Comment by alnwlsn
7 hours ago
Not IP related, but I built a Voron printer a while ago, which is sort of the last word in DIY printers. It's not so much a printer as a parts list and set of instructions, but something that's not lost on me is that most of the core components are Chinese parts.
I don't just mean screws and bearings (though they are too), you might install a board like this [0] which is a Chinese designed board I'd describe as open-ish. You get the firmware and schematics, but not a BOM or board layout. But that doesn't really matter, because nobody is going to make this board themselves anyways, you're going to buy it assembled, from China. There are other boards, but they are more expensive.
The majority of Voron builds use Chinese hotends. There are a lot of custom "for Voron" kits and components being made and sold there. Can you find a PEI-coated spring steel bed that isn't made in China? So while it's definitely more open than a Bambu printer, it's not really any less dependent on China.
I guess it would be technically possible to do a "no China" build, which would be an interesting (but expensive) project.
I bought my Voron Trident as a kit (from a Chinese company) and it is wonderful. As you say, there is an almost complete dependence on components made in China, but at least I can swap out / fix / upgrade parts as much as I like. I've also been able to make use of the schematics on the controller boards to troubleshoot issues myself and other people were having.
Very happy I went this route vs Bambu. This printer is "mine" and I don't need to worry about some company suddenly taking features and capabilities out from under my feet as Bambu has done. For anyone that feels strongly about this kind of thing, dive in and build a Voron.
I agree, we have Bambus at work, and they are an outright pain to fix compared to my Voron. And things do break. On our new H2D, we had some filment get jammed in the extruder. Fixing it basically entails taking the entire front of the toolhead apart, dealing with fragile custom-pcb ribbon cables, and trying to not get the grease from the greasy parts on the other parts.
On the Vorons, everything is just behind an M3 screw or ten.
Agreed! I love my Trident. This is the best hobby I have taken up in a long time. So fulfilling. Especially now that I'm learning freecad. Getting started can be expensive. There is an awesome community on discord that loves to help, and there are lots of small businesses that sell every part you can think of, custom mods from github, and if you email them they will respond promptly and personally. 10/10
+1 for FreeCAD. It has come a long way with the release of 1.0 Yeah it is still well behind the big players, but it can do what I need it to do as a hobbyist and there are lots of nice improvements like the new transform tool in the weekly releases. Some of the folks on the FreeCAD Discord actually suggest treating FreeCAD as a rolling release and using the weeklies rather than sit on 1.0 until 1.1 comes out.
I also appreciate those folks that model stuff in FreeCAD and share their models along with the .stl files on Thingiverse or Printables. It is really a good way to discover new ways of using the program.
I think the beauty of voron is that if you lost access to Chinese parts tomorrow you could source replacements elsewhere. Some would be difficult at first, like PCBs, but most like stepper motors are commodity parts that are easily replaced