Source the printed parts

Status: Draft

Introduction

The printer needs some Voron specific parts. There is no question that we need to get them and the Frame at a very early stage.

 

Requirement

We have only a few requirements:

• They must match my quality standards
• They must match the Voron standards for parts
  

Goal

The goal here is that I want to have a box of parts which will enable me to build a printer which can print all further needed parts like skirts, handles etc right here on my desk. This can include self-printed parts, or any other possible source. This is the minimum which I want to achieve, I'm happy when I will find full set which will include every part of the printer. All parts must be ABS, which is the minimum for the Voron or better.

Possible solutions

I found several sources for the parts, some include functional parts only, others include a full set:

ebay

There were a few offers on eBay at the time of the writing of this post (December 2021). The price range started at 145€ and went up to 189€. 

Pros  

• Full set of parts
• Fast delivery time expected
• Local supplier
• You can select the colours, mainboard holder and hotends
  

Cons

• Untrusted source
• Unknown quality
• Wide price range, it is not transparent whether a higher price will give you a better part or not
  

Aliexpress

There are various vendors on Aliexpress who send functional part kits or full part kits for the Voron 2.4. The price range was from 130€ to 190€

Pros

• Full set of parts
• Wide range of feedback, providing input to be able to evaluate the vendor
  
• You can select the colours, mainboard holder and hotends

Cons

• Untrusted source 
• Unknown quality 
• Wide price range, it is not transparent whether a higher price will give you a better part or not

etsy

I searched for "Voron 2.4 printed parts" on etsy.com. A few suppliers popped up in a price range from 100€ up to 515€. Some sets showed up, that are made out of PETG-CF.

Pros

• Full set of parts available
• Fast delivery time expected 
• You can select the colors, mainboard holder and hotends

Cons

• Untrusted source 
• Unknown quality 
• Wide price range, it is not transparent whether a higher price will give you a better part or not
• Some sets come from the USA, that may end up in additional import fees if you are located in the EU
  

 

PIF

 The very nice Voron guys provide a printing service, the service is called PIF (print it forward) and is recommended by the Voron team. There price is fixed and 100€ at the moment. The lead time is around 2-3 weeks.

Pros

• Trusted source 
• Well known and stable quality
  

Cons

• Functional parts only [This shouldn't matter according to the goal mentioned at the beginning, since
  those parts allow for printing any additional part needed for the printer]

 

 

 

Self-printed

A very common way is the self-printing. I got told that the usual amount of filament you will consume for is 1kg of filament for the main colour plus 0.5kg for the 2nd colour. This will bring me to a price of less than 50€ for the plastic plus at least 2 days of printing time if you have a big and very well-tuned printer.

The Voron team claim that you need 1.6kg Primary Colour and
0.3kg Accent colour according to https://docs.vorondesign.com/sourcing_faq.html#how-much-
filament-do-i-need-for-all-printed-parts]

Some people reported that they needed at least 4 days for printing. There are recommended print settings from the Voron team here: https://docs.vorondesign.com/sourcing.html#print-settings 

Stephan#8358
recently stated 48h for primary and 12h for accent (I don't know if that is functional parts only or full
BOM though)
https://discord.com/channels/460117602945990666/462384447115755530/917877068312768563

I guess you have an idea now. ;)

Pros

• You decide you good your parts will me
• You know the supplier
• Reprint a part if you are unhappy
• The price is very low

Cons

• Printer capable of printing ABS is required
• Printer and slicer profile must be finely tuned
  

 

Commercial part supplier

Some online shops provide sets too. I know one shop in Germany so far, that provides a set for 140€ to 150€ at the moment. Please let me know if you know more.

Pros

• Local supplier
• Good part quality
  
• Warranty
• Trustworthy supplier 
• Expected delivery time 1 week

Cons

• Limited colour range
• Limited stock

Decision

I decided to start this project with PIF parts. The reasons are very simple:

• I want to try them out
• I want to have some parts where I can challenge my prints skills with
• I want to support the community and the PIF team

 

You can queue up for the PIF here: https://pif.voron.dev/ Please queue only up if you are not equipped with a printer which can print ABS. The queue is always very long and we should keep it as free as we could to help people which can not print by themselves.

 

I will continue this part of the build as soon as I have some feedback from  PIF supplier. 

I got the PIF parts and some parts from a commercial supplier from China.

Here some pictures comparing PIF and parts sourced from China. I guess it is clear which are which. :)

More Pictures to come....