A new approach to print head movement

A new approach to print head movement: Proof of concept for linear motor positioning in an Ultimaker 3D printer

Alkemade, Aaron (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering; TU Delft Precision and Microsystems Engineering)

van de Ven, O.S. (mentor)
Spronck, J.W. (mentor)
Saikumar, N. (graduation committee)
van den Dobbelsteen, J.J. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Mechanical Engineering | Mechatronic System Design (MSD)

2019-02-11

To push the performance of the next generation Ultimaker 3D printers further, a new positioning system is required to improve the printing speed, print accuracy and print repeatability. The expectation is that a linear motor positioning system will perform significantly better than a conventional belt driven system. For this reason, the aim of this MSc thesis is to demonstrate the feasibility of a low-cost linear motor positioning system for use in a 3D printer.
A single axis experimental set-up is realized to evaluate the performance of the positioning system using different linear motors, sensors, guides and controllers. Using a single sided ironless linear motor, Hall effect encoder, linear ball bearing and an open-source controller, a positioning system is realized that can reach a speed of 3.7 m/s, an accuracy of 14 µm and a repeatability of 3 µm. A 2DOF system using these components can be realized with an overall cost of € 854.

Linear motor
Positioning system
3D printer
Ultimaker
Classification
Linear synchronous motor
Position sensor

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4ab2544d-5a16-4d6c-b847-1f9f57985c1e

2024-02-01

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Aaron Alkemade