Dr. D Flo's Large Format Pellet Printer

Dear Dr. D Flo,

I was wondering if you will be opensourcing or selling the plans for your printer with the MD pellet extruder please? I have one of those extruders but a gantry that is really big but not strong enough for that size extruder so would love to purchase plans or a follow along guide. What’s your plans there please? You can follow my progress building “The Big Green Machine” here www.create.green/journal

Many thanks,

Charles Fraser

Dear Florian,

We were lucky to acquire the same MD printhead as used in your project. Our goal is to mount the printhead on a Omron cobot. Would it be possible to share more details on the wiring of the stepper motor, heater and fans to the duet board?

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards

Yannick Christiaens

Hi Yannick,

I apologize for the late reply. I am a couple weeks out from releasing the CAD file and wiring diagram. This will be accompanied with a new video (Part 5).

David Florian

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Hi, I’m interested in purchasing a large format printer. How much would it cost?

The drdflow.com site looks cool - $25k is a steal for this size printer!!
This is an awesome design, I would love to build something like it.
Just wondering why the dual y-axis with fixed bed was chosen as opposed to the typical coreXY?
Was it rigidity or mostly to do with having so much mass on a moving bed?
P.S. Having that third step of levelling is nice, but I think even two knobs of bed levelling would be perfectly fine (despite what the folks on Youtube would say :slight_smile:

Fixed bed because the prints can weigh several hundred pounds or even kilograms! Nearly all large format 3d printers use a fixed bed for this reason.

For a typical CoreXY design, you are always fighting belt length. The longer the belts, the more difficult it is tension them. Also, the main benefit of CoreXY design is speed. I designed this printer for large extrusion widths and layer heights. Believe it or not, but I am currently limited by my 1 kg/hr MDPH2 extruder and not printing speed.

I do plan to upgrade to a faster liner motion setup for travel moves, but I am still sorting out the details for that upgrade.

Have you ever thought of trying plastic welding material and tools for 3d printing?
They have 4mm rods on spools.

I feel like it may be easier for you to try this out than the common folks like me with 220x220mm beds…

Dr D-Flo,
I enjoyed your Large Format Pellet Printer videos. Thank you! I have built my own 5x10x5 ft printer utilizing the MDPH2. It is completed and I have been happy with my test prints. But… I am in search of a better slicer.

I have used Orca & Cura, but after digging deep into their settings I am not happy with the results. Both create many stops, starts and a lot of extra travel. All of which prevent a clean continuous flow. What slicer do you use to get the continuous flow needed for large format 3d printing?

John

Hi John :wave:

Sorry I missed your message. Would love to see some images of your 3D printer behemoth!

I am using SuperSlicer (a branch of PrusaSlicer). You can turn most knobs with this program but it is missing coasting, which is an important feature for pellet extruders where there is a lot of molten material held up.