Bitten by the bug - building the CEVO

I’ve been bitten by the bug. It all started early 2018 on a totally different hobby project, where I needed some project boxes and other parts. That caused me to look into 3D printers, and I quickly became fascinated.
This blog is about building a 3D printer pretty much from scratch.

My first go was an Anet A6 printer kit. I got it for USD 200 inclusive shipping. This is really a great printer with a great community. It comes as a box of parts, but prints great after assembly. There a lots of modifications you can do to improve it in various ways.

I don’t really need a 3D printer, and for sure I don’t need two, nor anything more advanced that my A6. But building and improving a 3D printer is immensely satisfying; it is a bug that have bitten a large number of hobbyist and makers around the world. Being part of that community is satisfying as well.

My second printer is just for the fun of it, but I am going to be more ambitious this time than just buying a kit or even than just following one of the great building guides out there. My goals for a new printer is:

  • have fun designing and building it
  • understand all part of it
  • make it print great
  • make it print fast
  • make it quiet
  • make it easy to use
  • make it look cool
  • make it flexible

Some points that are not directly a priority:

  • bottom price, although I am mostly (but not exclusively) going for cheap Chinese parts
  • enclosure, I am not going to print xxx, or any other filament that requires an enclosure


There are an immense amount of information about building a 3D printer out there. Bewildering much information. A lot of great information, and very much more not so great information. A lot of different components are quite cheaply available, and you can stick them together in countless ways and get something that prints OK. A lot of people have opinions on that, even when scaringly many just restates their own misconceptions. A few have great insight and great experiences that they share, the trick is figure out witch is witch ;-) I try to look for 1) information based on some theoretical foundation or engineering best practice 2) information based on the authors own experimentations 3) information with clear reference to the origination source on which then to use 1) or 2).
I have the ambition to document my own build. I for sure have lots of misconception and a lot to learn, but I will try to write why I choose different solutions and I have the ambition to write honestly about my experiences. I appreciate all comments, also those that tells my I am just restating my own misconceptions ;-)

A few links with inspiration:

  • https://3dprinting.com/3dprinters/building-a-3d-printer-from-scratch-tips-tricks/
  • https://reprap.org/wiki/Mechanical_Rigidity

In general I will go along the following guiding principles (no I am not an engineer by training, but this seems like common sense for me):

  • Avoid over-constraining, usually three point of attachment are better than four, and more than four are rarely good
  • Avoid binding and (the resulting) resonances, some slack are often better than binding, and some flexibility can better than stiffness to avoid the binding
  • Keep the fixed parts heavy and stiff, and the moving parts light


Not to start totally from scratch, I am choosing a platform to start from:

  • A proven platform, but with lots of possibilities for tweaks, variations and just testing ideas
  • A large and helpful community

My choice is the HyperCube Evolution (the HEVO) https://hevo.wiki , which is styled after the original HyperCube.
The HyperCubes are CoreXY printers, and a lot very interesting printers are being made these years on that design. The HyperCube have great communities and specially the HEVO community has been a large inspiration for me.

I am using the HEVO outer frame as the basis for my own design. The 3030 outer frame is a solid base for a printer, and there are lots of inspiration and design done around that. However, one of my ideas is not to use a square frame for holding the heated bed, and that takes away some of the neatness of the HypeCube name. In honor of the HyperCube and the HEVO, I am naming my printer the SmoothieAq CoreXY Evolution, or SmoothieAq CEVO for short :-P

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