This is awesome! I'm in the industrial software / CAD space, so I have a rough idea of how painful and complex these engineering workflows can be, even though I don't design hardware myself.
You might find it interesting to look into AI-powered PCB design tools for your next iteration. There are some cool tools popping up that can use AI to assist with the trace routing and layout, which could make the process much less tedious for you.
I was confused by the prominent use of the word "stepstick", not something I was familiar with even though I try to expose myself to quite a lot of 3D printing material (having one is still more like a bucket list item, though).
I think the term is/was originally a product name for a small, rectangular module with a stepper motor driver on it [1] from 2012. Then it seems the term has been made more generic, with updated versions like the SilentStepStick [2] featuring a driver chip by Trinamic instead.
I guess my point is that for some readers, the stepper motor features on OP's board could be made more clear and perhaps use actual chip numbers, too. :)
You did an amazing job. What I really like is the attention to detail that will facilitate cable management and repair. This is the weak point for most 3D printers: when you run them long enough and hard enough they'll break and you will need to replace parts. Depending on the brand of printer this can be hard, tricky or next to impossible without a complete teardown of wiring looms and such.
Consider using a slightly higher level connection to the print head: just power and a serial protocol. That way you are immediately future proof. What firmware are you running on this?
I think we're only a few years away from BLDC servo motors taking over from steppers in 3d printers.
Ideally control algorithms for them would go into the MCU so there is proper force feedback too - ie. The system will know that there is an extruder clog by the increased extrusion force, or even set print speeds to be 'the fastest you can follow this path' rather than a fixed number of mm/sec. Ie. If the bearings get a little stiff it'll go slower rather than skipping a step.
There are some patents on sensorless servo control expiring which should cut the price of this stuff almost in half since the position sensor is one of the most expensive bits.
I found myself traveling recently and missed my 3d printer. There were a few neat things I could have done if I had a printer in a carry on. It would be kinda awesome to have a self contained 3d printer with a battery to take wherever I go.
If you're near a harbor freight, they have cheap rugged cases. Maybe design around that form factor, since they're easy to get?
I have a couple idea's on how I wanted to do it:
- Belt printer fitted into a briefcase (the harbor freight case form factor would be good for that!)
- Positron style
- Maybe mess around with double four-bars
Making it self-contained with a battery is also a really cool concept I'll have to explore!
You'd need a pretty substantial battery on account of how much heat it takes to melt filament. Even the Bambu A1 Mini uses ~150W while heating the hot end. I like the idea of a portable printer, though.
For some reason my brain read the title as “3D printed motherboard” and I was really curious about how this was even possible, and I ended up being disappointed by the lack of detail on the github readme.
It's only after a few more seconds back on the HN front page that I realized my mistake.
Less exciting than what I read but cool project nonetheless.
It's not exactly 3d printing but Bad Obsession Motorsports took a small mill, stuck a hot end into the tool holder, fed solder instead of filament into it, and "printed" traces onto a blank PC board.
I thought it was pretty clever but they admit it was tricky to make work at all, let alone get good results.
>This is one of the first PCB's I've ever created, so it might have some flaws.
>4 layers
That's quite the jump for a noob. Would you mind sharing how you learned to produce such advanced output so fast? I mean my first ~50 PCB we're still just 2 layers.
4 layer boards actually make it easier instead of more advanced in my opinion. You can have a dedicated ground and power plane which makes routing much simpler, and the fields are much easier to predict.
It's also just double the price, so I can get 4 layer boards for like $8 from JLC and it just makes everything much more easily.
You still do want to build up to it though, I made a macropad, then a keyboard, and then made this, so it's definitely not just an immediate jump, but I built those 2 projects within the span of a couple months!
This is awesome! I'm in the industrial software / CAD space, so I have a rough idea of how painful and complex these engineering workflows can be, even though I don't design hardware myself.
You might find it interesting to look into AI-powered PCB design tools for your next iteration. There are some cool tools popping up that can use AI to assist with the trace routing and layout, which could make the process much less tedious for you.
Really great job, Kai!!! The fact that you’re only 17, you’re absolutely killing it.
