New BigBox build, any must have upgrades?

Oh my so many possibilities...
Are you starting from a working unit? Which one?

 

These leadscrews. They're easy to install during the build but very difficult after, and apparently make a big difference to print quality.

https://e3d-online.com/leadscrew-motor

Ignore the "you'll also need" anti-backlash nuts.

 

Oh wow! If that's the case, then I would recommend many things. What material are you thinking? Plywood, acrylic, or polycarbonate?

 

Welcome aboard!
You might not like this but, I don’t think that the BigBox frame is one of its strengths... I am done trying to upgrade mine any further. I am moving to an aluminum extrusion frame that will give increased rigidity for print quality and print speed. It will also allow for easier modding. The space constraints of the B.B. frame will not let you do some things right.

 

Here is a link to someone who as built an aluminum extrusion version, this is the first post if you follow his posts on the thread he posts a lot more. Thinking about doing it myself aswel

Gregs BigBox IDEX Titan Aero With Linear Rail

Here is another, he doesn't have much info on it but he has a video
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2664851

 

I'm actually a fan of the panelized frame, but there were problems with maintenance because certain parts were impossible to access without frame disassembly. I did a complete redesign of the frame so that short of pulling the power supply, you should never have to take the frame apart. If you want I can post photos of some of the details. A couple of my changes might not be a good idea if you're committed to using acrylic because of crack propagation risks.

I have an aluminum frame here and a friend is doing final wiring on a polycarbonate version. I would be pretty comfortable using plywood as well but I prefer non-flammable/fire resistant structures.

 

The bad accessibility of stuff is really bad. I'd love to have a more accessible frame made from aluminium and anodized in a nice color...
How did you make your frame, did you cut it on a CNC router or did you use a laser?

 

Here's a couple views showing maintainability changes.

From the front you can see several changes.

1) The Y-idler mounting pattern is taller to make room for removing the Y-guide rods through the front panel with no frame disassembly.
2) There are access slots on the side panels to make it easy to work on the Y-axis belts and to access the Y-drive pulleys at the back.



And yes, I usually hang my common maintenance tools off my magnetic hatch latches



Looking at the inside you can see one of the top access ports used to access the Y-bearing clamps. Also you can see my simplified Z-platform that eliminates the crazy ziggurats in the original kits. Leveling is done one handed using a hex key. No other wrenches are required.

I have the rear, and upper support panels cut, but they are not installed because I have been unprepared to completely disassemble the machine to install them. When I have some down time I will, but this cuts to the original problem with maintenance. My redesign eliminates a lot of problem points where there's no way to install certain screws without removing the bottom, etc.

As for construction, the panels are 3/16" (4.76 mm) 6061 aluminum. The panels were waterjet cut by a local fabrication shop. Because they have a lot of small pieces laying around, and they're great guys, pricing was surprisingly competitive. The price included the brushed aluminum finish that I quite like.

 

That's so hawt. The side openings are great, if I saw that correctly you could just loosen the screws for the X-rods and slide them out to the side, therefore replacing your whole printhead assembly without taking the gantry out. Genius. That would even work with the IDEX Aero linear rail system provided the opening on the side is high enough, the rail sits pretty high up.

Maintenance on an original Bigbox is a lot more tedious than on your metal badass version. Wish somebody would do metal frame kits...