Editors:
Marcin Jakubowski
Graphic Design:
Jean-Baptiste Vervaeck
Version:
Date:
D3D Universal v2 Build Instructions
v20.07
August 18, 2020
Open Source Ecology Build Manual Series
Table of contents
Prelude: Notes on Using this Guide
Wiring - note that the wiring for the D3D Universal is the same as D3D Pro for all connections - except that there is 6 stepper motors in Pro and 4 stepper motors in Universal. With this said, take a look at John Blakley’s wiring guide for the Pro and follow it for most of the wiring.
Notes On Using this Guide
ABOUT: This guide - the Universal Gearless Extruder Build Guide- is part of a production manual series for the 50 Global Village Construction Set machines. The intended audience is people interested in building machines, producing kits, running immersion build workshops based on this kit, and anyone else interested in collaborative, open source production.
HOW TO USE: You can use a QR code reader to scan the bar codes to access content online.
COLLABORATION: This is a collaborative effort. You are invited to help edit this guide. You can edit this document or make a copy, make your edits, and email us describing your proposed changes. To join our open source product development effort, see the Getting Involved page on the OSE wiki. You can email us at info@opensourceecology.org
You can read the history of OSE’s 3D Printer builds and development at the 3D Printer Genealogy. The D3D Universal 3D printer uses the 8 mm Universal Axis concept, the Universal Gearless Extruder, and can be fitted with a pen or marker so the machine can also function as a CNC pen plotter. This guide shows how to:
OSE’s Industrial Education
3D printer
See full BOM here. The second tab shows all the 3D printed parts and files. You can cross reference the parts used with the 3D CAD, available in FreeCAD format and exportable to STEP.
Lowest Unique Part Count in the world
The kit does not require soldering. To do the build, you will need:
Other tools that may help include:
3. Tools
4. 3D Prints
Part Identification
Identify 3D Printed Pieces:
See Pictures Folder for more pictures. You can 3D print all of these parts with your printer, except for the base, which requires a 12” bed or a print in 4 smaller parts that are then glued together.
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These parts are shown on the D3D Universal 3D CAD page.
5. Build Steps
Overview of 3 axis motion system
Base:
Axes and controller attach to base
Z Axis
Attaches to base + holds the X axis
X Axis (Extruder Axis):
Holds the Extruder above the heated bed
Y Axis (Bed Axis):
Attaches to the base + holds the heated bed
Controller, heated bed, and extruder not shown for clarity.
Note that the Front of the machine is defined as the location of the LCD screen.
Top View
X
Motor
Y
Motor
Front
Back
Left
X Axis
Should be on inner holes,
Ray points out
05 - 01
5. Build Steps
Build Heater Element for Heated Bed
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05 - 02
5. Build Steps
Build Heat Bed
1) Identify parts: 2 plates, 4 tubes, 2 rods, one screw. The top has the long, welded nut.
2) Drill hole in middle of carbon fiber blanket insulation using a ¼” bit.
3) Insert bolt into metal plate, and lay fiber blanket over the bolt, so that the bolt goes through the ¼” hole in the blanket.
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blanket
metal plate under blanket
To cut carbon blanket, you can use a razor blade as shown in (13). Curl the heater element (14) on top of the fiber blanket, where the fiber blanket is on top of the heated bed base. Then place the 4 tubes on top of the fiber blanket (15). Next, cut the PEI print surface (16). Mark a 6”x6” square, then cut with scissors (17-18). See picture source for more details.
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Heatbed
base
top
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PEI print surface
05 - 03
5. Build Steps
Build Heated Bed
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Peel the green, protective coating from one side of the PEI (19) to expose a shiny surface (20). Stick one side of the 3M double-sided high temperature tape (21) onto the shiny PEI surface (22). Cut the excess double-sided tape off with a razor. This PEI sheet now has the double-sided tape attached to it, and the PEI is ready to be attached to the shiny side of the heatbed top plate (23 next page). See pictures for more details.
