TL;DR
How do I upscale a Wilson II? What lengths of aluminium1 do I need in order to achieve a particular (increased/reduced) build volume?
The design of the Wilson II is scalable (source: RepRapWiki - Category:Wilson):
...the design has a parametric build area, meaning it is relatively easy to scale the X, Y, and Z axis within reason.
What does parametric mean exactly, in this scenario? How does one scale up from 200x300x2001? Also, how would that affect the Repetier/Marlin firmware?
Is it simply a matter of maintaining the ratios of the lengths of the X, Y and Z axes constant, or can the ratios be ignored? Is there a formula, or set of formulae, for this?
Has anyone gone beyond the 200x300x200 build volume? I have seen the Scalar M and XL series printers (with the XL having a print volume of 400x300x300) which, while they are not based on the Wilson, also boast of scalability:
Scalar Family 3D printers are "scalable" printers. Reviewing the idea of a reprap printer, a printer that can auto replicate and scale, we wanted to propose a 3D printer with plastic parts for you to print, and with a way to "scale" easily.
Can one (within reason) arbitrarily section various (supersized) length for the three axes and then modify the firmware accordingly, or is there a set of rules which govern the relationship between the lengths of the three axes?
A simplistic view
As an example, the lengths (in mm) of the 2020 aluminium corresponding to the build volume of 200x300x200 are 330, 500, 400 for the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively.
Obviously, there are some constants to consider for the stepper housings, and idlers, for example. So, assuming that for X, Y and Z axes respectively, the constants are:
- 330 - 200 = 130 mm
- 500 - 300 = 200 mm
- 400 - 200 = 200 mm
If I wanted a build volume of, let's say, 400x500x300 (XYZ), would the new XYZ lengths of 2020 aluminium simply become (by adding the respective constants):
- 400 + 130 = 530 mm
- 500 + 200 = 700 mm
- 300 + 200 = 500 mm
or is there more to it than that?
1 I appreciate that 3030, en lieu of 2020, extruded aluminium may be required to maintain rigidity for larger print volumes