Building a Voron

[m_c]

Finished the Z drive bits tonight, which only involved assembling the 4 idler units -

Next thing is the build plate, but that involves drilling/tapping some holes, and I doubt I'll have time for the next couple of weeks, as I'm off on holiday on Friday, and I've got a few more pressing things to do before then.

 

[m_c]

Work has continued on this while waiting for the CNC lathe to churn out some parts this week.

After drilling some holes in some ecocast plate -

Making it magnetic -

And making it electrificated -

The build plate is almost ready to install.
I just need to get some wagos to connect the thermal fuse inline with the heater pad wiring, then I can bolt it down.

 

[m_c]

A bit more progress tonight.
A/B Drives and Idlers assembled -

And started assembling them on to the extrusions -

However the M3 T-nuts (inner of the two at each end) -

Are a bit too long, so the Idlers don't sit flush with the end of the extrusion.
They just need a couple millimetre removed so the T-nuts slide in that little bit further, but couldn't be bothered with that tonight.

 

[m_c]

Took the easy option for fixing the M3 T-nut issue -

Used some rotate in to place ones, instead of the roll in ones.

That then let me get the gantry assembled, and sat in to place-

 

[hooblah]

Nice work.
I bought a nearly new Prusa mk2s when COVID first hit and found it was a POS. I had to modify it with a 'bear' kit, which involved getting someone else to print parts for me, and then completely dismantling and reassembling the printer using ali extrusions and new printed parts. It was a faff. And I'm still not completely happy with it.
I'd love a voron, but I don't even use mine regularly enough to justify spending that much. For now I'll just watch you build yours...

 

[m_c]

And the gantry is on, and all belts in place.



The Z-belts weren't too bad, but the A/B belts are fiddly to get around all the pulleys/idlers.
For those wondering about the belts, the Z axis is pretty straightforward. Single belt in each corner, with a motor in each corner so the printer can self level itself using the probe.

However the X/Y axes use a Core XY setup.
Rather than have a motor dedicated to each axis (which involves increasing gantry weight, as one motor has to be mounted and move with the gantry - weight is bad when you want to move quickly!), both motors are mounted stationary in relation to X and Y, which keeps moving weight to a minimum.
With the Voron, if both motors rotate the same direction, the Y axis moves. If the motors rotate in opposite directions, the X axis moves.

Here's the belt setups-



I might get the toolhead/carriage assembled tomorrow, then it's on to electronics, although I still need to order the big list of wiring/connectors that'll be needed for that.
At least if I can get all the mechanical bits assembled, I can get some bench space back so I get another project done.

 

[m_c]

Toolhead partially assembled -

Need the cooling fans to fully assemble it, and figure out what I'm doing with the wiring, but I need to get this pile of bits fitted, as I could really do with another Ender3 running, so the Voron has been pushed to the side for now -

 

[m_c]

Cooling fans turned up last week, along with the DIY wiring kit, and a few other bits.

First job was to remove the printhead again, as I needed to install the short bit Capricorn tube (essentially high temp teflon tube) that guides the filament from the extruder to the hot end, which gave me the opportunity to take a couple photos.
The Revo Voron hotend gets clamped between two sections, then secured with bolts from the top, although it doesn't move even without the top bolts -


And a quick photo showing the extruder open-


The brass gear drives a steel gear which you can't see, which is mounted on the same drive shaft as the extruder gear you can just make out in the darkness.
It's got a quick release setup, where with a single lever, it opens up as you see it in the photo.

This printhead is actually in the process of being superseded. This is the Afterburner. The newer Stealthburner has just had it's first public release, so I think anybody ordering a PIF set of parts, will now get the Stealthburner.
I've not looked at the details yet, but from I've see so far, it's a bit lighter with more part cooling capability, and a revised extruder.

And I've just realised I never posted a photo of the carriage with the proximity sensor -

The prox sensor sits behind the hotend. There are other probe/height sensing options, but this is the standard option, so I'll run with it for now.

Once the hotend holder and extruder were mounted back on, it was a case of sitting the two fans in their respective housings, and bolting the housings on-


The bit green filament is all I had at hand for the hinge.
The hinge allows for the hotend holder to be removed without having to remove the whole fan assembly.

After that I got started on mounting the electronics -


This is where the reality of how much wiring is involved in one of these printers kicks in.
Check out all these connectors on the BTT Octupus controller -


Wiring this thing up may take a while....

