Core XY Project

A slightly more organized list of decisions made so far can be found on the Design Decisions page.

I have christened my core XY printer project “Jiggit” because I wanted a Discworld reference so, naturally, it is vitally important to make a nameplate that can slide into the v-slot rail :-)

My Solidoodle Mods have all been fun to work on, but now I feel like taking on a bigger project, so I'm starting to accumulate parts for what I hope to be a core xy printer build. (But is also in danger of succumbing to the dread second system effect :-).

The core xy variation that avoids crossing the belts by stacking them (possibly first suggested by Fabtotum) seems very sensible to me, and I plan to use it in my printer.

For all the bits that move back and forth or up and down I'm thinking I'd like to use v-slot aluminum extrusions to hold the wheels and moving carriages.

For the rest of the structure, the more common (and cheaper) t-slot extrusions should be fine. (Although the actual v-slot rails don't seem to be too bad, it is stuff like the wheel kits that run the prices up :-).

I might as well plan on using a smoothieboard for the electronics (2nd system effect, remember? :-). (I got the board and played with it just enough to verify that it seems to work.)

I may be able to restrain myself and start out with only one extruder, but can a kraken be far behind?

My brain doesn't really like CAD programs, so I'm far more likely to do the detailed design for this by printing things like dummy NEMA 17 motors and ABS versions of plates and brackets and such that I can play with like legos to work on the design details. Maybe I'll do openscad versions so I can just see what everything looks like when assembled (but that would also be a lot of work).

In any case, the first thing to do is get the top part with the XY motion working and use it as a plotter to work on the accuracy before adding the rest of the structure for the Z motion.

Meanwhile, some of the parts I ordered have started showing up, which gives me a chance to prototype some test fits and see how the designs work.

I've also got a collection of random thoughts about the way I'm planning on building this thing.

I've finally gotten some parts designed which seem like they might actually work, so I should probably add an Openscad Parts page. I'm also doing some renderings of how things fit together using openscad to preview complicated assemblies.