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05 - 04
5. Build Steps
Finish Heat Bed
Peel the backing (24) from the double-sided tape (25), so the PEI can be attached to the shiny top surface of the heatebed (23). Attach the PEI to the shiny surface (26). The double-sided tape is very strong, so you have only one try to do this. Once the PEI is attached to the heat bed, peel the second, green, protective coating off the PEI (27), exposing the other shiny side of the PEI, which is now the finished print surface of the heated bed (28),
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05 - 05
5. Build Steps
Universal Axis Overview
You will build 3 motion axes: X, Y, and Z. They all have the same underlying form as in (29): idler side, carriage side, and motor side (30) with slight variations. The motor side (31) consists of a stepper motor attached to the motor 3D printed piece, which is attached using three m3x25 screws. The carriage side (32) consists of the main body (black), 4 linear bearings inside the main body (ones shown are 3D printed), and a carriage closure (blue) which is locked down using an m8x18 screw. The Idler Piece (33) consists of a 3D printed piece, 2 flanged bearings to hold the belt, and an m6x18 screw holding the bearing. All of the 3D printed sides have the two 8 mm rods inside of them (34). See more about the Universal Axis on the wiki, and picture source.
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Idler side
Carriage
Motor side
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05 - 06
5. Build Steps
Motor Side
You will need to build 3 motor sides for the 3 motion axes. The motor side consists of a stepper motor, pulley, m3x25 screws as in (35) and the 3D printed piece (36). Slip the pulley over the motor shaft. Unscrew the 2 set screws with a 2 mm Allen wrench so the pulley can slip over the stepper motor shaft, and the screw the pulley down (37). The height of the pulley should be such that when you place the stepper motor on the motor piece, the teeth of the pulley should span the elongated hole (38) and a belt can ride on the pulley without hitting the black 3D printed piece. Adjust the pulley height as needed - see (39-42) for more details of pulley tightening (next page). If the pulley is not tight, it will slip and you will need to remove the motor from the finished machine to retighten.
To attach motor to 3D printed piece, slip the pulley through the hole in the 3D printed piece, and use 3 m3x25 screws (44-45) to attach the motor (43). Note that one corner of the stepper motor is not attached (36). Screw down the motor with a philips screw driver (43). At this point, the motor side is ready to accept the 8 mm rods (46). See picture source for more details.
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Motor Side
Howto: stepper motor pulley height 1
Stepper motor pulley height on the shaft.
5-7
Step 1: Put pulley on motor
Place the pulley on the motor using a thin spacer (provided) that the pulley rests upon. Tighten the first set screw with an Allen wrench.
The space prevents the pulley from rubbing on the motor housing, and assists in aligning the pulley gear to the belt channel.
With the first set screw tightened, you can remove the spacer. Then tighten the second set screw.
Step 2: Tighten pulley set screw onto motor shaft
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5 - 8
Howto: stepper motor pulley height 2
Stepper motor pulley height on the motor shaft.
Step 3: Quality Control Check
Flip the Allen wrench and tighten down the set screw as far as you can, pressing down on the wrench near its midpoint for greatest pressure. When you hear the set screw "pop", you can be sure you've set it as tightly as possible.
The pop sound occurs when the small screw head slips along the motor shaft. It doesn’t get any tighter than that. This tight fit ensures the belt will be pulled effectively by the motor shaft.
It’s also OK if you don’t hear a pop sound. As long as you’ve tightened the screw as hard as you can, then it should be fine. But don’t tighten so hard that you strip the allen hole or key.��Each motor gets this identical treatment.
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05 - 09
5. Build Steps
Carriage Side
You will need to build 3 carriage sides for the 3 motion axes. The carriage side consists of the 3D printed piece (black), 4 linear bearings (2 in each hole), a carriage closure (blue), and m6x18 bolt (46). The linear bearings may be plastic, metal, or 3d printed plastic (as shown). There may be tape around the bearings (47) to tighten up the carriage (see next pages regarding bearing tightness requirements). The carriage cannot be too tight (won’t move properly) or too loose (will not produce accurate prints). Tape can be used around the bearings to adjust tightness. In the case where the bearings are tight without tape, the bearing holes would need to be reamed out with a file, large drill bit, or heat gun.
Insert 4 linear bearings into the carriage, then take the carriage closure (48) and use an m6x18 bolt to lock down the closure (49). The finished carriage assembly (50) is ready to be placed on the rods (51) to produce a completed axis (52).
See picture source for more details.
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Carriage Side
Linear Bearing
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Howto: Carriage Tightness 1
How tight should the linear bearings be?
5 - 10
Test Method 1: Carriage Shake
This test ensures that the bearing is tight enough.
Put bearings in carriage. Close the carriage with the closure. Shake it. If the bearings shake inside the carriage, you will need to adjust the bearing size so that it is a snug fit inside the carriage and bearings do not move around.
