FreakFleek Printer

thingiverse

So we're talking about creating a truly exceptional printer that leaves all others in its dust and, when fine-tuned to perfection, produces prints at breakneck speeds. To start with, this printer will make use of top-of-the-line NEMA 23 size motors, whereas standard printers utilize the less impressive NEMA 17, save for the feed motor - due to its lightweight extruder carriage assembly which doesn't demand too much power from it anyway. Next up, we have a frame made out of 3D-printed parts and ultra-reliable 3/8-inch smooth and threaded rods - so far only the corner ball has been optimized into a perfectly tessellated piece. Microstepping controllers are exactly what the motor controllers for the horizontal axes will be using, resulting in precise movements. Well, to say the least, things are complex right now and need some serious refining before it's complete. Update: Extruder carriage design is complete! New update: It appears that our amazing printer will only print with high-quality PLA materials, but with an upcoming upgrade featuring a filastruder we might see prints in durable HDPE as well. As an added feature, the build plate has been water-cooled, and there's even talk of integrating refrigerated build chamber capabilities. One thing's for certain though: ABS won't be part of our project. Update 2: Designed and printed a simplified version of the carriage quarter piece to speed up development time. Unfortunately, it seems my extensive printer design effort has reached an unexpected impasse - practicality reigns supreme over grand vision. What remains may actually work better in other contexts like CNC machinery, where precision and modularity are just as vital, if not more so than innovative print speed capabilities and our novel carriage-mounting arrangement that can even handle swapping toolheads. This modified printer design of ours might be reimagined on the humble foundations of the reliable MegaPrusa i3 - adding NEMA 23 adapters to give it a slight boost in capability since as it stands, it feels somewhat lacking. Maybe this isn't going down as easily planned? Time will tell if there's room for tweaks after all that.