Uploaded July 2013 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This is a variant of the Tripteron and the Quadrupteron. Following that naming scheme I had to call it Sextupteron for a 6 degree of freedom version. The video has been shown to lead to confusion and drooling. Watch responsibly.
You could use this for 3D printing on surfaces that aren't flat or for an assembly robot.
This is a full design. Every nut, bolt, board, bearing, and stepper has been accounted for. The only thing I fudged was the central hub and the ball connections. I think I will redesign it so that chrome steel balls snap into the end of the arms. I will also embed strong magnets directly in the plastic of the hub as it is printing. (Complete encapsulation.)
This style mechanism is protected under patent law and I don't control the patent. I hope to work a deal with the owners to open it up for open source development. If I understand the law, you can make one of these but you can't profit off of it. Yet.
Edit: One of the co-inventor's of the Tripteron, Ilian Bonev, thinks this is sufficiently novel to be safe.
RepRap Development Forum:
forums.reprap.org/read.php?178,229935,229935#msg-229935
This is a variant of the Tripteron and the Quadrupteron. Following that naming scheme I had to call it Sextupteron for a 6 degree of freedom version. The video has been shown to lead to confusion and drooling. Watch responsibly.
You could use this for 3D printing on surfaces that aren't flat or for an assembly robot.
This is a full design. Every nut, bolt, board, bearing, and stepper has been accounted for. The only thing I fudged was the central hub and the ball connections. I think I will redesign it so that chrome steel balls snap into the end of the arms. I will also embed strong magnets directly in the plastic of the hub as it is printing. (Complete encapsulation.)
This style mechanism is protected under patent law and I don't control the patent. I hope to work a deal with the owners to open it up for open source development. If I understand the law, you can make one of these but you can't profit off of it. Yet.
Edit: One of the co-inventor's of the Tripteron, Ilian Bonev, thinks this is sufficiently novel to be safe.
RepRap Development Forum:
forums.reprap.org/read.php?178,229935,229935#msg-229935
