Knight - High Speed, Simple Maintenance 3D Printer

UPDATE 3/15/2024: Uploaded 3MF files

After some considerable optimizations for printability of parts, I've uploaded V1.1 and all printable parts as 3MF files. 

See it in use

BOM: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qetLjgKFxCwLzvGQcTYd4H-oioyZz2cSc5-lvRSWhus/edit?usp=sharing 

This is my take on a high speed 3D printer, but on a budget. On my particular build with a ~350x470x350 movement area, the bowden tube is only just over 300mm long, the same length as my Ender 3 with a shortened tube. The bed is 310x320x3 because I found it for $23 😉 but it can be made much larger. 

The best part? It can print at 900mm/s at 100k accel. 24v. No ultra fancy drivers. No LDO motors. Not even active stepper cooling, just a heatsink stuck onto the side of each stepper with some thermal paste to keep them at what feels like 45-50c after a long session of printing. With an 8-bit ATMEGA2560 and a BTT EBB36 for the extruder, it tops out between 800 and 600mm/s at 80k accel. 

Components are designed to fit with panels bolted to the extrusions with a small gap except for the electronics, which will eventually sit inside the enclosure but be protected from the heat of the chamber. Easy maintenance was a key part of this design with x/y stepper mounts able to slide out with only 4-6 screws (2 screws are optional). Tensioning is done at the front of the printer by tightening screws. Build space is maximized given the frame size without sticking out of the frame itself. 

Updates will be made to add a toolchanger at minimal cost per tool (the hotend, hotend fan, part fans, and extruder, plus optional EBB module) and to test a zoned hotbed using 100x100 PCBs for the heaters and controlled using the same concept as the Klipper bed mesh on print area only macro - using the slicer to pass in the object max and min. 

Knight?

The knight is the only chess piece that can jump over other pieces. My design is to allow components to be swapped out with minimal disassembly ("jumping" steps 😎). The hotend can be removed by removing the front panel of the carriage, leaving all other parts in place. The X carriage can be replaced without removing the belt from any pulleys. The bed mount can be removed without disassembling it or the Z axis, etc.

Feel free to comment your thoughts and ideas!

Upgrades

• Higher Flow Hotend: MeltXone | High Flow Hotend Upgrade | Printables.com

Future Plans

• Toolchanger
• Zoned Heated Bed (Budget: ~$50) 
• Better Electronics Mounts and Cooling (quiet yet high current 😊)
• CPAP fan cooling (similar fans can be found for $30. Maybe we can make a list?)