5 - 11
Howto: Carriage Tightness 2
How tight should the linear bearings be?
Motors will be pulling a belt attached to this carriage with 20 pounds of force. So the rod shouldn’t just slip through the carriage super fast; instead, there should be a little resistance. It’s even OK if you have to shake the carriage for the rod to slide through.
It’s likely the rod won’t be adjusted exactly right. See next step to use tape to adjust the tightness.
Test Method 2: Rod Slide
This test ensures that the bearing is not too tight.
Put the rod through the carriage. Turn the carriage so that the rod is vertical. Rod should slide or drop through as you hold the carriage.
5 - 12
Howto: Carriage Tightness 3
How tight should the linear bearings be?
Step 13.5: Adjust bearings if needed
Wrap each bearing in one wrapping of electrical tape. Tape so that it just barely overlaps with itself. We recommend electrical tape but any tape will work.
Repeat as necessary.
Why does tape make it tighter?�If the rod slips through really quickly, then adding tape to the bearings will give it more resistance. This is because the bearings tend to get misaligned (or pre-tensioned)via the tape, as the bearings now fit more tightly inside the body of the carriage.
Why can tape make it too tight?�Too much tape will compress the bearing and keep it from sliding.
05 - 13
5. Build Steps
Idler Side
You will need to build 3 carriage sides for the 3 motion axes. The carriage side consists of the 3D printed piece, 2 flanged bearings, an m6 nut, and m6x18 bolt (53-54). Insert the nut into the middle nut recess (55). Take the two flanged bearings and put them together with the flanges on the outside (56). Insert this sandwich into the 3D printed piece (57) above the nut, and insert the m6 bolt through the 3d Printed piece and bearings (58), screwing into the m6 nut. If using a cordless drill, use the lowest clutch setting (59), and check that the idler bearing spins freely when you are done. It it doesn’t spin freely, either loosen the bolt or cut away some material with a knife. Finish by putting the idler piece on the rods (60).
See picture source for more details.
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Idler Side
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05 - 14
5. Build Steps
Belts
You will need to build 3 belt assemblies for the 3 motion axes. Each belt assembly consists of 2 3D printed pieces, an m6x10 set screw, one m6 nut, one m6 bolt, and one belt (61-63). An m3 Allen key is used to tighten the set screw, and an m5 Allen key is used for the bolt.
Make a loop in the belt and put a set screw in the loop: Slip the belt inside the belt cylinder (64) with the ridges of the belt facing each other (68). Insert and screw the m6 set screw (65) inside the small belt loop that is inside the belt cylinder. Use the Allen key (67) to screw in the set screw until the bottom of the set screw goes all the way through the belt (68). Make 3 belt ends like this (66). When you are done, you should not be able to pull the belt out of the belt cylinder.
See picture source for more details.
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Belt Clamp
05 - 15
5. Build Steps
Winding Belts
There is a general procedure to thread the belt through the Unviersal Axis to build a complete axis, regardless of whether this is the X, Y, or Z axis. In this example, the bed axis is used. To attach the belt to an axis - thread it through one of the holes in the carriage (69) on the side with the carriage closure, with the belt teeth facing to the inside. Pull the belt until the belt cylinder is against the carriage closure(70). Continue to wind the belt through the motor (71) and idler (72) sides, until you get back to the belt cylinder. Thread the belt on the inside of the belt cylinder (73) and pull out the other side (74). Use the belt clamp to fix the belt (75). Slip the belt clamp over the 2 belt section, insert a bolt and nut, and tighten. The head of the bolt should face to the opposite belt as in (75), and the nut should face to the outside..
The belt is tensioned by pushing the belt clamp right next to the carriage closure, and pulling on the belt end (76) with needle nose pliers. To pull on the belt end, grab the belt end with the needle nose pliers, and twist the pliers, so the belt rolls around the needle nose pliers and gets tight. When belt is tight, tighten the bolt of the belt clamp. However, do this only after you determine and fix the final length of the axis.
See picture source for more details.
