CoreXY explained: Comparison + strengths & weaknesses

[@Trikkie87]

A very big advantage of coreXY that is totally underrated is that you can move the steppers outside of the heating chamber rather easily (due to XYZ and E) steppers being fixed in place. This allows for a stepperless volume inside of the frame and this allows for higher temperatures without watercooling.

[@btzxdarkfury1922]

@curio I think the main advantage is you dont have as many wires moving around with the part and the fact that the gantry is lighter because it doesnt have a large stepper motor on it. With more weight on the gantry, the printer is more likely to miss steps at high printing speeds

[@btzxdarkfury1922]

@curio Yeah, I guess that would be a downside. You would really need to tighten the belts good for that accuracy.

[@martinshane8080]

InstaBlaster...

[@randomuser6110]

IIRC some company has a patent on having steppers outside the heated chamber though, and was going around sueing people that were just selling enclosures.

[@court2379]

@@randomuser6110 That should be a easy patent to invalidate. The solution is obvious and in no way novel. The heat dissipation of the motors necessitates it.

[@sennabullet]

I think I have watched this excellent video 5 times now. Whenever I forget how cartesian, delta and coreXY systems work and need a refresh...there is no better concise source than this video. Thank you again for making and sharing.

[@JohnOCFII]

Another wonderfully educational video. I’ve got one Delta printer (a Kossel Mini), one Cartesian i3 style (a Prusa MK3S) and one CoreXY (RailCore 300ZL). I most enjoy watching the Delta, as it just looks so COOL. The Cartesian is a solid, steady workhorse. The CoreXY produces the best prints (beautiful layer stacking, for example). I do think it is easier to get very good prints from the Cartesian than from the others two types of printers, but each has their place.

[@DrJeckyl]

We as consumers are the winners in this. Can't wait to get my Sekit.

[@timomiller569]

The manufacturers left out the most important part about the design which is not having to carry the mass of the x-axis stepper motor around along with the x-axis which reduces moved mass. The mere fact that the two steppers work together to move the printhead is not really an argument for corexy in my opinion as they also do that in regular Cartesian systems when moving diagonally - the same way a corexy uses only on motor when moving diagonally. It becomes more obvious when you imagine rotating the rectangular bed 45 degrees around the z-axis on those printers. It is funny how they seem to have used the design principle without fully understanding the main reason to use it.

[@TeachingTech]

Good point, but I wouldn't assume this was an exhaustive answer. They are trying to run a business and I'm pestering them for answers on this video.

[@timomiller569]

Yes that sounds reasonable, Michael. They should know better than giving you quick answers though. No better way to get proper information out there than your channel.

[@constantinosschinas4503]

they focused on light printing head though. just did not mention why the head is lighter.

[@Hagledesperado]

In the Ultimaker type printers (cartesian), all steppers are fixed to the frame.

[@redwaller1]

More than likely these were spokespeople or sales team and not engineers- and therefor likely are not trained on technical intricacies and might not even be given accurate information, though I'm happy to see someone hit upon the reason why I am trying to use a CoreXY system for my next build.

[@stephenwollenberg7283]

From an engineering prospective I found that one of the biggest weaknesses of the CoreXY is the that long belt length and tension distribution throughout the X & Y axis's. I built one of these and was disappointed with the result. I use my 3d prints for engineering projects, and found that the CoreXY struggles more to print with precision. If it is going to bother you that your print is going to come out with slightly oval holes instead of the circular holes in your design, I would recommend the Cartesian style over the CoreXY. If you know you are going to be printing mostly pieces of art that won't rely on a definite level of precision, you may benefit more from off loading one of the motors in the mechanics with the CoreXY. Honestly though, I feel that the drawbacks from carrying the extra motor with the Cartesian style printer is worth the sacrifice. You could always use a larger motor to compensate for the extra mass that needs to be carried. At the end of the day it's more important to me to have the quality that the Cartesian style provides, even if it takes slightly longer to pull the print off the bed. Never tried the Delta style due to all the problems I predict that I would deal with getting an accurate print. Firmware is getting better however to address some of these issues hopefully... eventually.., but that still would add additional calibration settings to deal with, and like mentioned these add additional calculations that will need to be made, but perhaps not an issue to concern you on a 32 bit board.

[@deathbornium]

Did anyone try a chain driven design yet? Or would that simply not work?

[@Edgajado]

@@deathbornium thats genuinely a good idea

[@deathbornium]

@@Edgajado Nah that comes with its own set of difficulties. It would just solve some problems. Its worth a try tho

[@nicholassummerlee6843]

I get perfect circle on my ultimaker. Iv'e done things as precise as valve stem covers with thread and they were flawless.