I was confused by the prominent use of the word "stepstick", not something I was familiar with even though I try to expose myself to quite a lot of 3D printing material (having one is still more like a bucket list item, though).
I think the term is/was originally a product name for a small, rectangular module with a stepper motor driver on it [1] from 2012. Then it seems the term has been made more generic, with updated versions like the SilentStepStick [2] featuring a driver chip by Trinamic instead.
I guess my point is that for some readers, the stepper motor features on OP's board could be made more clear and perhaps use actual chip numbers, too. :)
Great job!
[1]: https://wiki.geeetech.com/index.php/StepStick_A4988_Stepper_...
[2]: https://learn.watterott.com/silentstepstick/
You did an amazing job. What I really like is the attention to detail that will facilitate cable management and repair. This is the weak point for most 3D printers: when you run them long enough and hard enough they'll break and you will need to replace parts. Depending on the brand of printer this can be hard, tricky or next to impossible without a complete teardown of wiring looms and such.
Consider using a slightly higher level connection to the print head: just power and a serial protocol. That way you are immediately future proof. What firmware are you running on this?
Why all those heat sinks? Power electronics are getting very good these days with low RDS-on. Have stepper drivers not kept up?
Sadly not really.
I think we're only a few years away from BLDC servo motors taking over from steppers in 3d printers.
Ideally control algorithms for them would go into the MCU so there is proper force feedback too - ie. The system will know that there is an extruder clog by the increased extrusion force, or even set print speeds to be 'the fastest you can follow this path' rather than a fixed number of mm/sec. Ie. If the bearings get a little stiff it'll go slower rather than skipping a step.
There are some patents on sensorless servo control expiring which should cut the price of this stuff almost in half since the position sensor is one of the most expensive bits.
Really cool.
I found myself traveling recently and missed my 3d printer. There were a few neat things I could have done if I had a printer in a carry on. It would be kinda awesome to have a self contained 3d printer with a battery to take wherever I go.
If you're near a harbor freight, they have cheap rugged cases. Maybe design around that form factor, since they're easy to get?
That's a really cool idea!
I have a couple idea's on how I wanted to do it: - Belt printer fitted into a briefcase (the harbor freight case form factor would be good for that!) - Positron style - Maybe mess around with double four-bars
Making it self-contained with a battery is also a really cool concept I'll have to explore!
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/positron-upside-down-... and here you got an interesting form-factor
You'd need a pretty substantial battery on account of how much heat it takes to melt filament. Even the Bambu A1 Mini uses ~150W while heating the hot end. I like the idea of a portable printer, though.
For some reason my brain read the title as “3D printed motherboard” and I was really curious about how this was even possible, and I ended up being disappointed by the lack of detail on the github readme.
It's only after a few more seconds back on the HN front page that I realized my mistake.
Less exciting than what I read but cool project nonetheless.
It's not exactly 3d printing but Bad Obsession Motorsports took a small mill, stuck a hot end into the tool holder, fed solder instead of filament into it, and "printed" traces onto a blank PC board.
I thought it was pretty clever but they admit it was tricky to make work at all, let alone get good results.
I don't know what the state of the art is, but 3D printing circuit boards is a thing people are doing: https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printed-circuit-boards-pcb/
I got excited but "people" here does not really refer to hobbyists I suppose (please contradict me)
Mobile RepRap (the ideal self-printing technology)
>This is one of the first PCB's I've ever created, so it might have some flaws.
>4 layers
That's quite the jump for a noob. Would you mind sharing how you learned to produce such advanced output so fast? I mean my first ~50 PCB we're still just 2 layers.
Edit: nvm I just saw the journal.
4 layer boards actually make it easier instead of more advanced in my opinion. You can have a dedicated ground and power plane which makes routing much simpler, and the fields are much easier to predict.
It's also just double the price, so I can get 4 layer boards for like $8 from JLC and it just makes everything much more easily.
You still do want to build up to it though, I made a macropad, then a keyboard, and then made this, so it's definitely not just an immediate jump, but I built those 2 projects within the span of a couple months!
I suspect 3D printing will be huge the next couple of years as SaaS gets more and more saturated
Nice work; I’d love to see a V2. Quick tip: try Flux AI to help accelerate the V2 work!