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T Rex vs the Tiger
Every little boy loves the T Rex and every so often I see something online that I think. Wow! What made them do that? So I reached out over the internet and asked the question.
Most recently I wrote an article about a Corbyn from Canada’s conversion of his Ender 2 into a mobile printer. That was something that firmly set the cat amongst the pigeons!
This time it was a man building a life-size T Rex skeleton entirely from 3D printed parts. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he is doing it on his self-built giant printer!
Jurassic Park at home?
When I first reached out to Tiger, one of my first questions was what his reason for the massive build was. I, like most fathers, have printed the MakerBot T Rex for my son. I was only mildly surprised to find out that his girlfriend had printed a smaller version. After all, we guys like to go one better don’t we.
Having set a self-imposed time goal, Fifa realised straight away that to achieve his vision of unveiling a 1:1 replica of a T Rex skeleton at the international fair of Aguascalientes, Mexico. He would either need many printers working in unison, or he needed to construct a large format printer to allow him to complete the pieces in larger sections.
Hardware
Decision made, Fifa set out to construct his monster dino maker. The printer build area measures on its axis X/Y 1200mm Z height of 1300 mm. It has four independent Z motors for better levelling and to make lifting the monster gantry easier, 2 Y-axis motors, and a singular X-axis motor.
The custom firmware is used to drive this monster was created by Fifa in Python and a Raspberry Pi for the “Brain”.
Fifa has a plan shortly. The 3D Printing monster will be updated with brushless motors so that it is faster and the point it is going to be given with harmonic reducers. These use a universal damper to reduce vibrations in the print head.
To form an enclosure, 12mm tempered glass was placed around the structure to keep the temperature stable and increase the frame’s rigidity. The hotbed is silicone and adapted to a 6mm aluminium plate with the heater element being AC Powered. The secret in this printer is basically to give rigidity to the structure. This is achieved with tempered glass and a good support profile. The other parts that support the axis are made using 3D printing.
Printing Dinosaurs
When I asked Tiger if printing parts in such a large format presented any particular challenges, his response was…
“When you make large pieces, you realise small details that you have to correct and changes you make to give greater speed, better extrusion—constantly adapting a system so that it does not get out of phase and create a glue so that the piece does not detach from the heated bed”.
Fifa never really thought that something of that magnitude would excite so many people. He is also finding it a pleasure to do and enjoying the fact that others are enjoying it.
I know everyone at Inov3D is looking forward to seeing Tigers completed T Rex. However, with the current world events, we think he may find his deadline extended.
Enjoyed this article? Why not check out Michaels article on the awesome 3D Printed RC Car! Or how about BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo Review – Latest and greatest?
