Delta Printers - - any good ? I need a new toy.

[GrantB]

I have 4 Flash Forge Dreamers.... 2 Nova Mimics' & have enough work now to need another machine added to my fleet of printers...

whenever I've seen a delta printer working, I'm impressed how compact they are.... also being surprised at the high quality of printed parts when considering the number of joints & linkages etc..

1**How well do they run ? speeds, are they limited to 60mms, or can they run up to 100mms ?
2**accuracy, and wear ?
3**are they any good or do they develop a lot of slop with the tonnage of linkages?
4**do they require specialized software slicers, or will Simplify3D drive them ?
5**are there any good ones in kit form - or better to buy a built one ?
6**any specific gremlins to look out for when choosing a Delta printer ?

I'm curious, & want a new toy.....

Regards to all
Grant B

[3Dex]

Hi Grant,

Deltas are great printers. You should check out the FolgerTech 2020 which is a very popular kit. I can vouch for the FolgerTech line of printers. https://folgertech.com/products/folg...3d-printer-kit

Deltas are faster and more accurate than traditional Cartesian 3D printers because they have less weight in the moving parts. On most Cartesian printers you will probably have the x motor mounted on the Y axis (so the Y axis has to move the weight of the X motor) this is not the case with a Delta. Therefore it can accelerate and decelerate faster allowing for more accuracy.

I think a standard slicer can be used for a delta printer. The slicer purely creates the G-code and it is the firmware on the printer that decides how to print it so your favourite slicer should work.

As I said, the FT 2020 looks great and after the success of my FT-5 I am now really considering buying one. I would be interested to hear how you get on with a delta as well.

Regards,
Will,
3DEX

[cymon]

Deltas have their plusses and minuses. As mentioned, their fast (generally) and they don't have to deal with corner ringing as much. That's because they have no weight on their head. Consequently they can't do flexable or other softer filaments, though that's true of any bowden style feed system. They take up considerably more vertical space than other printers for the build area. But they are just cool to watch.

[GrantB]

Many thanks people... agreed.... they are cool to watch... and if nothing else... one of these would make a great attention point in my company reception... and I can give it some work to do :-)

[perolalars]

Hi Grant
Dont know where you are situated but check out kossel-kit http://builda3dprinter.eu/3d-printer-kits/kossel-xl/ and I really recommend to convert it with a nimble extruder https://zesty.tech very light at the printhead if you are not using bowden setup, but then you cant print flexible materials...
Or if you got a lot of money wasp-deltas http://www.personalfab.it/en/ ;-)

[GrantB]

Good morning Gents, many thanks for the input... I took the plunge & have a Geetech unit arriving later this week.
I chose this one due to an aluminium X carriage, aluminium linkage shafts, Substantial vertical rods, heated bed and that it uses the same mother boards as the donor machines I buy in for other build projects,,,

Eventually when time permits & I have got to grips with this thing, I intend to expand it to 1.4m tall with a build plate of 500mm dia & build height of 800mm... I recon I can then retro engineer it to take my 120 Watt triple element volcano extruder hot end.. pushing 1.0mm extrusion at a real 110mms for rapid builds... will be interesting to see if the frame can deal with this much inertia & deceleration issues & still print accurately... or maybe & will need to go the carbon rod route to lower the moving mass inertia issues.... we will see.

***As a matter of curiosity.... What do you think the expected retail value of a Delta machine should be with the details & sheer size & capabilities of the development item above ???

I've adapted one of my 4 Flash-Forge machines to print this fast with this hot end... using a bowden cooler to prevent the carriage melting down from conducted heat :-) 120mms is the max the case can take without shaking the bloody thing to bits....

The volcano nozzles in a purpose machined hot end with at least 2 x 40watt elements is the way to go, that way, you can extrude at 0.8mm or bigger at a good speed of 80>100mms

[MikeyBoxP]

I love my delta, however I do regret buying it as my first printer. I didn't anticipate the learning curve in tuning and just getting the firmware setup and also the fact that my kit came with a ramps setup and I probably should have gone with something like a smoothieboard. But I'm slowly making upgrades and its getting better and better all the time. But even the out of the box quality was very impressive.

[GrantB]

Agreed... XY is probably an easier start. I'm now trying to get my head around Arduino... Oh God...

[Rickbot]

That's what i was thinking when reading this and looking at the geetech, carbon rods, However depending on how much the belts can take, maybe adding a extra stepper to each axis, one on top one, one the bottom, might do, however its good to see someone pushing the boat out and willing to attempt big projects. What might also help is triangular supports, bracing each column,

[GrantB]

The shortfalls of the mechanics of the Rostock Delta are tragic, ill thought out & piss poor.
I upgraded mine with decent 10mm belts, a counter weight, decent electrical cooling, buried the LETHAL power supply under the center plinth by raising the machine, glass print beds, replaced all the shoddy wiring, lousy instructions, second rate installation information... etc etc.
However, when many engineering mods & parts were made & the device finally worked - it's pretty good & worked VERY WELL, just supplied with awful parts & second rate rate concepts.

[GrantB]

Rick,
Motor each end of the vertical axis.... Great minds think alike & all that... I have used my Rostock machine as a test bed for some concept ideas.... Already doing the dual motor thingy
I think you will like this...

I have had 3 off 500mm dia 220 volt heat mats made... approx 900 watts each in power consumption, & have drawn up a MEGA sized delta mechanics to suit... it is approx 275% bigger in all dimensions.
I also had som 6mm Boro-Glass cut to suit the mats & got a repro Print Head/Carriage cut from 15mm thick Acrylic scaled up 275% also...

As per the great ideas in other columns... I have stacked stepper drivers & going to run 2 Neema17 motors for each vertical axis via 10mm belts & pulleys, with the carriages running Nylon linear bearings & light weight but beafed up vertical mechanics....

The parts I can build with this - like HUGE vases & bespoke furnishing ideas, + other 1/2 meter wide & 1 meter tall parts...
A Volcano 1.2mm Hot-End with a 120 Watt extruder is necessary to blatt out the material rapidly, so I'm tinkering with an own build Hexagonal Hot-Block on the end of an E3D heatsink.
The tinkerings with the hot end are encouraging...

All I gotta do now is tackle Arduino to get the dimensions of prints right & vertical movement calculations right... then assemble this bloody great thing...

Its a good job the evenings are drawing in again :-)

[steveprinters29]

Yes, Delta 3D Printers are highly efficient and compact in form. Plus, you could also get them according to the budget you bear. For instance, the best ones among cheap delta 3D printers include FLSUN Metal Frame Kossel Delta 3D DIY Kit and HE K200 Single/Dual Extruder 3D Delta Kit.
If you could afford the more expensive ones, you could get BlueFrog Mirror Fully Assembled Delta 3D Printer or Tevo Little Monster Large Delta 3D Printer etc.
All these printers are great to obtain and come with some excellent features.