[@TomFYouTube]

Why don’t we use ball screws on all axis like on the best CNC machines? Thanks

[@CapinWinky]

I was a controls engineer that worked with industrial machinery and I specialized in complex motion, including robotics and unique kinematic systems. I've moved into management and to keep scratching that engineering itch, I'm looking to get into 3D printing. I just so happens that I work very closely with H-Bot, I-Bot, and Deltas and the design criteria for when you would use one over the other. With an eye to cost optimization and increased reliability at a consumer level, I think the coreXY is an excellent choice of kinematics. You remove the cost of an axis for the delta and have a simple/robust mechanical system to hold a heavier head without needing larger motors to control it. At the scale of a printer, H-Bot has a disadvantage in the form of a moment placed on the beam. CoreXY exists specifically to cancel out this moment through the use of two belts. You could tackle that problem with more robust bearing/slide design on an H-Bot and get the same accuracy with a more reliable belt situation, but that may increase the size of the machine as you must place the bearings further from cross bar ends to fight the moment, limiting the crossbar travel in the perpendicular direction. At some point, the physical properties of the print material are the speed limit; your prints would sag as new layers come too quickly to cool. With high quality belts, CoreXY could get there, but it would be easier to get a Delta there. Scara is nice for access, but it would need to be very ridged and mounted very rigidly to go at speed.

[@B143DP]

I enjoy my Core XY X5SA, I have modified it a bit to make it print stable at 100mm/s. Love the speed and that it prints the same quality as a 30mm/s print.

[@MassimoFantinato]

Please could you tell what mods did you install?

[@B143DP]

@@MassimoFantinato Yeah no problem www.thingiverse.com/thing:2771055 this one is for the frame rigidity. You can opt in for some metal ones but these did the trick for me www.thingiverse.com/thing:2809623 this is amazing, and I had to slightly modify the next part in cad software to fuse the bottom part of this model into the top of the next thing to make them both align correctly www.thingiverse.com/make:503069 this makes the bowden tube shorter and also allows it to sit along the cable chain, always having a nice path for the filament to push through and not get skipping or hung up. And finally www.thingiverse.com/thing:3503426 I did this because it makes the X and Y axis rigid and makes the belts all align correctly. You will need to go a hardware store for new screws and such for this. OH and for the hot end i use this currently www.thingiverse.com/thing:2792412 with www.thingiverse.com/thing:2922982 (i modified it in cad to fuse the two parts together to print it all in one but you can print them separately and just fit them together with some glue or something)

[@jhon614]

I just recently learned there is a new motion system called Croxy. It is kind of a beefed-up version of a cartesian setup, but shares some of the same benefits of CoreXY. Similarities: 1. CoreXY and Croxy both have a separate Z stepper motor. 2. CoreXY and Croxy both used fixed motors and benefit from lower moving mass on the gantry and the ability to isolate the motors from a heated chamber if necessary. Differences: 1. Croxy uses four motors, two for X and two for Y, whereas CoreXY uses two. This makes Croxy more expensive, but also more powerful and simpler in some ways than CoreXY. 2. Croxy move calculations are simpler than CoreXY and should be completely identical to standard cartesian, just with two motors running X commands, and two motors running Y commands. 3. Croxy uses a belt routing path that is much simpler and shorter than CoreXY. 4. Croxy uses a crossed gantry design (two bars, one for X and one for Y). This is slightly more moving mass than CoreXY, but each axis having two motors, shouldn't be a problem. 5. CoreXY is weakest doing diagonal moves because, at a 45 degree angle, a single motor is doing all the work. A Croxy is weakest moving in a straight X or straight Y direction, but in either case, it has the power of two motors to perform the move. On a diagonal (longer) move, it has the power of all four motors.

[@SianaGearz]

That Croxy of yours looks like an evolution of an Ultimaker cartesian gantry rather than the CoreXY one. But it is cute, i can see the value. Also reminds one perhaps not to discount the Ultimaker gantry as a valuable approach. It can be a spectacularly cheap sort of build if implemented similarly to how it is originally.

[@JWH3]

That Scara (sp?) setup looked incredible, with a proper mechanical build and mounting I can see it being quiet versatile even beyond 3D printing.

