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The main focus for me in this project was on the machine building side. After making the additive lathe I realized that making a machine that works smoothly is not a simple thing. I learned a lot building the additive lathe and I wanted to use this knowledge to build a new and better machine. The additive lathe had some problems: it didn’t have a z-axis, the printer head had only a limited range of travelling (it got stuck near the ends of the shafts, it was too big (on it’s length) and the assembly process was complex with lots of screws nuts. The structure was not accurate enough. I added the MTM snap concept of thermally relaxing the shaft ends, something that didn’t work well, was unpleasant and destroyed the “clean” look of the machine.
I decided to new kind of snap-fit machine, without any screws, that can be assembled and disassembled without using any tools. I wanted the machine to be lightweight but robust, and also customizable.
After spending many hours on CAD software, after about 10 revisions and one smaller 2D project as a test case for my ideas, I happy to say that the machine I build did meet my objectives.
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