How to Build the Best Delta 3D Printer for the Money in 2020 

Your videos have an excellent combination of critique, technical insight and blue collar installation methodology which makes them valuable!

i'm new to 3d printers, but good at spotting legit people. this guy knows his craft.

Just another killer video. No one is doing this kind of in depth Duet stuff. It’s really needed too.

500 prints later and this delta is still running the way it came out of the box i guess i didnt get a lemon

Thank you so much for your video. I purchased the flsun Q5 following your previous video. It runs very well for the past 2 weeks. I must add that i did pledged to the Zatsit 3D printer kickstarter project. The project has not delivered and purchased the Q5 to have a delta to test. In the hope of the Zatsit project success, I purchased a Duet WIFI. You gave me (us, other unlucky Zatsit project supporters) a great guide to built a proper delta printer. Thank you so much! thank you for your hard work, advice, and your honesty!

Excellent presentation and the truth spoken. Thank you and keep up the great work! I don't care for Marlin and have 3 Duet 2 boards on my printers and don't care to change as they simply work. Love Duet Web Control 2 interface.

I like this type of live stream premier. Stayed on track. No interruption and you can focus on chat. Perfect job keep up the great work!

Delta mechanism best idea on my life

I love that you can admit to your own mistakes! It really goes to show that you want to share your experiences and teach the viewer something. Too many other RU-vidrs lack that kind of professionalism.

I get a 2 years old Duet WIFI 1.02 from EBay and did it - the result is terrific. Circumstances I thought coming from slicer, caused a lot of wasted time, filament and trouble, are belonging to the past. The dimensions are perfect, the prints are running fast, remote monitoring makes life easier - I am absolutely thrilled. But one thing cost me a lot of time: Firmware 3.1.1 changed the connection of z-probe from "E0" to "Z Probe Header", Pin1 blue, pin2 green, pin3 empty, pin4 red (seen from front). entry in config.g: "... M558 P5 C"^!zprobe.in" H5 F120 T6000 ; set Z probe type to switch and the dive height + speeds ..."

I agree with everything you're saying, but price is still king. If you're spending $300 to upgrade a $200 printer, it's no longer a competitor against $200 printers.

If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right. Great stuff. 🎯

I am just finishing up my delta build and starting to calibrate. This is very helpful to find all the information in one spot. Thanks!

After moving the printer out of the airconditioned room, to the non-airconditioned room. The Y motor was starting to turn off and print spagetti, exactly like in this video. Turns out the stepper driver VREF was set at 1.2V instead of 0.8V. Was easy to fix with a voltmetter and a screw drivers. It’s now printing as expected. Granted we should hold FLSUN to higher quality standard, however there is no need to replace the board to fix this issue.

You are a true rockstar. I am just in awe of your insight and understanding of the 3D printers ins and outs, but I can't help wondering if you are missing out on an opportunity to build quality printers yourself? Here is my point: We are using 3D printed hinges, latches, etc for our production of 'something else'. We started out with a single ender-3 due to cost reasons, and are now do hundreds of ABS parts per job using multiple ender-3's in parallel. We tried a bigger and more expensive printer, but it turns out - as you know - that throwing more money at it does not guarantee a better product or better reliability. It only guarantees that you spent more money. If you saw our printers, you wouldn't believe it. They get a new layer of ABS juice and manual level before every print, we print three parts at each printer, one at a time in diagonal to not lose a full batch if it goes haywire. We barely clean up between the runs, and we have craters where the parts are located but it doesnt matter: We are not in the business of making beautiful useless cubes like CHEP, we are in the business of getting stuff out the door. So to my point: unless you have all the time in the world, reliability is king. We are running 6 ender-3 parallel right now because we need to have a stream of parts coming out, and I know _at_least_ one of the printers is going to break down during the peak manufacturing period. And, when it does, I take a deep hard look at it and consider whether I want to spend time fixing it or just buy a new ender-3 instead. If you know how to piecemeal a reliable printer together from a best-in-class chassis from one supplier, and good electronics from another supplier and then software tuned by you to run for thousands of hours: That's a lot of value right there. If you can set up a fast, ultra-reliable printer at $$, you are not competing against fancy marketed printers costing the same $$: you are competing against workhorse printers like Lulzbot costing $$$$. Build your best-practices delta printer, and let it run for 1000 hours. Is it is still doing OK after that? *You have a winner* All the best, Chris

Thanks for an awesome exploration of the Duet boards! I think you’re the only one really showing just how amazing these boards truly are, and that’s a shame. Would be nice to see their Smart Effector in action as well but it might be a lot of work to get them integrated with one of these ready made ones.

