1 Topic by mdrVB6 (edited by mdrVB6 2015-02-11 22:41:45)

  • mdrVB6
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-18
  • Posts: 717

Topic: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

I've got a new printer build coming up and I would like to get a clone of a solidoodle bed holder fabricated out of aluminum.  I wanted to just order an SD3 bed from solidoodle but when I emailed them to ask if it was in stock, they said it was not but to check again in a week.  So I did and got no response.  So I would think the SD3 bed may be out of production.

Can anyone recommend a fabrication shop?  I might as well go to linear bearings while I'm at it but if I can't then I
ll stick with bushings.  Or course it must be very precise because if the hole diameters are even a little off then its useless to me.

I know a local guy who has done small jobs for me, but he is just a guy with a metal shop in his garage and tends to be slow and expensive.  And he hasn't done aluminum for me before, just steel. 

If I can't get it done then I will make it out of wood or convert my SD2 bed, but neither is ideal.  Thanks!

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

2 Reply by mdrVB6 (edited by mdrVB6 2015-02-12 02:31:20)

  • mdrVB6
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-18
  • Posts: 717

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

After another couple hours of brainstorming I have another idea of how I can make a solidoodle bed.

I will order a set of these:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shi … 44054.html

I'm thinking I will design the back section of the bed holder in sketchup and put holes for 4x these bearings.  I will make it so that it prints without supports but then it would have a cross layer break in a wrong angle.  However, I can make a bottom part that goes the other way like Pirvan did with his carriage that has the X motor mount and glue them together with acrylic cement.  It can be printed 100% solid on my new volvano hot end for strength.

Then I can attach a metal plate with several screws. and mount the bed on that.  I'll use an M3 rod too.  It should be a pretty nice bed holder.  Thoughts?

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

3 Reply by pirvan

  • pirvan
  • pirvan
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: San Francisco
  • Registered: 2013-03-27
  • Posts: 1,797

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

FYI.

I don't know about other SD models, but the SD3 vertical rods are 10mm, not 8mm.  So you may need to check that before you order the wrong bearings.  You'll want these instead:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/LMK10UU- … 18643.html

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

4 Reply by jagowilson

  • jagowilson
  • PRINTiT
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-09-14
  • Posts: 1,701

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

pirvan wrote:

FYI.

I don't know about other SD models, but the SD3 vertical rods are 10mm, not 8mm.  So you may need to check that before you order the wrong bearings.  You'll want these instead:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/LMK10UU- … 18643.html

Actually the Z guide rods are SAE. if you do some searching here you'll find the values. They are just under 10mm

5 Reply by AZERATE

  • AZERATE
  • AZERATE
  • PRINTiT
  • Offline
  • From: Chicago
  • Registered: 2013-11-28
  • Posts: 2,077

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

Jagowilson is right. The stock unthreaded Z rods are 3/8"

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

6 Reply by pirvan (edited by pirvan 2015-02-14 18:42:55)

  • pirvan
  • pirvan
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: San Francisco
  • Registered: 2013-03-27
  • Posts: 1,797

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

Since you talked about having a sheet metal shop make you a print platform, I though it would help having some dimensions.

Since I had already drawn the print bed for my Solidoodle model, I thought I'd post a dimensioned CAD drawing for those that want to have it made.

BTW, the DWG and PDF file are the same, just a different format

Post's attachments

SD3 ALuminum print bed.DRW 376.5 kb, 14 downloads since 2015-02-14 

SD3 ALuminum print bed.PDF 44.16 kb, 49 downloads since 2015-02-14 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

7 Reply by AZERATE

  • AZERATE
  • AZERATE
  • PRINTiT
  • Offline
  • From: Chicago
  • Registered: 2013-11-28
  • Posts: 2,077

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

Good work as always pirvan!

Printit Mason and Printit Horizon printers
Multiple SD2s- Bulldog XL, E3D v5/v6/Lite6, Volcano, Hobb Goblin, Titan, .9 motor, Lawsy carriages, direct Y drive, fishing line...the list goes on
Filawinder and Filastruder #1870.....worth every penny!

8 Reply by mdrVB6

  • mdrVB6
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-18
  • Posts: 717

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

Thanks for the info Pirvan!  Unfortunately, I did already order the 8mm rods and bearings but they weren't expensive so oh well.  I have not settled on how I will do it yet.   If you go on thingiverse and search "alumimaker 2" you can see that guy found the ultimaker z table on aliexpress and I might go that way.   It uses 12 mm rods and bearings like I linked. I'm still deciding.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

9 Reply by sanguish

  • sanguish
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 64

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

I've also considered having a new aluminum bed machined. Primarily to get one that is flat, and has a good fit for th square silicone heater that requires the indentation in the Center at one end.

The problem is finding someplace to do the actual work. :-/

Machine shops seem few and far between in this area of vermont

10 Reply by TickTock

  • TickTock
  • TickTock
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-05-28
  • Posts: 263

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

If all you want is flat, and you have access to a drill press, you can buy a 0.25" piece of Alcoa precision ground aluminum plate and do it yourself.  No need for a machine shop.  These are flat to within a few mils.  This is what I did (sd4 heatbed installation) and it has been working great.  Also provides much more uniform heat.

11 Reply by sanguish

  • sanguish
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 64

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

In my case, the silicone heater has a lump that needs to be recessed, and that means machining if some sort. The heater is the unit sold by e3d.

Lawsy designed an elaborate dovetail base for it, but that is more than I want to deal with. I want a cleaner solution.

Just can't get one made. :-/

12 Reply by sanguish

  • sanguish
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 64

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

And sadly, no drill press or any tools to speak of. :-/

13 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2015-03-22 16:32:08)

  • jagowilson
  • PRINTiT
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-09-14
  • Posts: 1,701

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

Solidoodle still sells the SD3 and SD4 platform because they still sell the SD4.

http://www.solidoodle.com/parts/parts-S … m-platform

I meant to post that in the thread sooner... Who knows when they'll get around to shipping it to you, but it is still made.

14 Reply by Manx

  • Manx
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-09-25
  • Posts: 524

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

just spoke with solidoodle today they have just received an order of these but they do not know how many will go to production and how many will be available for purchase they will call me as this is one of the items i've been wanting

15 Reply by mdrVB6 (edited by mdrVB6 2015-03-25 19:43:00)

  • mdrVB6
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-18
  • Posts: 717

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

I ended up going with an ultimaker bed mount from this aliexpress seller:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wholesal … 52847.html

and the 12mm bearings with mounting flange:

http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6534 … 3855340113

Then I can use an aluminum plate and mount it on springs like the stock bed.  Just another idea.  Note that this is different sizes than the solidoodle bed, but works well if you are building a printer from scratch or open beam.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

16 Reply by sanguish

  • sanguish
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 64

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

So, I ended up finding Protolabs online who are willing to take designs and make one offs. The design I've come up with is expensive, but I think I can change the design to change the price.

I can't just use a plain old router on aluminum, can I? although in very small passes?

17 Reply by mdrVB6

  • mdrVB6
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-18
  • Posts: 717

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNC_router wink

Get a metal bit and have at it.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

18 Reply by metaldrgn (edited by metaldrgn 2015-04-21 19:01:51)

  • metaldrgn
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-06-22
  • Posts: 151

Re: Has anyone gotten a solidoodle bed holder fabricated? Source?

There's also the possibility of printing it out and casting it in aluminum via lost PLA or something like that. I've been playing around with melting down aluminum cans at least. I need to scale my foundry up. I have a lot of cans that still need to be melted.