While my switchwire has been a lot of pain, and fun, but mostly pain, I'm back
at it. There's some things that I love, and hate about the switchwire, and while
I intend to still use it, I think it's time to build something that not only
addresses those problems, but goes faster. This is just a really rough writeup
of my thoughts that will change over time, but is here to keep track of what the
plans are, and how they change over time.
The current plan is to start with a Voron Trident kit from Formbot, similar to
where my Switchwire started from, and modify it to hell and back. The Trident is
a fixed gantry CoreXY printer, which is generally pretty fast, even compared to
my Switchwire already, but the need for speed is a thing. Mods will be broken
down into 4 categories. QOL, Speed, Quality, and Eventually.
180 degree
hinge
allows the doors to completely open. Not needed, but sure nice to have.
Sexbolt
is one of the biggest QQL mods. This allows for nozzle to probe auto
calibration, making things a lot more reliable, especially when thermal
expansion starts to kick in.
Klicky
probe
allows for probing of not just metal sheets, but any material you could want to
print on, and will pick of thickness changes, making this and the nozzle offset
auto calibration some massively useful QOL. It also makes the gantry lighter.
Pins
mod
will actually be done with carbon rods for a lighter gantry,
but also increases the print quality by preventing any catching on the threads
that are normally used as pins on a stock gantry.
Mantis
toolhead
is designed to add two 5015 fans to the toolhead for much better cooling,
reduces weight, adds a sherpa mini extruder for more power and weight reduction,
and supports insane hotends like the Volcano Dragon hotend, that adds volcano
nozzles to the already high flow dragon hotend.
Endstop
relocation
goes along with the Mantis toolhead to add the endstop back.
Ramalama
idlers add
back most of the build space that was removed due to the difference in shape of
the Mantis toolhead, as well as making them stiffer, which should help with resonance.
Carbon fiber gantry, to
replace the 2020 extrusion. This saves massive weight, not only helping the
motors not skip steps, but helping immensely with resonance at higher
accelerations. This will allow for much higher input shaper tolerance of high
acceleration, and should at least get to 25k accel without any noticeable
smoothing due to input shaper.
48v motors are on the table for one day, but due to the chip shortage, there are
absolutely no driver boards to be found in stock, even from AliExpress. There
are several options on the table in terms of driver boards, to motors, to
controller boards to house the drivers, but it will come down to what I can
source, as opposed to what I want.
This project has been started in a sense. I've ordered the carbon rods, carbon
fiber shaft, and a sherpa mini with some other small things on the slow boat,
but the core printer isn't set in stone. I'm looking to iterate on ideas and
change my mind, but I'm taking quite a lot of tips from the Annex engineering,
HevORT, and VZbot teams. We'll see what else helps push this printer to go fast,
but also be reliable, as far as what a 3d printer really can call reliable.
