Carbon fiber delta arms
Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:18 pm
I've known for quite a while (about 5 months ago, lol!) I wanted to upgrade to using carbon fiber arms, but finally just jumped on it and did it in just a day! The results are amazing, and I was thinking about offering them as a kit... I know all the exact parts to get, and it's fairly inexpensive. I was thinking of making several kits available:
$70 - A fully "ready" kit with all hardware, that only requires installing the pre-assembled rods and calibrating
$60 - A kit with all hardware, and carbon fiber rods already cut to length, assembly (gorilla glue or super glue) to ball joints required, then install & calibrate
$50 - A kit with all hardware, but you must cut the arms (really easy), then assemble rods (gorilla glue or super glue) to ball joints, install & calibrate
Above prices do not include shipping. I would use USPS priority so you would get a tracking number and they should arrive within 2-3 business days within the US for $7.
If you are outside the US then I would have to determine shipping based on your location which would unfortunately cost more than $7. I just checked USPS International Express and it would cost around $46 for 3-5 business day delivery, and USPS International Priority costs about $26 for 6-10 business day delivery.
I have a website http://www.3DprintGeeks.com, but it's far from ready for any e-commerce, so it would just be done through invoicing through Paypal for now. If there are a few people interested and want to get them I can place an order by the end of this week and have the parts in a week ready to ship out the end of next week. If a whole lot of people (>20) want some then I could probably drop the price a little bit by ordering more quantity as well and get my wife involved on setting them up and shipping them out
[UPDATE 7/15/2013] I didn't get a lot of interest in having the arms made, so I "open sourced" the vendors & gave detailed video instructions on how to do the upgrade yourself here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2165 . If you would still like a set made though I can do that for you, but the cost will be $75 + shipping ($6 for US, $26 for international). The reason for the increase is that I don't have the parts on hand, and I will have to order the pieces individually after receiving payment. This also means that it would be a 1 week lead time before I could assemble & ship them out to you... If you're still interested shoot me a PM with your email address and I can send you a Paypal invoice
Here's some pics of the installed arms on my machine:
Effector platform side
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z7Fz ... CN9688.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z7Fz ... CN9688.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PDtN ... CN9685.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PDtN ... CN9685.JPG[/img]
Cheapskate side
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DW-U ... CN9680.JPG
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DW-U ... CN9680.JPG[/img]
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-frGX ... CN9682.JPG
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-frGX ... CN9682.JPG[/img]
First print after calibration with arms installed. It was this snoflake vase (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40087), printed at 0.15mm layers. I used KISSlicer and printed at ~80mm/s for the majority of the print. During the video below I bumped the speed up to 120mm/s
With the old plastic arms & aluminum u-joints the accuracy achieved at these speeds would not have been possible on my machine! Considering the speed at which I printed it I think it turned out excellent for not having a fan for cooling the part!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK9DonfdppE[/youtube]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DX1u ... CN9655.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DX1u ... CN9655.JPG[/img]
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aXHj ... CN9662.JPG
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aXHj ... CN9662.JPG[/img]
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tmgE ... CN9667.JPG
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tmgE ... CN9667.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3yAC ... CN9672.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3yAC ... CN9672.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9hI4 ... CN9673.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9hI4 ... CN9673.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JxcS ... CN9676.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JxcS ... CN9676.JPG[/img]
I also already have several instructional videos of how to measure/cut the carbon rods, accurately install the u-joints with an easy to make jig, and install them onto the printer. Obviously if you get the $70 kit then a few of the videos won't be necessary as the rods would already be measured/cut/ball rods attached.
I'll be watching this thread if you'd like to post questions here about the arms or if you'd like me to send you a paypal invoice to add you to the list for the first order at the end of the week, until then happy printing! 
Cheers,
Austin
$70 - A fully "ready" kit with all hardware, that only requires installing the pre-assembled rods and calibrating
$60 - A kit with all hardware, and carbon fiber rods already cut to length, assembly (gorilla glue or super glue) to ball joints required, then install & calibrate
$50 - A kit with all hardware, but you must cut the arms (really easy), then assemble rods (gorilla glue or super glue) to ball joints, install & calibrate
Above prices do not include shipping. I would use USPS priority so you would get a tracking number and they should arrive within 2-3 business days within the US for $7.
If you are outside the US then I would have to determine shipping based on your location which would unfortunately cost more than $7. I just checked USPS International Express and it would cost around $46 for 3-5 business day delivery, and USPS International Priority costs about $26 for 6-10 business day delivery.
I have a website http://www.3DprintGeeks.com, but it's far from ready for any e-commerce, so it would just be done through invoicing through Paypal for now. If there are a few people interested and want to get them I can place an order by the end of this week and have the parts in a week ready to ship out the end of next week. If a whole lot of people (>20) want some then I could probably drop the price a little bit by ordering more quantity as well and get my wife involved on setting them up and shipping them out
[UPDATE 7/15/2013] I didn't get a lot of interest in having the arms made, so I "open sourced" the vendors & gave detailed video instructions on how to do the upgrade yourself here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2165 . If you would still like a set made though I can do that for you, but the cost will be $75 + shipping ($6 for US, $26 for international). The reason for the increase is that I don't have the parts on hand, and I will have to order the pieces individually after receiving payment. This also means that it would be a 1 week lead time before I could assemble & ship them out to you... If you're still interested shoot me a PM with your email address and I can send you a Paypal invoice
Here's some pics of the installed arms on my machine:
Effector platform side
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z7Fz ... CN9688.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z7Fz ... CN9688.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PDtN ... CN9685.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PDtN ... CN9685.JPG[/img]
Cheapskate side
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DW-U ... CN9680.JPG
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DW-U ... CN9680.JPG[/img]
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-frGX ... CN9682.JPG
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-frGX ... CN9682.JPG[/img]
First print after calibration with arms installed. It was this snoflake vase (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40087), printed at 0.15mm layers. I used KISSlicer and printed at ~80mm/s for the majority of the print. During the video below I bumped the speed up to 120mm/s
With the old plastic arms & aluminum u-joints the accuracy achieved at these speeds would not have been possible on my machine! Considering the speed at which I printed it I think it turned out excellent for not having a fan for cooling the part![youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK9DonfdppE[/youtube]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DX1u ... CN9655.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DX1u ... CN9655.JPG[/img]
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aXHj ... CN9662.JPG
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aXHj ... CN9662.JPG[/img]
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tmgE ... CN9667.JPG
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tmgE ... CN9667.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3yAC ... CN9672.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3yAC ... CN9672.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9hI4 ... CN9673.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9hI4 ... CN9673.JPG[/img]
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JxcS ... CN9676.JPG
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JxcS ... CN9676.JPG[/img]
I also already have several instructional videos of how to measure/cut the carbon rods, accurately install the u-joints with an easy to make jig, and install them onto the printer. Obviously if you get the $70 kit then a few of the videos won't be necessary as the rods would already be measured/cut/ball rods attached.
I'll be watching this thread if you'd like to post questions here about the arms or if you'd like me to send you a paypal invoice to add you to the list for the first order at the end of the week, until then happy printing! Cheers,
Austin