NS3DP - Non-Sucking 3D Printer

UPDATE!

I am working on version 2:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2999284

Motivation

I am designing a new printer from scratch and I'm sharing it here so everyone can customize and build his own version of this. The idea is to make a printer with "big" build room without being "too huge" itself, and it needs to be fast, precise and affordable.

Plan

The non-sucking 3D printer (NS3DP) is a cartesian printer with the bed moving in Z-direction and the print head moving in XY-direction. For the electronics, I chose the RAMPS 1.4 with the graphical display/SD module. It uses E3D Titan Extruders with pancake 13Ncm steppers for a lightweight print head. As much as possible will be 3D printed parts to keep the price low - as long as it doesn't affect print quality.

Details

The frame is made of 40mm aluminium profiles. Optional diagonals can be used to make it even more sturdy if the build volume gets big.

I decided to use ultimaker-style movement mechanics for the print head's XY-movement (meaning there are no belts or spindles attached to the print head directly). I doubled the "cross-hair" axis, for less ringing during fast accelerations. But unlike the ultimaker, this printer does not use the linear rods as rotating axis, so linear ball bearings can be used, too. In Z-direction, four spindles will drive the heavy heated bed. If your printer has a lighter print bed, you might get away with two.

Update (2018-01-21)

I removed the "work in progress" marker as the printer is in a working state with acceptable quality. There will be future improvements (the electronics will get their own PCB, the print head will get a redesign and the vertical sliders will get ball bearings instead of the igus bearings), but for now, it is a working printer.