StarttXL (Upgraded Startt/Tronxy100)

cults3d

A while a go I bought the (now discontinued) Startt printer from Imakr. It took some tuning & fiddling with settings but eventually I was quite happy with it. However I wanted a bigger build volume, and if possible some additional stability. I didnt upgrade the z axis, only x and y - might do that later but for the time being this is big enough for me. The end result looks super hacky & rough but it actually prints really well & it cost me very little. I didn't find it super difficult in the end, but it does require an understanding of how the various parts of the original Startt come together & a working knowledge of 3D printers. Feel free to ask any questions, look forward to any comments! The idea was that I would build a wooden box frame from 12mm MDF I had lying around, and then 3D print some adaptors and various bits & bobs which allow attachment of the existing parts to the box. Many parts form the original printer were re-used: most of the x- y- and z- carriages. The parts were designed in Fusion 360, in particular I used the svg file of the original parts made by Juewei to design the top corners - these have a recessed slot where the original part fits in and allows fixing to the MDF frame. I've also incorporated various other people's improvements to the basic design, hopefully I've linked them all here. I bought & installed an E3Dv6 hotend previously which is what you see on the pictures, but this should all work fine with the stock hotend - if you want the E3Dvs then you need to adjust the z axis limit switch because its shorter. To mount the extruder I used the 'alternate extruder mount' by NeilsenRM. Just screwed it onto the frame, there isn't really much force on it so doesn't need to be all that sturdy. I went with a glass textured Creality3D buildplate, mainly because it was cheap on Amazon. I explored various ways of upgrading the y carriage to attach it to (and may still do so) but for the time being I just used double sided adhesive tape to attach it to the tiny old buildplate from the startt. It works surprisingly well, the glass is thick and rigid enough to support itself at the edges. Someday I will get round to installing a heated bed and that will require installing a proper build plate holder but for the time being this is fine. You'll notice that the frame is quite a bit larger than it needs to be. This is because 1) 8mm smooth rods on Amazon come in multiples of 10cm and I didn't want to have to shorten them, so this is the size you end up with for 50mm rods 2) It allows for even further expansion of the buildplate in future, should I wish (and to be honest I was a little insecure about my measurements) The y carriage rails are closer together than ideal, there is a bit of side to side wobble if you push it. So far again no effect on the build quality, possibly when printe get larger and heavier it would become a problem. I left it as is mainly so I could use the existing carriage, may upgrade further later. shopping list: timing belt 6mm,2mm divisions. You'll need roughly 2m (I bought 5). https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07TJXXBNK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_bia_item_fallback_o00_s00 Longer PTFE bowden tube https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07Q85LHRZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Glass plate (many other build surfaces should work fine, as long as they are rigid) https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07PM46B9S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 4x linear rod 8mm * 50mm https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07G2KWCXP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also bought some m5 threaded rod + nuts from my local building supply store these were 1m and cut to size. They provide stability for the y carriage assembly. Also a bunch of metal brackets & screws to assemble the MDF frame. Print list: Each part needs to be printed twice. The parts provided are only for the right hand side of the printer, for the left hand parts they need to be mirrored in Meshmixer Backplateholder.stl: just a small bracket to keep the back plate in place. Need 2 of these Toprightcorner.stl: to affix the original z axis top holder to teh MDF plate. Need to mirror the part in Meshmixer to generate the top left corner ZcarriageholderRight.stl: to fix the bottom of the z axes in place and brackets the stepper motor in place on the bottom MDF plate. Needs to be mirrored in Meshmixer to generate the Left carriage holder. Also the various parts that are linked in the source. The only necessary ones are the brackets (Robdavies) and Alternate extruder mount (NeilsenRM), but I found the others to be very useful in quality and usability improvements. MDF frame; all made form 12mm thick MDF: i cut out a bottom plate of 53(w) x 61(d) cm. two 21x16 cm plates (vertical sides), and one front plate which is 52(w) x 30(h) and has a square hole cut in about 2cm from the edge. I also fixed a smaller piece to the top of teh frame to hold the electronics. The frame, when assembled, required me to cut out an additional slot on the left because it got in the way of the x carriage. I just eyeballed it, but if you want it to look good you should probably cut out the necessary bits before assembly. Assembly: pretty much the same as for your original Startt, except fixing everything to the wooden frame. You'll need to figure this out for yourself, although if you have a feel for how the original Startt was put together you should be able to manage this. EDIT I forgot to say that the bigger build plate also requires some tweaking in the slicer. I'm sure it could be done with custom firmware, but what I did was connect the printer to my PC using Repetier, and then using the manual controls figure out what the exact coordinates of the buildplate home were (and how wide I want it). I use Prusaslicer, and entered the following for size settings: size x and y both 230, origin x -57, y -130. The values you get will depend on the specific buildplate size as well as the position of the endstops. Any questions feel free to drop me a note!