DIY Large Scale 3D Printer With All Lead Screws

Fixed Bed / Moving Gantry

The Workhorse Printer is a large format 3d printer some friends and I have been working on for the past three years. The large 3d printer is a modular machine platform that uses lead screw driven motion with a fixed bed / moving gantry. 

• Fixed Bed / Moving Gantry
• X and Y-Axis Lead Screw

While most 3d printers use belt driven motion in the x and y axis to increase print speed but loses quality when more weight is applied to the gantry or carriage. The lead screw used on the Workhorse has a high helix pitch with multiple threads to allow increased print speeds while maintaining the quality provided from lead screw and ball screw motion. We designed the machine for applications that require more weight to the gantry or carriage such as materials such as clay, chocolate, plastic pellet extrusion. The increase weight that is moved 

around which without decreased quality or reduced print speeds.

Google Drive Documentation 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YLz6RJX2dNR7XJ4LiZ_rjCxjC-D690S_?usp=sharing

Lead Screw vs Belt Driven Motion

While most 3d printers use belt driven motion in the x and y axis to increase print speed but loses quality when more weight is applied to the gantry or carriage. The lead screw used on the Workhorse has a high helix pitch with multiple threads to allow increased print speeds while maintaining the quality provided from lead screw and ball screw motion. We designed the machine for applications that require more weight to the gantry or carriage such as materials such as clay, chocolate, plastic pellet extrusion. The increase weight that is moved  around which without decreased quality or reduced print speeds.

Large Build Area

• Print size millimeters (xyz): 650 x 350 x 350 mm
• Print size inches (xyz): 25.6 x 13.7 x 13.7 inches

Fixed Bed

While most large format printers use a moving bed that moves along the Z-Axis, the Workhorse’s fixed bed and moving gantry design is more ideal for the large scale 3d printing process.

Nema 23 Stepper Motors

In order to drive the lead screw we had to use Nema 23's instead of the typical Nema 17 stepper motors found on most 3d printers and machine custom motor mounts.

Carriage & Gantry Design

Duet Wifi and Duet 3 Mainboard

Hackaday 3d Printer Project Lists

Large Scale 3D Printers

CoreXY 3D Printer

SolidCore 3D Printer

Gantry Assembly

Mic6 Aluminum Build Plate

Carriage Assembly

Duet3D Firmware

We now recommend the Duet 3 Mainboard 6HC electronics by Duet3D. Build & Firmware Updates

Workhorse Specifications

• Technology: FFF FDM
• Type: Material extrusion
• Open-Source Year: 2018
• Assembly or DIY Kit
• Mechanical arrangement: Cartesian-XYZ-Head
• Manufacturer country: USA

Materials

• Filament diameter:1.75 mm, 3mm
• Compatible with 3rd party filaments? Yes an open material system
• Printable material(s):ABS, CPE, HIPS, Nylon, PETG, PLA