Regolith-1 FDM Printer

A performance FDM printer with cutting-edge kinematics.

Mechanical Design

Regolith-1 (R1) uses a quad-motor cartesian "cross-gantry" which offers improved rigidity, modal symmetry, and speed over other standard architectures.

The main structure is designed around a cast aluminum tooling plate to which the gantry linear rails are mounted. Steel reinforcements are used to compensate for bi-metallic deformation of the plate under the anticipated thermal loads. I used FEA to optimize the geometry of the members to improve flatness by an order of magnitude.


The R1 toolhead is designed to have a minimum footprint and optimal alignment between the center of mass and the rail carriages to minimize bending moments under heavy acceleration. An integrated PCB simplifies harnessing and adds opportunities for active nozzle pressure sensing in a future revision.


Industrial Design

I made various hand sketches to explore different shell designs and detail out the machine's aesthetic.

Manufacturing

All structural components in the printer are made from metal to ensure long-term reliability at elevated printing temperatures. To simplify manufacturing, every part is designed to be cut on a water jet with most parts made from the same material thickness. Where post-machining is required, I designed various fixtures to simplify the workflow.


Testing

I built up small-scale tests to validate design assumptions. For example, I used a load cell to test the break-strength of the gantry belt mount/tensioner and found that the design met the calculated tension requirements.



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