Source
r/voroncorexy•
Forge64

Voron as second printer?

Voron Question

A variant on an old tired question, I apologize, but with a different twist than most. I've been reading everything I can find on Vorons for a while, and I'm about 90% set on building a nice 350mm*3 2.4, but I keep wondering if I might not be happier buying an MK3S and a bunch of spendy accessories, and living the lazy and pretested life. I've been running an increasingly modified Ender 3 Pro for a while, and I'm not averse to spending what I need to, to do things right, but I'd like to hear some more seasoned opinions, if anyone would like to monologue a little. I mostly print knick-knacks in PLA currently, and having a nice big 350mm build volume and easy ABS support without Lack rack work sounds appealing, but I worry I wouldn't configure/tune a Voron correctly.

For supporting info, my Ender 3 Pro is currently running a rear electronics enclosure, converted to direct drive, mainboard replaced with an SKR E3 mini, glass bed, full homebrew hotend enclosure (DD convert cooling shroud with Bullseye cooling duct). I don't mind some tinkering, and I've done moderately good work so far. Mostly I'm missing the build volume I lost by going DD (from 230*230*250 to 190*230*190).

Thanks in advance for any war stories, difficulty estimations, points for/against continuing to Frankenbuild my E3, getting an MK3S, or building a V2.4.

Posted Apr 16, 2020, 7:37 AM UTC

520
JohnHue•

[Disclamer : not a voron owner/builder yet, I do use a Mobius 3 extruder on my Ender 3 though]

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An answer I've seen often on the Discord channel and which I find pretty good :

Do you want a 3D printer or a new hobby ?

Another way to say this is are you interested in having a printer or in building, understanding and tuning one ?

If say you're buying a 3D printer for a specific need (for another hobby, for use for the kids, or in general for home improvement for example), and that's it's aimed at being a functionnal tool rather than a hobby in itself... well... you're probably better off with an MK3S, and dare I say you can get pretty far already with your custom Ender 3.

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crashmaxxV2.383•

A MK3S isn't a comparable machine to a Voron. It's basically just a more reliable Ender. I don't think you should consider it since it's not bigger or faster.

If you don't mind the work to put together a Voron, definitely go for it. 2.4 is a little simpler than 2.2 and it's not bad price wise if you take your time finding deals on parts and assembling sections at a time. You can print the parts on your Ender.

If you want something quick and ready to go, look into a Railcore. You can buy them as a kit or even prebuilt. That way you are still getting a corexy machine the size you want. I think the Voron is a better design, but the difference isn't huge.

The Voron project is documented really well and is very reliable once you get it going. It's just not a weekend project to put together.

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fulgV021 | V2.015•

I don't know why you're getting downvoted (maybe because you dared suggest using a non-VORON printer!), because you bring up an interesting point. Building a VORON (well any self-sourced printer really) is not a simple task, it will take several months before you end up with something that is printing, and you get to find and fix all the issues yourself.

In constrast, something like an MK3S, while not comparable, can be built in a weekend and will likely give acceptable performance. But u/crashmaxx is right, they are definitely not the same class of machines.

u/Forge64, it sounds like you modified your Ender quite a bit, I think you should be fine if you want to embark on this long journey. If you are willing to learn and take things slow (learning to walk before running and all that), it can be a great experience, and you'll end up with a great printer. You are welcome to join us on Discord for realtime answers to your questions, and help with your build (should you decide to join us!).

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SirJohannvonRocktown•

For FDM, I have four ender 3 pros, a prusa mk3s, a cr10S, an i3 knock off, a Zaribo mk3, a voron 2.1, two voron 2.2’s, two custom designed (I’ve not yet released) and I’m building two more Vorons. I’ve also had a few others in the past.

While I believe the Vorons are a different class of printer from the other off the shelf printers mentioned (and serve my needs for engineering prototypes), I don’t believe they are necessary or substantially beneficial for knick knacks.

For detailed models, I would recommend a resin printer (there are some larger options). Unless certain materials/speeds/multiple-colors/tool-changers/reliability are needed, there are many other suitable options at a better cost. For items that don’t require certain material properties or dimensional precision, most will find that PLA on a lower cost printer is just as suitable as some of the higher cost options.

Also be aware that the voron is a design, not a kit, and as such, it takes a substantial amount of time and energy to construct. If you are interested in the process of building, the community, and continuous improvement at the expense of time and money, then voron 2 may be the right option for you. If you are interested in the end resulting printer, then it’s probably not unless the design itself ticks a specific box for you. Voron 1 or other printers could be a good option.

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Forge64OP•

Thank you. Your exposure to the various models is valuable to me, and your mention of resin is interesting. If I weren't working in my house's basement as my '3d printing lab', resin would probably be exactly where I want to go, but the current smells and disposal/cleanup issues would make that difficult. I may still ponder that a bit, though.