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05 - 16
5. Build Steps
Bed axis assembly
At this point you have all the knowledge required to make the axes and tighten the belts. Now let’s build the actual axes. Look at page 8 for orientation - and build the bed axis (77). The Bed axis uses the bed carriage, and 2 motor pieces (78). The upper motor piece has the 2 nuts in the recess (78). To attach the bed axis to the base, place the idler side at the front (79), and screw down with m6x30 bolts (80). Screw them all the way down into the holes in the base plastic (81), allowing the screws to thread into the plastic. Note that the 8 mm rods end right before the screws, so they are not in the way fo the screws. To attach the motor side, attach the left motor piece shown in (82), but from the bottom side of the base using m6x35 bolts (85-86). The bolts screw into nuts on the other side in (82). Once screwed down, tighten down the rods using the 2 black set screws in the right motor piece in (82). The finished geometry should look similar to (84). Move on to the Z axis. See more detail pictures.
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Top View on Motor Side of Base
Bottom View
05 - 17
5. Build Steps
Z axis assembly 1
To build the Z axis, insert the motor piece with motor into the base (87). Screw down the base into the motor using 2 m6x18 bolts at the bottom of the motor (88-89). Take an m6x10 set screw (90) and screw into the top of the motor piece - both right (91) and left (92) sides when looking at the motor- which will be used to fix the Z axis rods. On the other side (93), use 2 m6x18 screws to further fix the Z axis motor piece to the base (94). See more detail pictures.
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05 - 18
5. Build Steps
Z axis assembly 2
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Screw down the m6x18 screws until they bottom out (95-96). Insert the Z axis rods (97) and screw them down with the set screws (98). Take the Z to X Connector and insert the linear bearing and close them with the carriage closure (99). Note also the 4 arrow locations in (99) - those are m6x10 set screws that need to be screwed in to clamp down the rods later on. Screw these in, starting the thread using a tap or m6 bolt as a tap. Mount the stepper motor, with on the Z to X Connector (100), with the motor connector facing bottom left in the picture. See more picture details.
05 - 19
5. Build Steps
Z axis assembly 3
Screw down the stepper motors with 3 m3x25 screws (101-102). Slide the Z to X Connector down on the Z rods (103) so that the motor is towards the front of the machine (104). Take the Z axis idler, mount the 2 set screws on it (105). Slide the idler over the Z rods (106), and use the set screws to fix the idler at the top of the rods (107). Next mount the belt on the Z axis. You can tighten the Z belt clamp, as the length of the Z axis has been fixed by using the set screws to hold the rods both on the idler and on the motor piece of the Z axis. Next is the X axis, which is already started with the Z to X Connector. See pictures.
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05 - 20
5. Build Steps
X axis assembly with Extruder
Mount the X axis carriage and idler on the X rods (109), and insert the X axis rods into the Z to X Connector (108). Screw down the 4 set screws in the Z to X Connector (110) to fix the X rods on the motor side (111). Also screw down the set screws on the X idler, as you did in (107), so that the idler side is also fixed and the belt can be added. With the X axis fixed, you can add its belt, so that now the X, Y, and Z axis have the belts attached (112).
Now you can mount the extruder. Align the nut catcher and nut on the bottom of the extruder assembly (113)with the mid hole of the carriage (114), and use an m6x25 bolt to tighten the extruder to the X carriage (115). The extruder nozzle should point to the front of the 3D printer. See details in pictures.
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05 - 21
5. Build Steps
Controller 1
Controller parts include the GFCI outlet with power cord, plug with lever nut, Solid State Relay, USB cord, 24V power supply, and RAMPS controller board (116). See more details at the Universal Controller page on the wiki.
Start by inserting the RAMPS board into the front of the base (117), so that the USB plug fits in the side hole of the base. Use an m6x18 bolt to lock the RAMPS board in place, but do not overtighten as the RAMPS board can break. Insert the power supply (118) on the pedestal behind the RAMPS board (119) and tie down with 4 zip ties (120). Snip the zip tie excess with side cutters (121). Mount the signal wires with the correct polarity to the signal side of the Solid State Relay (SSR) (122). The light colored wire is positive, the colder color wire is negative. Unscrew the terminals and place the leads under the terminals of the SSR. See more detail pictures.
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RAMPS Board
Power Supply
Solid State
Relay
Picture of actual build for controller (ref pictures 117 and 119) ~DavidLeasure
Applied heat gun to get board to fit ; tilted slightly out (this was after trimming with knife)
Are these the correct placement for these wires?
Signal wires from SSR -- corrrect polarity?
