Hi guys, been thinking about this for a couple weeks now but can’t seem to find anything online about anyone who has tried it.
I’m considering converting my printer into a voron. However, since I currently have a fully functioning printer, I wondered why I can’t print the extrusions rather than purchasing them? Of course they are larger than my printer’s volume, but there was this video posted here a while back about a great way to create strong permanent joints for parts just like this:
The way I would do this would be to model the extrusions as a solid piece and make cutouts in the areas that bolts are meant to be ran through.
Is this even within the realm of possibility, or is there a specific barrier that has prevented others from trying this? The obvious concern is stability/ rigidity, but if everything is printed at voron part standards or thicker with an infill pattern like gyroid, would the decrease in rigidity be too much for input shaping to compensate for?
Thanks for any ideas or input! If there aren’t any major road blocks or examples of this failing I think I’ll try it out once I’ve got the space for it.
Is it possible? Yes. And you’ve mentioned stability could be an issue. I’ll add that if you count your time and wasted plastics to test the thickness, infill, etc. I think it’ll cost more than just buying the extrusion.
That said, if you already have core xy printer, you can start testing by replacing the frame with a printed parts. Starts with the vertical ones.