The beauty of the RepRap community is in the ability of its users to collaborate, share, and enhance the ideas of one another. It’s a community where a 16-year-old can design and build a low-cost printer based on a solid CoreXY architecture and have it expanded by other members of the community into a behemoth, while maintaining its value. This is exactly what happened with Vulcaman’s Vulcanus V1 RepRap, which has been scaled up by Aldric Negrier into a monster of a printer shown off at Maker Faire Libson.
Vulcaman gained some well-deserved popularity within the RepRap community with his Vulcanus V1RepRap, this past March. As a 16-year-old, he designed a solid CoreXY printer. V1 has an aluminum frame, 20cmX20cmX26cm build volume and .05mm resolution. His detailed instructions included parts that could be purchased for less than €300 total, with the rest of the parts available for download and 3D printing on Thingiverse. The Vulcanus V1 is a great design, made all the more impressive that it was designed by a 16-year-old.
Recently, instructions for the Vulcanus MAX were posted to Instructables by Aldric Négrier. The Vulcanus Max is essentially a (significantly) scaled-up version of the V1, with some improved components. Further models include the Vulcanus MAX 30, with a 32cmX32cmX32cm build area, and the Vulcanus MAX 40, with a massive 42cmX42CmX42cm build area. Négrier even mentioned a Vulcanus Mega Max, which would sport a ridiculous 52cmX52cmX150cm, though this one hasn’t been tested yet.
The Vulcanus MAX 30 and 40 were on display at Maker Faire Lisbon and they are real beauties. They sport the same aluminum frame of the V1, but also have acrylic paneling. Among the upgrades are a 12mm Z-rod (up from 8mm) and 10mm X- and Y-rods (up from 8mm), for increased stability. Alric also upgraded the MK7 extruder to an MK8, added inductive sensors for bed leveling, and added a 5mm aluminum print bed. In all, the Vulcanus MAX looks like a great machine, judging by the video of them below.
The RepRap project has been instrumental in the launch of the 3D printing industry and will be vital to its future. We may not get fully self=replicating machines in the immediate future, but, as long as there are Makers like Négrier and Vulcaman around to enhance the work of the community, the 3D printing world will continue to thrive.
