Am I ready for a Voron?

[Xyleth]

Hello everyone!

I'm based in the UK and have been 3D printing for several years now. Here is my current printer:




I call it Thesus because very little of its original self remains. It started life as a Ender 5 and really only the core extrusions and the PSU remain of the stock parts, everything else has been replaced by me over time. All the plastic parts on the printer were printed by the printer, even the cable chains. The bits you can't see is a mainboard upgrade and a conversion to Klipper 0.12 as the brains of it all. It's not pretty but it works pretty well and consistently these days, but I've just about reached the limits of what I can do with it. The upgrades have compromised the useable bed space and the lack of enclosure limits my options filament wise. I feel it is time to move on and have always looked in slight awe at the Voron's. I am really looking for:

• Larger print bed (at least 250x250)
• Fully enclosed so I can start working with ABS/ASA and other higher temperature filaments
• Carbon filtration to deal with the VOCs from the above as the printer lives in the office where I work during the day
• Higher speed
• Reliability

I am mostly looking to print functional and / or cosplay parts (Full disclosure, I'm aiming for the Q-Pack v4 Proton pack replica). I'm also wanting to print the StageTop gaming table which involves printing dozens of the same part, hence speed and reliability being core concerns. So I'm looking for a printer that will be a real workhorse.

I'm currently stuck in analysis paralysis between a Voron 2.4 (that flying gantry just calls to me) or a Qidi X-Plus 3. The Qidi is significantly cheaper, but that gap is likely to lessen as I expect I'll end up replacing all of the fans and other tweaks. Also while it is a Klipper printer it is soft-locked to Klipper 0.10 and I really want to keep 0.12 for Spoolman integration. So there are just enough questions about the Qidi to keep drawing me back to the Voron.

But while I've comprehensively rebuilt my Ender I've never built a printer completely from scratch before, so it is a little daunting. I'm eyeing up the Siboor v2.4 kit as with the possible exception of the hotend (I'd prefer Revo to the Dragon as I already have nozzles in that ecosystem), it has pretty much every wishlist item on it. I guess I'm just looking for some re-assurance (or warning!) from those who have already gone down this path that it'll all be okay!

 

[vinnycordeiro]

Looks to me that you have the right mindset for a Voron. Building one isn't that difficult, as long as you follow the assembly manual carefully. And if cost is a thing for you, you can always self-source the parts instead of buying a kit, although it'll increase the preparation time due to the wait for many packages to arrive.

 

[Nurgelrot]

Yeah go for it. If you can mod and Ender5 that much you'll have no issues building a Voron. Just make sure you can print or other wise get your hands on the printed parts in ABS/ASA.

 

[Xyleth]

Yeah go for it. If you can mod and Ender5 that much you'll have no issues building a Voron. Just make sure you can print or other wise get your hands on the printed parts in ABS/ASA.

Yeah, I can’t do ABS on what I have. I can either buy the pre-printed parts with the printer kit, or I was thinking of signing up for a PIF slot. Just not sure if that’ll get the kit specific parts or just the Voron standard.

 

[NoGuru]

Yeah, looks like you are ready. Welcome

 

[Maddog]

You can go to Etsy and buy just the plastic parts you need in the color and material you want.
A lot of the parts are cosmetic and you can print them on your current printer.
I bought a full set with ASA carbon fiber which only comes in black.
Later I threw a lot of those away because I wanted color and/or mods.
I also read lots of misinformation posts about if ABS/ASA/carbon fiber was good or bad choice.

Start with the basics and add what you really want later. You will mod it for a long time. Save you a lot of time and money. I know

 

[Xyleth]

So as an update since posting this I have;

• Ordered a Siboor 2.4R2 Aug '23 300mm kit with their ABS printed functional parts
• Ordered an entirely new toolhead assembly printed in PC-CF because I wanted a Revo hotend instead of the supplied Dragon (I'm already bought into the Revo ecosystem)
• While I was at it got the parts for the Galileo 2 extruder printed and ordered the mechanical kit (Because I like my current Orbiter 2)
• Ordered a kit for the Ramalama front idler mod
• Have been busy printing external mods like the RockNRoller and setup aids like Z supports in PETG on my current printer

So yeah, I've got it bad

 

[Sanity Agathion]

If I may ask, why Siboor?
I suggest you look into Beefy Front Idlers instead of Rama https://github.com/clee/VoronBFI

 

[Xyleth]

If I may ask, why Siboor?
I suggest you look into Beefy Front Idlers instead of Rama https://github.com/clee/VoronBFI

Because Siboor had the right mix of parts in the BOM that I would have chosen myself (excepting the hotend) vs price. And the reviews I read from people who have built them didn't have any gotchas beyond what I'd expect in a DIY kit and certainly nothing that strayed into 'I can't handle that' territory.

As to the idlers, yes I am now aware of the Beefy idlers. After I'd spent the money on the Ramalama kit . Still the Rama idlers appear to be an upgrade over stock, and once I've got the Voron running and can reliably print ABS to spec I may well migrate to the beefy set. While I have quite a lot of non-printer things I'd like to print on this machine I do also expect it to be something of a continual work-in-progress

 

[Xyleth]

I also read lots of misinformation posts about if ABS/ASA/carbon fiber was good or bad choice.

Can you expand on that point at all please? I've managed to contain myself to sticking with, mostly, stock ABS parts for now but a future upgrade to a full CNC or CF set is something I'm contemplating for once I've got to know the printer better.

I only went with PC-CF for the new StealthBurner assembly because I was buying a new one anyway and I can see the benefit in heat resistance for the hotend components over stock ABS (although it has to be said my current hotend is PLA+ and has never given me any trouble). It wasn't that much more for the upgrade so I figured why not. Worst case I'll still have the stock ABS parts from Siboor, and in the best case I still have the stock CW2 / Dragon combo for when I inevitably want to experiment with tool changer mods!

 

[sanketss84]

Because Siboor had the right mix of parts in the BOM that I would have chosen myself (excepting the hotend) vs price. And the reviews I read from people who have built them didn't have any gotchas beyond what I'd expect in a DIY kit and certainly nothing that strayed into 'I can't handle that' territory.

As to the idlers, yes I am now aware of the Beefy idlers. After I'd spent the money on the Ramalama kit . Still the Rama idlers appear to be an upgrade over stock, and once I've got the Voron running and can reliably print ABS to spec I may well migrate to the beefy set. While I have quite a lot of non-printer things I'd like to print on this machine I do also expect it to be something of a continual work-in-progress

One more vote for beefy idlers as it would be really cumbersome to take apart your belt once you have a working printer. I leave the choice to you though.

 

[Xyleth]

Yea, I know. But if I follow that logic too far I’ll end up buying the Chaotic Labs CNC front and Z idlers

 

[drpeej]

It's a year since I followed the same path as you. Took me a month to build it but its well worth it. Great for ABS. I changed to canbus fairly easily after it was working initially.

 

[Xyleth]

Well, I'd better be ready as it arrived today!

 

[Xyleth]

Turns out the answer was yes!

 

[vinnycordeiro]

 

[klobouk]

Congrats!! Nice build!!