EnderLoop
Introduction: EnderLoop
The EnderLoop is an Ender 3 conversion mod that turns it into a conveyor belt printer. For those who are wondering what conveyor belt printers are for and where they come from, here's a little context info. They've been around for awhile in the form of the PowerBelt Zero, White Knight, and BlackBelt printers. That said, they have been popularized as of late by the Creality 3DPrintMill (CR-30). They provide 3 main benefits:
1. The infinite y axis means you can print very long items you normally wouldn't be able to.
2. The ability to roll a belt and eject finished prints makes it possible to queue up any number of the same item over again without needing to clean the bed and set up another print.
3. The 45 degree angle can help remove quite a bit of the support material that would normally need to be printed. The amount of support material needed is relative to the print plane, which means that the 45 degree plane won't remove all support (and some models will need more), but in general it helps quite a bit.
There's a good summary of these points available here.
While this mod is similar to the CR-30, it costs about 1/3 of the price (including the cost of an Ender 3) which increases the accessibility of belt printing, offers more mod flexibility since the core mechanics are those of the Ender 3 which already has a plethora of mods available online, and is available right now. Also, since the support extensions are 3d printed, you can cheaply and effectively add longer support than other belt printers available. The tradeoffs are that it is a bit slower than the CR-30 and requires some DIY know-how with printers. It is currently fully functional (including firmware and slicing configuration for BlackBelt Cura) and ready for anyone who is comfortable modding their printer. Also happy to answer any questions. Lastly, I've got this hosted on Thingiverse here and Github here.
Here's a great video with <PERSON> at PowerBelt3D discussing the EnderLoop.
This supports around a 110x200xinfinity bed size.
Note
Models in the printer pictures should mirror what is in the latest source files. Any differences should be minimal and are usually just that I'm running a slightly older version of the model to save on plastic waste.
This is still a work in progress and you will most definitely find issues. Currently, I've identified a couple outstanding problems in my build:
1. Adhesion. I'm just gonna say outright that this isn't terrible adhesion. 807
It's just not as good as I like it. It really depends on the model height and surface area touching the belt. You can improve the adhesion slightly by "scuffing" the surface of the belt with sandpaper.
2. Slight angle on some parts. I believe this has to do with esteps or cooling.
Most of the remaining issues are fairly minor and should either be small model updates or software tweaks.
If you experience any issues, they are most likely a result of bed leveling. I learned this the hard way so certainly check this first. Bed leveling a belt printer is trickier than with a "normal" printer and can cause some strange issues (adhesion, angled prints, head collisions, etc.)
Lastly, I'll note, and this is less of an issue and more of a limitation, but this will print slower than a normal printer due to the lead screw being used as the "de facto Y axis".
Step 1: Parts, Pt. 1
Purchased Parts
Belt
Currently there are 3 options (there may be a 4th option when Creality's CR-30 belt is officially released):
1. Buy a custom belt. There are some sites that are willing to sell a custom belt. I believe BuildTak is willing to custom make a belt, however the price is fairly steep (based on my research on the WhiteKnight printer).
2. DIY. I'll include a section here on how to make a belt yourself should you want to. Note that it's going to take some patience to get a clean surface and the performance (adhesion and ability of the roller to grip the belt) will be worse than option 3. The price point for this option is also going to be about the same as option 3.
3. POWERBELT3D Belt. I've reached out to <PERSON> at PowerBelt and he was willing to list a custom belt that he has been working on that is specifically designed for the EnderLoop on his store. This is what I use right now and has pretty good characteristics. A couple of notes from the PowerBelt folks on this:
+ For PLA, we recommend a bed temperature of 60-70C. 116