Please ignore my last email request. I finally found the switch within the unit. The switch was very hard to see thru the various grids. The LCD now works, thanks for your time. Richard

Great Video! your Printer mod videos are inspiring!

Thank you, Your videos really make me want to buy a 3D printer.. Let's see, maybe after this lockdown.

why not use SKR 1.4 instead ? Could you do a comparison between these two please!

I watched your video the other day about the Delta that you were using I think it’s the five well I accidentally bought the QQS and I’ll tell you I am freaking blown away. Put it together in 20 minutes did the test prints with the included filament and it is insane both watching how fast it goes and how tight the resolution is on the parts if this is the future of Delta printing I am going to be getting Away from my gantry style. I bought it because of you and I am so happy with the purchase! Thank you! I have not watched this video yet but I am going to watch it now, keep up the great work!

One upgrade you can do on a cheap model is a thing that may not be obvious for most but the arms does not actually have to have same x/y spot connection, ie you can use a square and offset bolts as the delta arm lenght is whats important, not how you transfer the movement. What does this mean? You can use whatever material and bearings as long as you calibrate it, but you do not have to use flimsy balljoints or magnets, just drill two holes through a square and offset them to not collide and bolt it tight to the arms, and it will work much more rigid.

Absolutely fascinating.

In my opinion your solution to every printer issue is "just stick a duet in there". I understand this from a usability point of view but financially it makes absolutely no sense. I'd really love if you gave Klipper or flashing a modified Marlin on that board a try before you swap to a duet. For many people buying another 100-200 dollars in parts to replace already working parts is just not an option.

@Design Prototype Test I know that I am way too late with my post, but anyway. You are wrong if you think they were stupid to not use a TMC2208 for the extruder. The TMC2208, if not used in UART mode, is known to just switch off during print if used with rapid changes of direction with full power. And exactly that happens if used for the extruder. The XYZ axes don't have this problem, because they slowly decelerate and accelerate on direction changes. On the BBT SKR 1.3/1.4 boards the drivers are typically used in UART mode, so no problem again. Additionally there is no need for using the Duet boards to get the Reprap web interface you prefere. The Reprap firmware runs just fine on the much cheaper already mentioned SKR boards.

Mine has been running for 3 weeks now and hasn't missed a beat. Compared to my last printer (not delta), this is a joy to use. The electronics are far more reliable too, and cheap to replace if they do fail. I am pleased as punch with mine as it came. Agree though maybe not tbe best for extreme accuracey.

Set your pwn limit in the duet software to 125 and you don't need to do that buck converter thing. The whole point of pwm is you're simulating voltages using the integral approach

Great video as ever Thanks for sharing👍😀

When a stepper motor gets too hot it turns off and the axis is free, then, in a couple of seconds, it turns back on and "grabs" again

Nice videos! I've got an Anycubic Predator, and I'm having problems with random layer shifts that kill all my big prints. I've pretty much eliminated mechanical issues, and I suspect (like you) the cause is the electronics, the stepper motors, or both. Seriously considering Duet2 upgrade + smart effector.

Man I never thought of calibrating each tower. I learned something pretty interesting. By the way, you used to say I was a Russian Bot. :)

Please mention acceleration. Acceleration is more important than print speed tbh. Both are very important. 100mm/s means nothing to me unless I know the Accel!

Awesome video keep them up

If the whole idea for a Delta is speed, at the expense of size and accuracy and youre printing figurines then ok I get it. But I thought you are an industrial designer / engineer - it's puzzling why you love Delta so much! In my mind the holy Grail isnt a small printer that lacks precision, it's a low cost printer that produces functional accurate parts in a range of materials from TPU to Nylon, Petg and perhaps PC, that works consistently without constant upgrades and fixing, and hopefully the print volume isn't super small. What are your thoughts on that?