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DoowrednuV0.04 V2.23 V2.53 V2.183 V2.184•

If you are worried about budget a V1 or V0 may be a better starting point.

2.4 is an awesome printer and I use mine continuously - you can get plenty of help on discord with the build.

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Forge64OP•

Isn't Voron builds exactly what Coronavirus stimulus checks are for? Do it now, do it right, for tomorrow we may be broke? (This is a joke, while stimulus finished out my funding, it's not all of it.)

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frygod•

If you're worried about your experience level for things like tuning, you may actually benefit from the experience of upgrading your current printer to a klipper configuration running on an SKR 1.3 or 1.4. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the tuning and general care and feeding of a klipper based printer for relatively little expense. If it's too much for you to deal with, go with the mk3. If it seems tolerable or even easy, a voron build may be for you. I personally bought mine from someone who was getting out of the hobby, but the amount of modification I've already done to it since then leads me to conclude that the 2.1 and beyond are very easy to work on if you have any comfort with DIY electronics (just be very careful with the print bed when tuning; replacing 300x300 or more of PEI is a fucking nightmare.)

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Forge64OP•

Thanks. I did the build for Marlin 2.0.x a half dozen times on my BTT e3 mini board, I actually looked into Klipper a while back but came to the conclusion I didn't need it (Klipper touts moving the bottleneck from the onboard 8bit CPU to the external handler's CPU, but I don't know that my RPi 3b is that much faster than my BTT board). I may give that a shot, just for relevant experience. Thank you.

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frygod•

The big difference of what i've seen so far is the ability to live-edit your config in octoprint rather than having to recompile and reflash every damned time you have to tweak something. It's made customizing nozzle wipe scripts and tweaking first layer calibration a relative joy.

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Forge64OP•

Ooh, that does sound nice. I was just about to reconfigure and recompile Marlin **again** for my most recent PID tunings and extruder calibration. Maybe I'll just jump over to Klipper while I'm at it, and redo my calibrations. Thanks!

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CptSoftbelly•

I’m in the midst of building a voron v0. And enjoy the tinkering, learning, and build process. That being said, I hope to be done by July. I like the fact that the voron should be of higher quality than my other printers and should run fairly flawlessly and if it doesn’t I can tweak it because I built it.

That being said, if you’re happy with your ender they make lots to enlarge it. My ender just deceased due to not upgrading to meanwell and I refuse to pour more money into another one when I can build a v0 for the cost of a modded ender but a little smaller.

I’ll get the itch for a large machine eventually again. I’m sure voron will be there for me then too.

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Forge64OP•

I'll reply myself since I wouldn't know which comment to reply to. I think I have a middle plan that'll settle me down and help me prove to myself I can handle a build, that also yields short-term gains and a way to chicken out if I need to. I'll start by ordering the parts and printing a Mobius 3.1. I can use that on my Ender now, it'll free up build area again, and it'll be useful on the Voron unless I go Afterburner. I'll also compile and install Klipper on the Ender, which is a very similar board to what I'd use on a Voron, which may give useful experience and notes as well. After that, I can say "I came this far, clearly I can handle it", or I'll know what I need to work on. A big thank you to everyone who answered, lots of good info here, I appreciate it very much. I'm also lurking on the Discord, have been for a while, but hard to know where to pipe up first. Thanks again!

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eddietheengineerV140 | V141 | V2.058•

sounds like a good plan! Best of luck and always feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

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notsooriginal•

Might not be a popular opinion here, but if you want the core XY design and the benefits of a fixed bed, and don't want to spend the time and effort building there are ready-made solutions out there. You can check out the Vivedino Troodon, which has DNA back to Voron 2.2 though not 100% identical. It's been very reliable for me.

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Forge64OP•

Does it burn down your house while unattended like the Vivedino Raptor? (kidding) While that's not a bad machine, and the Voron shared features are visible, it's getting pretty spendy, I'd doubtless get the upgrading bug again, and I don't know that I need that much build volume. I swear every machine/design I see above 400mm cubed or so has major issues.

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notsooriginal•

It's pretty darn close to the bom cost if you're going to build a 350. I build a v2.1 and then bought this to augment my print capabilities.

And no, no weird thermal issues :-) I print with it almost every day, the longest prints I run are around 20 hours, 15 is pretty typical.

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Forge64OP•

My quick working BOM on 2.4 (no orders yet, but things in carts and watching S&H add up) is hovering right around 1500$, true, but as soon as I saw a 400*400*500 option on the Troodon, I checked that box semi-automatically and didn't even think about it, which isn't fair to Voron (not meant to go to those sizes) or Troodon (not comparing 1:1 anymore).

Edit: Not fair because the 400*400*500 option adds 400$ to the Troodon price.

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eddietheengineerV140 | V141 | V2.058•

There's always the Voron V1.8, though it sounds like you're looking for a 350mm size :) The 300mm V1.8 should run under $1k

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