05 - 22
5. Build Steps
Controller 2
In the elongated hole location behind the power supply (124), mount the GFCI outlet (125). Zip tie the outlet through the holes on the left and right sides. Connect the power wires from the plug to the SSR power side as shown in (126) so that the SSR can make and break the power connection. Mount SSR with zip ties (128). If zip ties aren’t long enough, connect 2 of them together to lengthen them (127). Mount the SSR around its main body using the elongated zip ties (128). The power side of the SSR should be to the right side of the machine. (129) shows the correct location of the double wire which feeds 5V into the power plug for the SSR signal. (130) shows the connection of the signal wires from the SSR - polarity matters. Positive is to the right. Connect the power wires from the power supply (blue terminals) to RAMPS (green terminals) as shown in (131-132) - polarity matters. Negative is on the right side of the green plug and on the right side of the blue plug. See more detail pictures.
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GFCI Outlet
05 - 23
5. Build Steps
Controller 3
Plug in the black plug into the GFCI outlet (133). Feed the larger power wires with the lever nut through the base as shown in (134). Plug in the small power wires into the green power input of the power supply (135) - by depressing the spring-loaded levers on the green connector. Polarity doesn’t matter for the power input because it is AC power (136). Feed the main power cord wire on top of the base, and zip tie to the base (137).
See more detail pictures.
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Picture of power supply leaned up on side of frame ~davidleasure
The power supply is tilted up and rests on the edge top of frame
The issue here may be the notches...perhaps these are a wire guide and not for the power supply’s edge? Or they were supposed to be full tabs with a hole for the zipties. If powersupply meant to be on top the edges, then could drill hole through back edge for the zip ties.
Note screw tops for power supply terminals
Notched
Alternate view of powersupply and view of plug ~davidleasure
Add the heater supply wires into the plug to ensure that the SSR can turn heater on and off.
05 - 24
5. Build Steps
Controller 4
Plug in the USB power supply to the GFCI outlet (138) and connect to the Arduino board. Zip tie the USB cord to make it tight (139). Take the LCD mount and LCD screen (140), and use zip ties to mount the LCD screen on the mount (141). Finally, use two m6x18 bolts to connect the LCD mount to the base (142). The controller is done, and ready for final wiring.
See more detail pictures.
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05 - 25
5. Build Steps
Mount Heatbed 1
All the axes and controller now look like (143). To begin mounting the heatbed, insert the bed mounting rods into the bed carriage (144). Insert the set screw into the side of the carriage for fixing the rods (145). Add the 4 Bed Holders to the rods (146). Work with one side at a time, using m6x18 bolts to fix the Bed Holders to the rods (147). Mount the bottom plate of one side of the heatbed into the slot of the Bed Holders (148). You can adjust the bed left to right. Note that the wires from the bed should be going straight back, not to left, right, or forward directions.
See more details in pictures.
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05 - 26
5. Build Steps
Mount Heatbed 2
To deterimine the correct bed location left to right - locate the front right edge of the bed right under the point of the extruder nozzle (149). To do this, move the X axis carriage all the way to the right. The X end stop must already be in place (156), and same for the Y endstop (160). The endstops mark the home locations of the axes - and it is these home locations that determine the front right corner of the heatbed - ie, the motion limit of the heat bed - which defines the exact location of the bed on the 3D printer.
Once you locate in the left-right direction, tighten the m6x18 bolt and fix the bed in the Bed Holder slot (150). Also, with the bed as far back until it hits the Y home location - tighten the bed holder set screw on the bed holder rods (151). This fixes the correct front-back location of the bed. Now fix the Bed Holders on the back side of the heated bed (152). The bed is now mounted in the correct location (153). The wires from the bed now can be connected into the lever nut (154). Polarity doesn’t matter.
See more details in pictures.
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05 - 27
5. Build Steps
Mount Heatbed 3
Cut a 15” piece of split wire loom for the bed wires and cover the bed wires with the loom, so the wires are covered up to the lever nut (155).
Attach the endstops as shown in (156) and (160). To assemble the X and Y endstops, take the 3d printed piece and the endtop (157), place the endstop over the hole pattern of the 3D printed piece (158), and use m3x8 screws to screw the endstop into the 3D printed piece (159). Now it’s time for the final wiring, and first run.
See more details in pictures.
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5. Congratulations!
You are done and ready for first run.
Note: You will notice that the 3D printed base can flex under the weight of the printer. We suggest you screw the base down to a solid surface to make your machine completely solid. This could be a board such as plywood or lumber - or a wooden shelf or old table if you don’t mind screwing through it- using the included wood screws