Making me want to do duet stuff now but I'm a marlin princess ahahha but seriously thanks for these vids learning a lot

I bought 2 of these printers because of your prev video on the must have printer of 2020 con you send me links to the fixes and upgrade parts so I can get these printers situated? I love your channel and all the printer topics you explore. Thanks

Good vídeo 😁 I making a ghetto Delta hehehe and your video motivate me to continue I already have a Delta and I really like the concept... But my only complain about Delta is the small build area... Hehe...

Brilliant!

Those Iwiss crimpers aren't even that pricey I paid like 18 bucks for mine about a year ago. They work fantastic, not a single failed crimp when I did my duet board, though I really wish duet just used the more common JST-XHP connectors that I've seen used on pretty much every other printer, though there were quite a few things that had to be wired differently so I guess there is some logic behind it, don't want people just thinking it's plug and play. Got my Anycubic Predator up and running with a Duet 2 wifi today, doing my first test print as I write this. It is a night and day difference on the amount of noise this thing makes, it's fantastic. So far no real issues that I had to get help with.

Awesome video! I just ordered one for my first 3D printer. I wanted a Sapphire S after watching your great upgrade videos, but they’re only making the pro now, which has lots of bad design choices. I like the idea of the bed not moving horizontally and not having a huge footprint. Thanks so much for your excellent videos. You inspired me to give this hobby a try!

Common culprit for axis shutting down or loosing steps is motor driver overheating. Driver boards coming out of China are not always properly set up, and can drive motors with maximum current. If that's the case, you simply measure the Vref voltage on all three drivers and set it accordingly to your motor requirements. You can also set all three to the smallest value you measure as a quick and dirty fix.

cuthulu is indeed watching, btw ;-)

Which western 3D print company is he talking about?

Finally got my QQ-S pro printing with Duet3d board and reprap 3.3.3b2 ! yayy.. it wasnt exactly straight forward like this project, but I got it done.. more mods coming, raspberry with webcam control and LED's coming too :) webcam most important so I can monitor the print from my phone.

You should put a link to the JST crimpers in the description. You kept telling us how great they are, but no way to purchase them.

stay tuned for teaching techs take on this video

So the question becomes, given your issues with the electronics in the Q5. Is it best to buy the QQ-S, the Q5 and change the electronics or something else as a newby to 3D printing. I like the concept on the delta as an architecture.

Replacing the stock fan with a Noctua 40x10 for cooling the hotend won't help, as these do not have the CFM to properly cool the heatsink. They are quiet for a reason ;) I've used them on various printers, and all fail in that regard, i.e.. heat creep eventually. A Noctua 40x20, you may just get away with?, but these Noctua's do not push the required amount of air to properly cool the hotend. A big mistake I see many making.

Could you include a link to the macros you made or are you only offering them to your patreon supporters?

7:05 - "I dont' like marlin... or klipper... the difficult way to configure that firmware" 32:46 - *editing things in the config.g exactly like in marlin or klipper I really understand, why you like the Duet Boards. It's straight forward and simple to use and may be the best alternative for someone, who isn't so into "tech". But compared to the price of the printer, it's not worth the money IMHO. By just creating your own firmware, you can build a wonderful printer, which just works. Check this out: github.com/knutwurst/Marlin-2-0-x-Anycubic-Kossel-Linear-Plus With this version of Marlin, you can configure almost everything regarding your delta with the inbuilt LCD screen. To tune the steps on X, Y and Z you don't need a computer at all. Same goes for calibration and the Z-Offset. - And it works with the old Atmega2560 Trigorilla board!

Put 2 fans in series next time

I'm working on upgrading my first ever printer. It's so old that the mainboard is an Arduino Mega.

3:24 labor and materials mostly, sometimes cheaper design. Chinese companies do make some good stuff if you actually pay for good stuff and know who to buy from just like anywhere else.

you can do it cheaper with Duet Maestro because Duet 2 is an overkill. Delta does not need 2A steppers, huge expansion capability. Also having cheap WiFi module enclosed in aluminum cage with PSU EM also does not work well. But yeah, Duet or die! :D

I loved that video so much that i bought that printer and also same Duet 2 wifi board. I placed the board on same place as you did. And got duet wifi connected to my wifi router as it gave me address in YAT BUT the thing is as Duet Web Control open up in browser, i can`t get it connected. It`s like dead web page. There is something i need to do but i dont know what?

