The entry-level 3D-printer market is a rich one, with offerings from many vendors that are surprisingly good. But nothing is perfect, and to hit the $200 price point some compromises are inevitable. That doesn’t mean you have to live with those engineering choices, of course, which makes these cheap printers a great jumping off point for aftermarket mods.
[Linas K] took this route and in the process made his Cetus 3D-printer essentially silent. The first part of the video below reviews the shortcomings of the stock machine and the mechanical changes [Linas] made, including new brackets for the Z-axis slide, relocating the WiFi antenna to someplace sensible, and adding limit switches for each slide. Inside the case, the electronics get a complete reworking, with a custom PCB to house Trinamic stepper drivers for ultraquiet operation. The new board also supports the limit switches as well as thermostatic control of the extruder fan and pads for a platform heater. As a bonus, the new PCB is much smaller than the original, leaving room to tuck the power supply into the case, which is a nice touch. It wasn’t cheap, and it meant basically gutting the printer, but the results are impressively quiet.
We’re tempted to try these silencing mods on our own Cetus, if [Linas] ever publishes the BOM and PCB designs (hint, hint). And Cetus hacking is becoming quite a thing around here. From a trio of Cetus pro-tips to turning a Cetus into a PCB machine, the little printer has a lot to offer.
v nice design, trinamic drivers have pushed things forward in 3D printing this year. not only to they run quiet, but also eliminate endstops and home switches, greatly simplifing the design.
…plus full SPI and on chip acceleration handling on more advanced drivers. They rock!
I noticed this guy is using limit switches, though. Is there a reason or advantage to that? Is the functionality of the trinamic drivers reliable? I’d love to rock some ultra-quiet drivers.
probably backwards compatability, trinamic drivers have additional pins for additional functionality but can be used in as a drop in replacement for existing drivers for silent operation.
But in this design he replaced the OEM current sensing switch less design with a limit switch based design. He kind if suggested hitting the end stop is bad for the printer.
been running that quiet with a tb6560 driver board and low noise fans for years……..
Oooooo look at me…
“That doesn’t mean you have to live with those engineering choices, of course, which makes these cheap printers a great jumping off point for aftermarket mods.”
Sort of like a bicycle with a great frame and middling components. Replace when economically viable.
Pretty good. I have seen similar implementations on even lower cost printers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdDNA1J_tW4