[@frankhovis]

This chap made one kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIHZZ3qwZb51hLM

[@0LoneTech]

A CoreXY printer doesn't actually need to do any more calculations; it's still doing cartesian movement, just in a 45 degree rotated reference frame. If you rotate the bed 45 degrees in your slicer, only the homing procedure would need to know anything different from a printer where the axis are aligned with the bed edges. And the math is ridiculously simple; A=X+Y, B=X-Y. Delta, Scara or polar movements are far more complex. The part about both motors participating in a move is a bit of a double edged sword; not only is it only for moves aligned with X or Y axis, it means the motors are moving a different weight depending on whether it's moving mostly in Y or mostly in X. And they do so by varying tension along the Y axis differentially, so it's critical the X axis bar is rigidly perpendicular to the Y axis even as it moves along it. The Ender 5 design instead uses a stronger Y motor to cope with the larger weight it moves and a common axle drives both Y belts to hold the X axis at a constant angle, even if it somehow isn't quite perpendicular to Y.

[@ShasOAunLa]

CHOPPED! I like that MCM shirt you wearing ;) I started with 3d printing by designing my own corexy printer. now, in iteration 5 i tackeled to go to linear rails instead of rods and also getting a open frame design with no belts in the front. so far only good experiences.

[@jakegarrett8109]

How is the accuracy? I’m wanting a second machine for high accuracy and tight tolerances. For $500 and under would you still go with core XY or more conventional (like Ender 3 or Ender 5)? If I were starting from scratch and only had one machine it probably would have been core XY (except I made my Frankenstein Bowden Prusa like 7 years ago, before XY was really a thing), because I love speed and I’ve seen videos of core XY machines hitting 500 mm/s on what I’d consider nothing fancy (no lightening holes or carbon fiber etc, just cheap generic parts. Granted not great printing but it wasn’t a blob or spaghetti, haha!). I’m happy most of my Prusas prints (I can crank out 3 inch diameter by half inch thick solid infil double herringbone gears in about 10 minutes, whereas I think that’s normally 4 hours for most people’s printers of similar price tier). I mostly use it for rapid prototyping (like in 1 day I went through 5 different water pump revisions, so CAD/print/test/analyze data and repeat 5 times in an afternoon), so speed was pertinent, BUT now that I’ve got that base covered I want something for high accuracy for press fit replacement parts etc and need it within say 0.2mm or 0.001 inch. My machine does great for those gears and most things but sometimes it shows it age, haha! So now I’m just looking for one that can chug along consistently to fulfill that side (and now it has time to do so, it’s got 8+ hours while I’m away at work).

[@stephengloor8451]

Didn’t notice the MCM shirt until you said it.

[@fritzhusselmann2023]

Subtle correction on a super-awesome video: the Prusa i3-style mechanics didn't start with the Prusa Mendel, it started with the RepRap Mendel (of Bowyer, Oliver, et al. fame), which the Prusa Mendel is based on and ultimately kickstarted the home/DIY 3D printing game.

[@pof1857]

I remember seeing Vik posting on NZ Linux mailing lists about his new reprap project a decade or so ago - didn't think anything of it at the time. I met him once, he's a cool dude!

[@Jon-to6969]

Love your videos, they have been extremely helpful. I recently bought a Tronxy x5sa-400 and I'm having a heck of time getting it to print properly. I'm upgrading a number of the components on it so hopefully it will alleviate the sloppy prints I've been getting.

[@stevehanwright481]

Mate I love the way you are so effective with you explanations. I have just bought a Voron 2.4 after using a Prusa for a few years.

[@vizionthing]

Error @ 12:30 "Kinematics are harder to crunch for the firmware" coreXY moves on basic G1 commands like any other printer all handled fine on an 8 bit controller, the only time you need 32bit controllers is when you need to print at much faster rates or use the exotic G2 and G3 arc commands and has nothing to do with the coordinate system of the printer. When converting G0 or G1 commands into x and y step calculations on coreXY the math functions are addition and subtraction along with division by two and that division can be handled with a simple binary shift, compare that with the calculations needed for a cartesian which will need to use sine and cosine functions and it would seem that your statement is fundamentally wrong.

[@crosswalkguy435]

I just bought a Bambu Labs X1-Carbon, and it is my first CoreXY printer. I was trying to figure out the belt system. Thank you for the great video. I love all of your vids!

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

I love CoreXY. Back in 2014 I have designed and built my own laser cutter using a big CoreXY motion system. Looking back at this video, my design was pretty modern back in 2014 haha. I wish I had realized that back in the day.

[@Aethelbeorn]

Yeah. You would have made mint.

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

@@Aethelbeorn Not everything is about money ;)

[@matts2581]

I came home with a donated CoreXY "Ulti'crater" (?) from the free pile at Craigslist the other month and am very new to its configuration. I look to get it in the air for what I can with updated Marlin FW on its Arduino/RAMPS 1.4 electronics; it will be an ongoing project for a while, and we'll see how it goes. Great review - thank you.