 

[m_c]

Little bit of progress this evening.
I originally specced the PIF set as completely standard, but having got to the point of wiring things up, I opted to buy the PCB options for endstop/homing switches.
This meant the provided Z mount wouldn't work, so download the STL file, and an hour later, the correct mount was ready, albeit in shiny PETG instead of satin ABS.
PCB mounted in, couple t-nuts in the extrusion, and I have a Z switch, ready for a cable to be plugged in -


No major changes needed for the X/Y PCB/switches, other than I had to trim the connector slightly -


Then printer tipped over, so I could start attaching magic smoke containers -



Wiring shouldn't be that hard. It's more time consuming, so I now just need to find time...

 

[m_c]

Wiring has now commenced, although a few prep jobs had to be done first.
First was set all the required jumpers on the controller, before installing the stepper drivers.

Drivers come without heatsinks attached -


It's a simple case of peel of the tape on the heatsink, and stick them on.
To give an idea of size, each of these drivers measures 15.24 x 20.32mm (or 0.6" x 0.8", since lots of electronics still uses imperial sizes/spacing)

Then install them into the controller -


The controller is a BigTreeTech Octopus.
Only 7 of the possible 8 motor channels are used, 4 for Z-axis, 2 for AB motors (aka what gives X/Y movement), and 1 for the extruder.
There are a lot of connectors on the board, but not that many get used.
4 pin connectors along the top for the stepper motors.
2 pin connectors along the bottom for the cooling fans (5 in total IIRC).
3 pin connectors in the bottom right for the axis end stops (only 3)
3 pin connector in the very bottom right corner for the inductive probe.
2 pin connectors middle right for thermistors (2 - one for the bed, one for the hotend)
Two of the bottom screw terminals are used to control the heated bed
And only the power in terminals are used on the left side screw terminals.

Worst thing about the wiring, is that nearly everything is JST-XH connectors, and crimping them is a bit time consuming.


Made a start on the mains wiring tonight -

 

[m_c]

Wiring is progressing.

Mains side is done, and the Pi and Controller power up -


Started on the toolhead -


I've opted to use a toolhead PCB, as it makes wiring a lot more convenient than running every wire through 3 cable chains. The PCB gives a convenient point to plug things in, and makes any future changes easier. I do need to shorten the Stepper motor and fan wiring, but I want to make sure things work first.

 

[m_c]

Wires, wires, and more f*******g wires.

It's getting there.
I think all wires are now in the correct cable chains, and now just need connected to the controller.

I do like the thought that has gone into the cable routing, to make it look a bit neater-

 

[m_c]

Had to re-route a bit wiring, but all the cable chains are now anchored, and stepper motors are all plugged in.
Just need to identify all the wires, attach the correct connectors, and connect them to the controller. Sounds simple....

 

[Dev]

It’s the tedious bits that sap your enthusiasm, keep going!




He says while his kids toy car languishes, unfinished, in the shed,

 

[m_c]

It’s the tedious bits that sap your enthusiasm, keep going!




He says while his kids toy car languishes, unfinished, in the shed,

Thankfully, there's not that many wires to do, as the motor kit I ordered came with wiring. Probably not the best of wire, but it'll do the job for now.

Anyway, wiring is pretty much complete-



Only the chamber temp sensor wire to connect, and a little bit more tidying up to do.

Then figure out how you actually get things to work

 

[m_c]

It's alive!

Had a few issues along the way, but nothing that the Voron start-up guide didn't solve.
Well, other than the connector on the good quality hotend fan was wired wrong, so it didn't do anything.

Next step is to temporarily route the bowden guide tube for the filament, calibrate the extruder, run some test prints, bodge on the side panels with some tape, then print all the bits you don't get with the PIF set (side/top panel mounting clips, skirts for the bottom, carbon filter holder, and a few other odds and ends).

 

[Dev]

what print volume did you go for?

I foolishly looked at some Astromech builds and a lot of them need 500x500 beds for parts.

 

[m_c]

First print done -



There is a slight layer shift where I realised I hadn't yet tightened the Z-axis pivots, but I'm impressed with the quality considering nothing has been tuned yet.
Now need to get some ABS and really test it, as that test cube was just done with some old PLA+

Also need to find a better spool holder, as it's not too convenient having it hanging on the lathe bar feeder -

what print volume did you go for?

I foolishly looked at some Astromech builds and a lot of them need 500x500 beds for parts.

300x300
I'll admit there is no real reason I went for that size, as I'm not sure I'll ever use the full build area, however I figured I may as well not go for the smallest, and I felt the 350 was just a bit too big.
Having now built it, I think the foot print of the 300 is at the upper limit of machine size, before things just get that bit too big to just tuck on a bench/in a corner somewhere.