"Infinite" Z Axis 3D Printer (TTM)

thingiverse

This is still a work in progress. It's an idea for a printer, which prints upside down, and rolls the printed support structure up out of the printer as it is printed, with whatever model you want inside. The disadvantages are the wasted plastic and time for the support structure, and am still not sure if a decent quality can be achieved, but if it ever works well the advantages could be very large prints from a small and cheap printer. Uploading the CAD files in case anyone wants to improve the concept/design. First Test Prints Video here - (and I have another video on channel going over the software/firmware) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0S3llkXhQw&ab_channel=Ollie%27sThings More Info/Back Story/FAQ's If it seems like strange approach/printer - I didn't originally set out to make this and just kind of ended up here. I originally had idea for a printer which would print the structure, but the printer itself would use gears to climb up it as it printed. I thought if you used a conductive filament it could print communications antennae/towers on mars or something (probably unrealistic). After googling it though, found sound amazing guys from Chile had already made such a printer, called the "Koala" printer. Link to their video below, which has a link to their full paper about it in the description. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1yoR4WMpnw&ab_channel=JuanCristobalZagal I thought it was very cool and wanted to make one anyway, a bit more how I had envisioned. In the process though, I realised I should just turn it upside down (so the nozzle is facing upwards and the print is ejected out the top) and use to print large models. Another similar, but far more sophisticated printer is "Archinaut" by a US company called "Made In Space", which is going to print long structures in space for extending solar panels, construction of large things etc. What they have going on is incredible, but not sure how their printer works. The other type of printers that can print larger than themselves are obviously belt printers. Unlike the others, they are primarily intended to print large models, and they are a far better solution for this than what i have here, because of the disadvantages I listed at the top. If I can get it working well though, it could have a couple of advantages over a belt printer, such as not having to print at 45 degrees which can be a little confusing to consider when designing and can leave support artefacts in less than ideal places of the model, so this could potentially be better at printing some tall things of certain geometries.