Scale up your Ultimaker (or down)

[ayahoo 0]

While my printer is printing I have too much time to think , and lately it is printing all the time :-P .

Did anybody tried to connect the 3D printer to a Pantograph? (for anyone who doesn't know what it is, it is a simple set of arms that allows you to scale up or down 2D movement).

Since the biggest "price" of the system is the drive system, if we leave the X-Y build area the same, and just move the Z platform out, we can get a GIANT, build platform... I guess the accuracy will be less, but still it can be a very nice try...

 

[jhertzberg 19]

I assume you would anchor the fulcrum to the top-rear of the case and the tracer to the original head mount, right? I played around a bit with adding an articulating arm to hold tensioned belts between the head and a second extruder motor. You will need to keep the arms supported so they don't sag as the z-stage drops, but also you need to keep the assembly light enough for the old head assembly to drag the tracer about. If you try building this, I suggest that you pick up some 623ZZ bearings for the pivot points on all the arms. You may also want a fixed height stage below the full travel area of the long arm pivot and then support the pivot on a ball caster.