In collaboration with Joris van Tubergen we explored the possibilities of combining multiple ultimakers to create a bigger platform to print on. In order to prove the concept of this our goal was to connect to ultimakers with a movable platform. The two nozzles printed the parts of the first line which they could reach. After they finished the table would move making it possible to print the rest of the first layer. After both nozzles were ready the table moved down in the z-direction and the new layer could be printed.
it took us four weeks to realize this goal. We had some problems letting the ultimakers communicate with one another and they had to wait for each other before lowering the z-as platform.
But we succeeded; on the science fair of the TU Delft we were able to show a printed beercup model that was printed with two nozzles. Though the overlap doesn’t seem to be very strong, we proved that it can be done!
In the future wthis would mean it would be possible to combine even more ultimakers creating an even larger Multimaker! A grid of nine ultimakers would create a very big printing area and a very fast printing proces.
