Precise linear bearings for high-performance XXL 3D printer for house façades

• What was needed: drylin® multi-axis gantries, drylin® toothed belt axes, drysping lead screw technology, igubal ® spherical plain bearing technology, energy chain
• Requirements: For the 3D XXL printer "Kamermaker 2.0", components with high precision had to be found that would allow high speed
• Industry: 3D printers
• Success for the customer: Today, the print head moves precisely and at high speed on the self-lubricating linear systems to enable high performance of the 3D printer.

The Dutch architecture firm DUS has realised the idea of building entire houses using the 3D printing process. And it does so with a mobile 3D printer in XXL format, which has to be housed in a sea container due to its size.
The load-bearing structures of the building process can be made from biodegradable recycled plastic - a sustainable use.
Under the term "Kamermaker 2.0" (literally the 'house builder' 2.0), this idea is very popular in the Dutch media.
To turn the idea into reality, DUS founded the company Actual. The client can now design building elements on a digital platform, which are then produced on site using XXL 3D printers.
In the spirit of modern networking, Actual has sought out partners to help the "Kamermaker 2.0" quickly become a success. As one of these partners, we helped to optimise the design of the mobile 3D printer. The first generation still had a separate room for the control system and could therefore "only" produce parts up to a size of 2.00 x 2.00 x 3.00 metres. There was therefore a need for optimisation, both in terms of precision and printing speed.

Our engineers helped develop new axes on which the print head travels. In doing so, they utilised their expertise in additive manufacturing: Conventional 3D printers from several manufacturers use our drylin® linear axis, and we also operate our own 3D printers in production to manufacture customised sliding elements from iglidur ® filaments.
During project planning, the engineers used our modular system of drylin® multi-axis portals. They are available as line, surface and room linear robots, i.e. for one, two and three axes, and travel over predefined surfaces and rooms (Fig. 2). In this case, a room linear robot is used, in which the x- and y-axes were realised with drylin® timing belt units and the z-axis with dryspin® spindle/lead screw nut systems.
The print head moves precisely on the self-lubricating linear systems via complete timing belt systems, which we supplied ready for installation (Fig. 3). Our drives with position detection are also used for the spindle drives that position the portal in height.
In addition, other components from our construction kit for plain bearings and linear systems were also installed, for example igubal ® pillow block bearing. And Actual relies on our plastic-energy chain to safely route the cables for signals and electrical current to the print head.