Help wanted: building 3d printer for ceramic + concrete

Hi! I’m looking to build a 3d printer to create forms in ceramic and concrete, the bigger the better! Could anyone point me towards plans online for a large format printer that could output this type of material? Or even better, if anyone is interested in helping me out that would be fantastic and I am willing to pay for your time :slight_smile:

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Ask away.

The place where I work designs such machines with beds always over 3m x 3m. I think the biggest bed that they do is over 10m. That might be a little small - not sure. But once you know how they work it’s just a matter of extending out.

If you can find the plans online then you still need to know where to buy all the Steppers, controllers, steel parts and know what strength of steel to use for the beams etc.

Although I don’t actually do any of the mechanical parts, I do know how such large format machines are made commercially.

So the skills to build this are readily available. There’s Engineers available that if you ask nicely might do the SolidWorks designs. I know that something similar is available.

Even better, they might have some throwouts to get it started and some off-the-shelf components to start working with that are all commercially proven and tested in that exact type of commercial environment.

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Hi David, I just got your message also, will be in touch to arrange a meeting thanks so much :slight_smile:

Hi is your project going ahead ?

Pity this project isn’t going ahead.

We have some very expensive X + Y rails, a bit rusty but $100 plus delivery will buy them. There’s actually two available but one is upside down but similar to the other.

Clean them up and paint them and get a big saving there.

Here’s a photo of a new machine that the company that I work for just did:

Get some inspiration :sweat:

It’s made in Stainless Steel and really rather nice.