ReplyDeleteExcelent info on the belt clamp and Z Axis lead screw and nut in some of the other posts on that link. I was looking on Ebay and found a seller that goes by the name Rodon that sells a two piece clamp for 8.00 dollars. Probably the same one used on the origional Ord Bot build. I am building the Hadron verson and have most of the mechanical assembled. I went with the Gen 7 Ver 1.5 board for now and that just needs testing. Most of the metal work was ordered from Progware and some mechanical motors, V-grove, indle pulleys ect was ordered from Inventables.
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ReplyDeleteWhat kind of endmill and what were you settings to cut the plate? i was thinking of cutting the aluminum plate on my shapeoko
ReplyDeleteMy ShapeOko has a Dual-Y axis motor upgrade which is pretty much required for cutting something as hard as aluminum. Sometimes I'll squirt a little oil in the grooves while the machine is cutting but I've also let the jobs finish dry. Other than that:
ReplyDeleteFeed: 300 mm/min
Plunge: 50 mm/min
Depth: 0.3 (you might be able to push this a little higher if you don't mind cleaning things up)
Endmill: 1/8" 2 flute (this one)
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