StarttXL (Upgraded Startt/Tronxy100)

thingiverse

A while back I purchased the discontinued Startt printer from Imakr. It took some tweaking and adjusting with settings, but eventually I was quite satisfied with it. However, I wanted a larger build volume and possibly more stability. I did not upgrade the z-axis, only the x and y - might do that later, but for now this is big enough for me. The final result looks super rough and hacky, but it actually prints well and cost me very little. I didn't find it extremely difficult in the end, but it does require a good understanding of how the various parts of the original Startt come together and some knowledge of 3D printers. Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments! The idea was that I would build a wooden box frame from 12mm MDF I had lying around, and then 3D print some adapters and other necessary bits that allow attachment of the existing parts to the box. Many parts from the original printer were reused: most of the x, y, and z carriages. The parts were designed in Fusion 360, specifically using the SVG file of the original Startt to get a good understanding of how everything fit together. I also used some other designs that I found online to improve quality and usability. Assembly was pretty much the same as for your original Startt, except fixing everything to the wooden frame. You'll need to figure this out for yourself, although if you have a feel for how the original Startt was put together you should be able to manage this. I also bought some M5 threaded rod + nuts from my local hardware store, which provided stability for the y-carriage assembly. Additionally, I purchased a bunch of metal brackets and screws to assemble the MDF frame. Print list: Each part needs to be printed twice. The parts provided are only for the right-hand side of the printer, so you'll need to mirror them in Meshmixer to generate the left-hand parts. Backplateholder.stl: just a small bracket to keep the back plate in place. Need 2 of these. Toprightcorner.stl: to affix the original z-axis top holder to the MDF plate. Need to mirror the part in Meshmixer to generate the top-left corner. ZcarriageholderRight.stl: to fix the bottom of the z-axes in place and brackets the stepper motor in place on the bottom MDF plate. Needs to be mirrored in Meshmixer to generate the left carriage holder. Also, the various parts that are linked in the source. The only necessary ones are the brackets (Robdavies) and Alternate extruder mount (NeilsenRM), but I found the others to be very useful in quality and usability improvements. MDF frame; all made from 12mm thick MDF: I cut out a bottom plate of 53(w) x 61(d) cm. Two 21x16 cm plates (vertical sides), and one front plate which is 52(w) x 30(h) and has a square hole cut in about 2cm from the edge. I also fixed a smaller piece to the top of the frame to hold the electronics. The frame, when assembled, required me to cut out an additional slot on the left because it got in the way of the x-carriage. I just eyeballed it, but if you want it to look good you should probably cut out the necessary bits before assembly. Tweaking in the slicer: The bigger build plate also requires some tweaking in the slicer. I'm sure it could be done with custom firmware, but what I did was connect the printer to my PC using Repetier, and then using the manual controls figure out what the exact coordinates of the buildplate home were (and how wide I want it). I use Prusaslicer, and entered the following for size settings: size x and y both 230, origin x -57, y -130. The values you get will depend on the specific buildplate size as well as the position of the endstops. Any questions feel free to drop me a note!