Three-axis 3D printing has been with us long enough that everybody knows the limitations, but so far, adding extra axes has been very much a niche endeavor. [Daniel] at Fractal Robotics wants to change that, with the Fractal 5 Pro 5-axis printer, and its corresponding Fractal Cortex slicer.
The printer looks like an extra-beefy Voron from a distance, which is no surprise as [Daniel] admits to taking heavy inspiration from the Voron Trident. The Fractal 5 shares a core-XY geometry with the Voron, using beefy 30 mm x 30 mm extrusions. Also like the Voron, it runs Klipper on a Raspberry Pi hiding in the base. Under a standard-looking printhead using a BondTech extruder and E3D volcano hotend, we find the extra two axes hiding under the circular build plate. The B axis is a gantry that can pivot the build plate assembly a full 90 degrees; the A axis spins the plate without limit thanks to the slip rings built into the design.
The extruder may look fairly normal, but it has actually been designed very carefully to allow the nozzle to get as close as possible to the build plate when the B-axis is at 90 degrees. It looks like the E3D hotend is actually the limiting factor there, which gives plenty of design freedom when planning prints in the accompanying Fractal Cortex slicer.
Fractal Cortex is an all-new slicer written entirely in Python. It does have a 3-axis legacy mode, but it’s primarily designed for 5-axis slicing with the Fractal 5 Pro. The multi-axis operation looks very straightforward: you place “slicing planes” and orient them along the part, as many as you require. Printing pauses while the A and B axes rotate, then resumes with straight, parallel layers. Sure, non-planar slicing would be the bees’ knees on this sort of 5-axis printer, but we’ve got to say for a young engineer’s first crack at this kind of software, Fractal Cortex looks pretty good.
It sounds like [Daniel] is looking for contributors to the project, so if this project tickles your fancy, head over to the GitHub links at the top of the page and dive in.
We’ve seen other 5D printers before, but this one probably takes the cake for build volume, and having a slicer to match is a big advantage for anyone who wants to try this at home.
Thanks to [Hari] for the tip. Use all your axes to extrude your projects into our tips line here.
Projects like this should be banned because they only make entering 3D printing scene for newcomers much less affordable (not only in terms of money but also complex math involved…)
I totally agree! Computers beyond 8 bit should be banned for the exact same reason!
I unironically agree.
Comments like that should be banned because they may lead to a reduction in open source innovation and the capture of the hobby by commercial interests filing patents on unremarkable “innovation” and stifling progress while pretending to help… (Also because they violate the “Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent” request.)
sigh
Very cool! However, I’m not thrilled that the slicer is written entirely in Python. I’m even less thrilled that it says it requires Windows 10.