Building the Frame

To construct the frame i started with:

• 5m of M6 theaded steel rod
• x6 Silver steel M6 rod (comes in lengths of 335mm)
• M6/M3 washers and nuts (i bought 250 of each - overkill maybe but i may well make a couple more Huxleys!)
• Threadlocker

I used the following table from the Huxley Reprap.org page to know what lengths of M6 threaded rod to cut.

Dimension			Huxley SS All-Thread	Qty Needed	Comment
J1			314mm	6	Frame sides, the two equilateral triangles.
J2a			245mm	4	Frame bottom cross bars
J2b			335mm	2	Frame top cross bars
*			292mm	2	Z Axis Lead Screws
*			320mm	1	Z Axis Base Plate Rod A
*			295mm	1	Z Axis Base Plate Rod B

With the threaded rod cut i started to assemble the frame:

The silver steel rod is the perfect length in this case. Both the y-axis and x-axis was did not need changing. The z-axis bars were too long, but only by 50mm or so. I decided to keep them at that length as they act as legs when working on the underside of the printer.

The actual assembly of the frame is fairly simple as RepRap.org documents how to build Mendel, which has a very similar frame to Huxley. Once i was happy with the frame i threadlocked each nut.

Building an oversized Huxley

I am writing this blog to document my progress building the experimental Huxley RepRap. After looking at other people’s attempts i decided to make a oversized Huxley as it gave the best of both worlds – a decent sized build platform and a reduced cost compared to Mendel.

I am a postgrad at Nottingham University and am lucky enough to get limited access to a Stratysis Dimention 3D printer, which served as a source for the original parts i needed.

Below is a screen shot of my initial print bed. It contains the parts needed to make the frame, y-axis, z-axis, and x-axis. I chose not to print an extruder carriage as this is an area which is constantly evolving, and i chose to wait until the last minute to print it!

I chose to use MarcusWolschon’s hollow mini-mendel files as a base as i needed to reduce the build volume of the parts. Once the parts were printed i filled the shelled parts with casting resin which gave the parts excellent mechanical properties.

I replaced a few of the standard parts with some which simplified things:
Whosawhatsis designed some nice parts: y-bar clamps , Z-leadscrew clamp & Idler pulleys
Nophead's improved stepper motor pulleys

Below is a filled part (y-axis idler bracket)