From the P3Steel to the Delta Steel

For the last six months (since July 2014 to be precise) I have been working on the P3Steel 3D printer design by Irobri. The P3Steel is a Prusa i3 variant that uses laser-cut 3mm steel parts for its chassis (i.e. structure or frame). Imho it is by far the best Prusa i3 variant to date, for various reasons which mostly stem from the choice of steel as a structural material.

Since the Prusa i3 was already (again, imho) the best cartesian-type 3D printer with an approximately 8l print envelope (20cm x 20cm x 20cm), that makes the P3Steel by far the best cartesian-type 3D printer of its size at the moment.

However, there is an altogether different class of 3D printers that have come under the spotlight lately: linear delta printers.

This is mainly due to the pioneering work of Johann C. Rocholl and his Rostock and Kossel lines of printer designs, that have generated numerous derivatives.

As one of my resolutions for 2015 I have decided to work on the design of an ultra-simple, affordable, scalable linear delta printer which I decided to call the Delta Steel.

I will be detailing the design and build process of the Delta Steel in this blog and also on the RepRap.org wiki.