[@hunter-ie8mv]

use skr 1.3 or 1.4 , mega is bottlenecking its potential with its computing power

[@kazolar]

Deltas are fun. A big one is like watching a giant spider. I built a 6' tall one, and it's fascinating watching it move. A scara is definitely in my future, watching robots make things is fascinating, especially when everything is working as intended.

[@jakegarrett8109]

Great, now I’m never gonna get a delta and still have nightmares about some 6 foot tall spider dancing around...

[@pr0xZen]

What really stands out to me, is the required footprint for a heated enclosure. Might even be able to print pei and peek with this, if you find belts that can play ball with the heat at such lengths. Since the steppers are static, these could be mounted outside of the enclosure, greatly easing the cooling system design.

[@cryoine7194]

I have designed and built a core xy pcb mill, during the early stages I discovered the H bot motion systems. I avoided that one because it is easy to pull the head/gantry out of alignment because of the uneven belt tension reactions and the need for the machine to be 'perfectly' made my core xy system has undergone two revisions and I'm on the 3rd one now this one I feel will be released to KZbin. Over that time it is as you say belt tensioning is king, my machine frame is not square but the machine mills almost perfectly square when I made some adjustments to increase the rigidity of the pulley system. the biggest weakness for me and corexy is the fact that grbl doesn't support mutli axis work when using corexy so I cant build a 4-6 axis machine and homing capabilities are limited i.e. x and y dont home at the same time another interesting printer to look into is the polar printers that have one rotating axis and the other two linear, those are quite interesting to watch work

[@MrOsmodeus]

"core XY seems to be picking up momentum", yeah that'd be the main reason...the momentum. too much of it on my cr10 s4 Yaxis

[@androiduberalles]

Yeah a huge benefit is speed. You can really crank the acceleration up and print fast and still maintain almost all of the quality.

[@originaltrilogy1]

Try is on the S5 with a full bed!

[@LoneWolfZ]

I've had my first printer about 2 weeks now, a Tronxy X5SA pro that I got as an Amazon return. With upgrades to stiffen the hell out of the frame, I have a large printer for less than $200. Heh, now I just need to figure out how to use it. Their design seems pretty good for the price, and it's first print looks way nicer than much of the pictures I see posted around the net. I still want a delta though, mostly just because they are almost hypnotic to watch in action.

[@burgle66]

Where can we get the STL for that mask?

[@PRO3DESIGN]

Thanks for the good explanation. I am a corexy 3d printer designer myself and really like the kinematics. But as you say belts gets long and you need a good construction to make sure the idlers are rigid. Take a look at my new CoreXY utilizing the new gates type idlers if you are interested. Best regards Roy

[@basecius]

The extra work needed for the CPU in a CoreXY is one addition and one subtraction per G-code that moves the printhead. That's completely insignificant. (Unless it's a really inefficient implementation.) It's not like a delta, where you (at least theoretically) need to do extra calculations for each stepper motor step.

[@scottwillis5434]

Agreed. Delta is hard to align, everything has to be precise (unlikely with a hobbyist budget) to get layers flat instead of bowl or multiple-curve-bowl shapes, distortions, etc.

[@guillaumegen]

Have a look at Railcore printers. Very nice coreXY design.

[@ifell3]

Good video explaining the pros and cons, I think it's a good compromise but I think for ease the Cartesian with the bed moving up and down is the best idea.

[@ifell3]

@vial.of.photons Everything has compromise my friend, I believe he even made this point himself. It'd life.

[@minkorrh]

When you look at Tech2C's results it's not hard to see why the hype(ercube) lol.

[@BV3D]

Hi Michael, thanks for this particularly clear video explaining Core XY printers, and comparing them with the other motion systems. I've been curious about Core XY machines but haven't had a chance to dig into them in a meaningful way, but after seeing this, I'm a lot more intrigued by them. 👍

[@Celcius1]

BV3D: Bryan Vines there is a lot more to core XY than shown, Michael has only scratched the surface, and to add the core XY design methodology has been round since 2006

[@mikesbasement6954]

The other problem with the Ender 3 is it's made by Crapality, the "What's QA" company.

[@Triangularification]

The origin of all the sliding bed printers is the RepRap Mendel, NOT the Prusa Mendel. There were many designs directly based on RepRap Mendel, the most interesting, in my opinion, being the Mendel90 by nophead. At least that one solved some of the problems with the Mendel design. Prusa's Mendel did not, but was relatively cheap to build.

