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R1/+ Extruded Aluminum Frame

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by SoLongSidekick, Mar 18, 2019.

  1. SoLongSidekick

    SoLongSidekick Active Member

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    It's been awhile since I've even touched my R1. I never finished installing my leadscrew upgrade and got distracted by life for awhile, and then wasn't confident enough to even try for the longest time. Getting it back together and finding all kinds of parts I had purchased for it. An interesting one was a bunch of extruded aluminum pieces and miscellaneous hardware.

    I'd always wanted to change the print from it's current form into an aluminum frame for better rigidity and sturdiness, and once I realized how easy that would be I ordered the parts. The entire mechanical section of the printer is connected to the black acrylic piece spanning the width of the printer. So all you need to do is attach that to an extruded box frame, build/print a box for the electronics, then add in any stability connections wanted (threaded rods, etc.). So I'm going to add my progress as I go in this thread. Once completed I'll add a step-by-step to this first post.

    The only parts I don't have fully worked out are the stability contact points. I may end up replacing the entire X axis gantry with an Ender 3 type carriage. I really like the idea of having extruded aluminum supporting the Z axis all the way to the top. I could even theoretically just increase the height of the print volume as much as I want by just using longer rods and adding pieces of extruded aluminum.

    Anyways, stay tuned. I'll be posting my designs so far soon.
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, you can make the Z as long as you like with longer bits :)
    Good luck!
     
  3. bringjustn

    bringjustn Member

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    Did you make any progress with this idea? I'm thinking about getting my kisckstarter edition back up and running after getting frustrated with it and shoving it in the corner about 3 years ago and just buying a better printer.
    I'm thinking upgrade x and z to extruded like the ender 3. And then swapping the ramps for a better board and maybe going with a chimera.

    I quickly made some of my ideas in tinker cad that might work.
    This would need the whole base plate that y and x axis attach to being printed for 2040 to clamp into, I didn't put any thought into other movements or even see if my heights would fit in the case.
    https://www.tinkercad.com/things/7AlmvROgjpB

    This is 3 ideas to use 2020 extruded to swap out the smooth rod, once again no thought went into how this would work with the threaded rod or x axis, just ideas to get the brain going.
    https://www.tinkercad.com/things/jGMUV2Q4oWw
     
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  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Unless you have a delta there is no real urgency or improvement in swapping away from a RAMPS. RAMPS/Arduino Mega is cheap. Really cheap in comparison to the 32-bit boards. Still, if you want to there are a few folks who have done just that (Smoothie board is a decent upgrade), Just be prepared to rework the wiring harness.

    I still have two kickstarter (2013 kickstarter) ones that are humming along. Yea, I have replaced the RAMPS or the Arduino a couple of times, but at <$30 for both ... cheap.
     
  5. bringjustn

    bringjustn Member

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    My thought with swapping the board is to gain the ability to run a dual extruder set up and I'm looking at the skr 1.3 with the nice screen that I kind of want to try out. Plus aliexpress has a bunch of sales on stuff (ending today). A clone extruder with both the Cyclops and Chimera style pieces is only $30. I'm thinking I would basically end up using just the steppers, hot bed, and case.

    I'm trying to figure out if upgrading the robo is worth it, I have had it just taking up space for a while and would like it running again, but I could just get rid of the Wades extruder in favor of the titan and v6 I have sitting in a box and call it a day and go with my other hair brained idea of extending my Ender 3's y axis to 1000mm for long prints.

    Upgrade or fix the non running Robo or take the running Ender 3 offline to attempt to extend the y axis for no other reason than it seems cool. Choices are hard.
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I run dual extruder on the R1 with RAMPS/Arduino .... no issues.

    If you want to upgrade to a more capable board -- go for it.
    Just want to point out that the Arduino Mega/Ramps 1.4 works fine for a Cartesian printer ... there is no real need to go to a 32-bit system. Now getting a working $10 RAMPS board (even brand new) can be a challenge :) Make sure you buy one from something like Amazon prime where shipping is free and returns are painless. Took me 3 tries to get a working RAMPS last one I swapped. What do you want for a board that cheap I guess...
     
  7. anngeelow81

    anngeelow81 Member

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    Interested in seeing some updates also. I’ve converted my r1+ to a prusa style x carriage with an e3d titan set up, and aluminum plate for a bed. Doing a ‘bear’ style upgrade is my next endeavor (and currently working out kinks to get my skr v1.3 working)
     
  8. XxGingerSharkxX

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    Um could you please upload how you did that. That is something I want to do.
     

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