Why is it you think your Ender3 can't print at 100mm/s ? Mine is mostly stock and can print fine at 120mm/s (and that's just the fastest I've tested it). Maybe you need to tighten belts, pulleys, etc? Definitely works fine for shapes like the square you printed on the delta in the opening of this video - I was printing faceshield headbands using mine at those speeds. Finer exotic shapes could be an issue, but not what I printed, and definitely not that square item you were printing, which is very similar.

Does anyone know what western company he's talking about? I have a few guesses but not entirely sure

You know Klipper doesn't require any base code modification. It is config file based..Not Configuration.h or anything like that. Flat formatted text files. It's light years easier to deal with than Marlin.

@Design Prototype Test Great informative video and now making me think about getting the FLsun and Duet. How reliable and accurate over time is the arms roller wheels on the rails, on that model? Are linear rails always better?

Why aren't the connections plug and play?

24:39 When I pull the plug-in connector apart to use just the little female pins, I alway put some shrink sleeving over them so they look like individual sockets, are stiffer to strain relieve the wire and are properly insulated. Also easy to mark with some whiteout or metallic silver or gold marking pen. 36:16 The belt tension doesn’t define the rate at which it moves, only the diameter on the pulley does. The backlash, yes, the scale factor, no. Gap between the teeth will have the same effect at both ends so the stretch is effectively cancelled.

Just a heads up, your patreon link isn't a link right now.

i love my qq-s pro printers but have always wanted to upgrade the control boards to something better but ive never done it an both of my machines are over 2 yrs old an still working so maybe i got lucky but ive thought about picking another one up that is a parts only printer from ebay an just use it to build from, but im not sure what control board to go with an right now is probably not the best time to try to buy a control board. id really like to try klipper but the raspberry pi boards are stupid expensive now compared to what they used to be an i only have one on hand right now an id rather keep using it the way i am now with octoprint and retro pie gaming console, just swapping sd cards depending on if im wanting to use octo print over using it for klipper unless i can get my hands on another pi decently priced.

Delta printers are not left/right/front back< only Z axis required x 3, no X,Y,Z as its up n down only per corners

A while ago I commented on one of your videos and asked about upgrading my Printrbot Simple Metal with a Duet board... then somebody commented saying I should get a Prusa. I guess that guy was with a Russian troll farm :-) In any case, I've successfully upgraded the printer with a Duet Maestro (and done a bunch of other things), and am happy to report that it went well and the printer is almost completely silent now. I did have to build a 'throne' for it because the Duet wouldn't fit in the small body of the printer, but hey that's fine, it needed more stability anyway.

Great video. Gave me some idea's on how to try and increase the accuracy on my delta's. Got to love the DUET. Any reason you are not using a config-override.g created by using M500 after calibration? Have you tried adjusting the rod length instead of using the M579 for scaling? I think both have the same effect but not sure which is better or worse than the other.

I have a flsun q q s I was planning on installing duet 2 board. Do I need just the board or do I need the thermistor board as well? It pretty much looks identical to Q5 just different board from Factory. Would you be kind enough to send me wiring diagram or perhaps help me if I run into a problem? I'm pretty new at this so but I am good with soldering and small electronic projects thank you for all your videos

I lololed when you stuck that sticker on it and it showed that the Chinese one was on crooked. But that's not really surprising lol!

Anyone running in a successful home-built Delta will know the struggle is real...

2:46 what company? Probably just going to build my own if I can't trust others to do it well.

You're upgrading!

Any updates on this for 2022?

my brother in law has an FLsun so i hope it doesn't fail on him like that... there's no way he knows how to change the control board and program all that!!! 3d printing is not beginner friendly at all!!

Is this still viable in 2024? Or there might be better options nowadays?

Just realized I could edit my post, so done! I do have a question. I'm thinking of building a printer from scratch on a budget. Thinking about the Goliath, or maybe the Piper2. I need something that I can print higher temp filaments in and also enclose so that I can vent outside if needed. Any thoughts, is EMT a waste of time and not much money. I'd really rather not invest in a lot of extrusion. Even thought about doing a core XY conversion on the S5, but haven't seen much in searches. thanks, Ken

I come in here and see DPT bragging on his FLSun, which I'm pretty certain is Chinese for "Voldemort", and I wondered what parallel universe I had slipped into? Then @2:50 my sense of reality was restored. Whew! :) You had me laughing out loud @14:00 with your hack. :) So I'm not the only one with unopened bags of connectors from Duet? Curious as to how you blew up your Duet, I haven't managed that as of yet. Nice job on the Duet mount that you designed for your printer.

