A Big 3D Printer Built Using The Power Of Procrastination

When we wrote about [Dan Beaven]’s resin printer a while back he enthusiastically ensured us that, thanks to the recent wave of attention, he would finally finish the project. That’s why today we are covering his entirely unrelated 2 cubic foot print volume FDM printer. 

As we mentioned, [Dan] is no stranger to 3D printers. His addiction has progressed so far that he needs bigger and bigger parts, but when he looked at the price of printers that could sate his thirst… it wasn’t good. We assume this is the time he decided to leverage his resin printer procrastination to build a massive printer for himself.

The frame is aluminum extrusion. The bed is an 1/4″ thick aluminum plate supported just a little bit in from each corner. He can use the 4 motors to level the platform, which is a killer feature on a machine this big. More or less it’s fairly standard mechanically.

We are interested in his interesting addition of a FLIR thermal sensor to see live heat distribution. We also applaud him on his redundant safety systems (such as a smoke sensor that’s separately powered from the machine).

All the files are available on his site if you’re procrastinating on something and would like one for yourself.

22 thoughts on “A Big 3D Printer Built Using The Power Of Procrastination

    1. Grate Cheddar Cheese perhaps – that way all mercans can easily be great
      when grating (other than upsetting the French & Candians lol) whilst trump
      meanders through his unusual brand of logic & bluster (sry for off topic is fun).

      Seriously, once you have some basic infrastructure in place the rest is just
      filling in gaps & can be done with minimal discipline just set aside 2hrs per week.
      I have these really wide thick steel beams zinc plated that would make the base
      for a fantastic desktop lathe (heavy though) and widening in the perpendicular
      could be feasible.
      Which would end up being a lathe/3D printer in one – without doubtful utility :/

      Friend on next level apartment up from me getting this:-
      https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/balco-3d-printer-with-4-x-free-filaments-and-print-mat-balco/

      Builders not far from me discarded several “ColorBond” steel fence posts, very
      strong yet light with a nice profile so they resist flexure. Could make a build region
      1.5m^3 (metric units lol) ie 3.375 cubic meters – but where to put it ?

      The fittings for X/Y steppers could be easily done with friction fit & appropriate
      linear scale feedback independent of the stepper rotational counts and with
      a Heidenhain/Sony scale down to 0.01mm easily (metric again) with backup
      from a couple of Bosch PLR-15’s (Laser distance measurers)

      Hey talk about 3D metal this co http://auroralabs3d.com/ has just risen 1150%
      share value since only August this year – guess who has shares – har har !

      My guess is they’ll dip a little mon/tues then fly up, & I ain’t sellin yet…

  1. Hey Gerrit,

    When you get the idea of power rangers armour suit for your puggle, resin printer improvements go on hold :) I hope to have the fire system up and posted very soon, simple design but im sure my insurance company would be happy knowing i have it…

    1. Atomic Filament sells rolls large enough. Most printers capable of larger prints have filament sensors that let the printer know if it runs out. It’ll pause the print and move to a reload position. When it’s been reloaded it will move back and resume the print.

    2. I designed a simple mount for an endstop switch to be used as a filament runout sensor. The print will pause and allow you to swap out filament rolls. :)

      I’m getting 100 micron layer heights with no variation (hoping to go smaller if need be – prints would take forever though).

    3. Atomic, 3DXTech, Push Plastic, IC3D, Ultimachine all offer larger spools of varying sizes. I’m sure there’s others I’m blanking on. I personally work with Atomic and 3DXTech materials. Each of these tend to be more economical than same brand of 1kg spools but may seem expensive if you’re used to Chinese spool prices. But after a certain scale, it might be better to use a quality material, nothing like making a huge part and having dodgy material jam on you at 90% done.

      Many filament manufacturers will even sell you a master spool of material.

      And if you use vase mode, you’d be surprised how far a kg can go.

        1. The 4 z axis steppers have the STEP and DIR signals coming from the RAMPS. I haven’t done any serious testing, but lost steps on the z axis would be extremely uncommon, given how seldom the z axis is moved. I use a limit switch for the z homing operation. There are split ring clamps on each 20mm smooth rod set at the correct height.

          I do also have an inductive Z probe between the two extruders to do a grid based z map. But so far havent needed it yet.

  2. Talking about procrastination, I’ve been struggling with mine for the last 10 years and read countless books and self help methods. Here is what I’m having best results with. First of all, procrastination bulldozer method has worked wonders for me. I highly recommend you apply it. Secondly, whenever you have a task that takes less than 5 minutes to do, do it right away. No delays. I’m really starting to take control of my life now.

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