Three-axis 3D printing has been with us long enough that everybody knows the limitations, but so far, adding extra axes has been very much a niche endeavor. [Daniel] at Fractal Robotics wants to change that, with the Fractal 5 Pro 5-axis printer, and its corresponding Fractal Cortex slicer.
The printer looks like an extra-beefy Voron from a distance, which is no surprise as [Daniel] admits to taking heavy inspiration from the Voron Trident. The Fractal 5 shares a core-XY geometry with the Voron, using beefy 30 mm x 30 mm extrusions. Also like the Voron, it runs Klipper on a Raspberry Pi hiding in the base. Under a standard-looking printhead using a BondTech extruder and E3D volcano hotend, we find the extra two axes hiding under the circular build plate. The B axis is a gantry that can pivot the build plate assembly a full 90 degrees; the A axis spins the plate without limit thanks to the slip rings built into the design.
The extruder may look fairly normal, but it has actually been designed very carefully to allow the nozzle to get as close as possible to the build plate when the B-axis is at 90 degrees. It looks like the E3D hotend is actually the limiting factor there, which gives plenty of design freedom when planning prints in the accompanying Fractal Cortex slicer.
Fractal Cortex is an all-new slicer written entirely in Python. It does have a 3-axis legacy mode, but it’s primarily designed for 5-axis slicing with the Fractal 5 Pro. The multi-axis operation looks very straightforward: you place “slicing planes” and orient them along the part, as many as you require. Printing pauses while the A and B axes rotate, then resumes with straight, parallel layers. Sure, non-planar slicing would be the bees’ knees on this sort of 5-axis printer, but we’ve got to say for a young engineer’s first crack at this kind of software, Fractal Cortex looks pretty good.
It sounds like [Daniel] is looking for contributors to the project, so if this project tickles your fancy, head over to the GitHub links at the top of the page and dive in.
We’ve seen other 5D printers before, but this one probably takes the cake for build volume, and having a slicer to match is a big advantage for anyone who wants to try this at home.
Thanks to [Hari] for the tip. Use all your axes to extrude your projects into our tips line here.
Very cool! However, I’m not thrilled that the slicer is written entirely in Python. I’m even less thrilled that it says it requires Windows 10.
I’m not sure how any software can require Windows anything. It just makes a hard job harder.
I haven’t even really looked at it but I’d suspect if Windows is really required at all it will only be for the 3d engine that renders this, which means it will work great with WINE, but being an entirely python project it probably just works natively anywhere anyway,
As for written entirely in Python I’d suggest for something like a slicer that is probably a good thing – its an easier language to rework and play with as new slicing concepts arrive than most and the actual performance of the slicer is almost irrelevant really it could be as bad as to take days to produce the g-code (and I really doubt it even takes minutes) – the printer is still likely to be far slower to actually print the file…
Tyler,
Your work is both technically inspiring and relevant to the ongoing need for innovation in the FDM arena. I enjoyed watching your video; it was informative and entertaining while exemplifying the struggles that an inventor must overcome.
Keep up the good work!
Don
This fellow is amazing — and so humble, too. I will be visiting his website to learn more on how his efforts — and start-up — can be furthered with help from FDM enthusiasts like me.
Some thoughts:
From the get go, I recommend building the multi-direction printer into a system that can handle engineering grade filaments such as PAHT-CF and PPA-CF. This means nozzle temps of at least 320 deg C, bed temps of at least 100 deg C, and chamber temps of at least 60 deg C.
There are many applications, such as printing M1913 Picatinny rails that would benefit from merely having a 90 deg tilt capability on the Z-axis while rotating on the X and Y axes in only right angles, which keeps things much more simple from the slicing and layer management perspectives. Why is this important? Because the U.S. and British militaries are fielding flyaway FDM printing kits for deployment during combat missions and the M1913 accessory rails are among the most ubiquitous features for combat deployed, man portable equipment.
I have numerous engineering projects in process right now that require M1913 rails, which I print via PPA-CF, which are deployed immediately from the print bed into field missions, and where the longest delay from printer-to-deployment is the time to trim and tidy up the support contact surfaces on the sides of the rail slots that cantilever 90 degrees over the print bed.
I suspect the whole motion systems would need some reworking or fancier sensors to handle the hot chamber causing differential thermal expansion and pushing the final stage axis out of the expected position. Though for something as relatively low precision and with simple repeating geometry as the rails you are talking about I don’t think it would be a big issue.
I’m surprised you end up printing rails though – I’d have thought given the ubiquity of them that is something even for engineering one offs you’d pull the injection moulded rail out of a box, cut to length and attach with solvent welding bonds to your unique printed part that handles the weird geometry.
I think this type of thing is called “3+2 axis” in industry, whereas “5 axis” is reserved for continuous 5 axis processing.
Continuous 5 axis machines are considerably harder to program and slice with though!
Th
The negative comments are disrespectful to the author….should be removed, they are not in the interest of open source community and Github. I find them offensive!
This printer and everything the author has contributed …software and hardware are amazing. We will continue to see great features and ideas evolve…I will continue to follow and be inspired by originality.