This is awesome work. Could this be done to a TIKO printer? It was a delta that launched on kickstarter and went belly up. It worked once and then could no longer connect to it. I would have to add the hot bed but otherwise it looks very similar.

Thanks for the quick reply. There is a grid over the power unit which has a label covering any type of switch. So I can not see anything to move left or right. Would the wrong voltage cause the LCD screen not turn on? Could you possibly text or email me photo of your Q5 showing the location and position of the switch? Would I need to pull the power unit to get assess to the switch? I have double checked all the wire connections and they are correct. Thanks for your time Richard

How much does this printer cost?

Great presentation. I notice you are using "Rhino" as a 3D drawing propram. I use it as well and love it. Is it possible you would share this drawing? I am in the process of build a Delta 3D printer.

I see the hate on prusa, I got it that this channel is more about fiddling with 3d printers than really printing stuff.

So if I was to buy a delta today to upgrade from and try to get close to engineer quality prints. Where should I start? I see the Little Monster and Predator are no longer available.

You can print up to 120mm/s at .12 on the ender 3. Past that the hotend starts to choke. I understand that you'll get ghosting but if you have tuned acceleration.

lol, just bought a flsun delta because of your review.. now no?

I think the steppers drivers heated up and when they heat up they start to fail

Actually China believes in making thing to the requested price point. You want to pay a crap price, china will make you a crap product. You want to pay a decent price, China will make you a decent Product. You want a pay for a gold plated 1st class product China will supply you with a Gold 1st class product. The moral of this is; you get what you pay for.

what company are you talking about?

if u mess with the stepps per mm after the bed probing and z height adjustment you will have to do it again no?

Wow

can you send the link for the buck converter...thanks

What probe is that? I'm considering rebuilding an older delta with a Duet board but I need a probe.

I see the Prusa hate boner is still raging. That aside have you considered trying this with an SKR board instead? The firmware would take more setup compared to the duet interface but I think it might be a interesting alternative for those looking to keep the price down/not willing to spend more on the board than the printer and it would certainly put it more in the Prusa mini ball park (cause, well... it would be a shame if it had alternative right?).

How did you get the XYZ limit switches to work with this board?

Have you ever noticed how bigoted you are toward Chinese and Russians ? Every video of yours I've seen has something. Put your focus elsewhere, and stop spreading hate. If it's a superiority thing, you are not.

How does the Flsun Q5 compare to the Flsun QQS Pro? The QQS print size is slightly larger. And about 80 to 100 bucks more. Are you familiar with it?

My printer came in and is wired for 220 volts. How do you change it to 120 volts for Canada.

I just received my Delta Q5 and the voltage appears to need to be set at (default)220V. I see no external switch to make the change to 120V. Do you know how I might go about resetting the voltage to 120V? I have no read out on the LCD screen although there is power to the unit. Thanks for a reply. Richard

I do tend to agree with your perspective that when you/we follow what people are saying about Chinese products, it's bots that are doing it and not really humans, only trying to give good feedback and trying to increase sales on the products, but what about the several videos that exist here on youtube with different specialists on 3d printers, unboxing and giving their first impressions and first prints, and they all tend to say that it's a very good beginners printer (FLSUN Q5 for example), easy to assemble, very reliable and with very good quality for the money? ... are they also bots? ... also, and from your upgrade, is it recommendable that you place the new board on top of an aluminum case, getting the possibility to have a short circuit due to the solderings underneath the board?... just wondering!!! (you might have predicted and protected it, but it's not a very good example, and not even your word of advice was said about that).

Hahahaha, you should do a video knocking an apple product, you have no idea what kinda kool aid trolls there are out there until you get apple fans in the mix. I ordered a MK3 based on the YT 3D community, I hope it works out and if it doesn't bite me. It will be my 3rd printer (1st one from the US, one from china) and they both are not printers that just work. I was mostly at a loss to find a printer that is just going to work, and was willing to scrape together MK3 money but not ultimaker prices. My Name is Erik and I live in West Michigan. Good videos btw.

This explains all of the weird comments negative towards Ukraine 2:02