Custom 3D printer for printing Clay/Paste

grabcad

I designed and built this 3D printer and the clay extrusion mechanism for my mechanical engineering capstone senior design project. The clay extruder should work as an add on to any 3D printer that can support it's weight but you would have to design a mounting bracket. It can print in "vase mode" or "spiralized contour mode" quite well but it would probably struggle to print more complex models that require travel moves since clay tends to continue oozing out of the extruder nozzle even when the extrusion is supposed to stop. It could probably be improved by tuning the retraction and linear advance but I didn't have time within the 1 semester that I did this entire project. The design was influenced by the Voron Switchwire. Most parts were designed entirely by me, but I did use a couple parts from the Switchwire. I used the Y-carriage and Y-axis belt clamp from the Switchwire but I modified them significantly. I also used display holder for the mini12864 from the Switchwire directly as is. The 80T pulley used for the extruder is a modified version of the 80T pulley used on the Voron M4 extruder. Lastly, the Y-axis belt tensioner is based off of someone else's design I found online but I can't find it now to link it. It was a mod that someone made for the Switchwire. I redesigned it from scratch but the design is almost identical to the Switchwire mod that I had found online.More information about the build can be found at openbuilds.com:https://openbuilds.com/builds/3d-printer-for-printing-clay-paste.10302/I'm still working on adding the full BOM so the page isn't complete yet.