[@vinc1234567890821]

Just bought the ender 6 core xy. Can't wait to test this out :)

[@jacobnassr-low7757]

Another tradeoff worth mentioning is that if someone wants to upgrade their coreXY with dual independent extruders (IDEX), each hotend would need to be on its own X-carriage, with its own belt system, and its own pair of steppers. I would love to see someone take on such a project. BTW, we're still waiting on that SCARA video you said you might do ;)

[@Mixmasterjayon]

Not exactly if your smart with bar and roller placement they can be on the same

[@BesideTheVoid]

Dual Markforged Kinematics such as on Rat Rig V-Core 3.1 IDEX is close, but I can't quite picture full CoreXY with dual printheads. It the FrankenVoron Tridex still CoreXY? I can't tell.

[@CuervoRC]

I have made a laser cutting machine of 100cmx100cm with coreXY system and the truth is that it goes very well. I made it this way because it is the simplest thing, the motors go fixed and there is no more complication. the only thing that has like 10 meters of belts, but they are very wide and with steel reinforcements, it can engrave letters of 3mm without they are deformed.

[@richard--s]

The robot arm approach has the advantage of a big print volume, especially in the x direction with a very compact printer. But the precision of the arm movement is critical and such an arm might be unstable even when it is not moving at all. And the errors of both arms add together to the errors and unstable position of the printing head.

[@BenjaminChay]

5:54 if you want to skip to the CoreXY part.

[@MD-NWWI]

I was really wanting the sk go. Looks like it will be a while... I may just save up for the prusa xl or whatever they're going to call it. I really like prusa customer support and ther great community and the work they have done to help make 3d printing an affordable hobby.

[@Littleferris]

Michael as usual thank you for your fantastic videos.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Didn't realize the frame also had to be more rigid; that explains the higher price they usually are (also nice to have some explanation of the kinematics of them; will watch that other ffideo on that, too)

[@NZSpides]

I’ve made two of Tech2C’s Hypercube printers now. Love them.

[@certified-forklifter]

high quality video with a lot of research ! =D

[@certified-forklifter]

thanks buddy for these inspiring videos.

[@Celcius1]

He did not do enough research, the Ultimaker printer is core XY and came out in 2010

[@certified-forklifter]

@@Celcius1 ok

[@fredgenius]

Thanks, greight video. I built a Hypercube Evo (HEvo), but there were so many designs flaws I had to do a lot of re-designing. So mine is a HEvoEvo!

[@matthewkesterson]

nice MCM shirt! My favorite Aussie youtubers

[@winstonzeb2842]

The Fusion410 printer is a Core XY style printer, but instead of belts they use thin kevlar ropes, i mean like 1.5mm thick kevlar ropes. The stepper motors have about a 20mm dia “spool” that the kevlar rope is wrapped around about 8-10 times. There are “belt” tensioners that are just a pully in a slot. Very simple system, and I am able to print in high temperatures at very fast speeds. No backlash.

[@bukszpryt_]

There should also be some cylindrical system. there would be linear move in Z and in one horizontal direction and rotational movement of the print bed. It would probably make straight lines shitty anywhere other than on the radial axis, but it would make perfect circles around the rotation axis. It could work well for shapes that have radial symmetry. All kinds of tubes, vases etc. There was at least one printer that already had rotating table, but it wasn't used for printing. Rotation was used only for 3d scanning as it also had some crappy canning functionality. This printer was aio robotics zeus, an abandoned project from 2015.

[@aryaprincess2479]

XY is the only way, not having to wobble the print around is the best thing. If the material is slightly elastic, it won't print, if it is too tall it will wobble. Z-axis doesn't put too much stress on the plate motor because not only it goes downwards so even gravity helps it, but z-axis moves so slowly you can have a tiny motor with a ton of gear reduction and it will do the job. XY has perfect layer deposit than any other 3D printing type.

[@wambman]

09:01 did someone say Prusa XL?

[@roberts.wilson1848]

10:35 Anything done to the printer like any mods or exhausting fine tuning or upgrading or anything or just out of the box with basic assembly and setting up?

[@spikekent]

Great video as always Michael. I've pondered building a Core XY for several years, though not got round to it yet. I'm looking forward to Prusa's one, I'm planning to order it. I find the kinematics fascinating to watch.

[@B143DP]

Yeah, my first non-all in one printer was the X5SA and I am so happy it was. I've modified it a little bit to make it more sturdy, but the speed at which it can print and not reduce quality is amazing

[@haley8004]

If you can make a rigid y-axis, consider making an H-bot

[@spikekent]

@@haley8004 I have considered building an H-Bot too. For some reason I kinda like Core XY better, although I may well try both if I get round to it.

[@haley8004]

@@spikekent Interesting. For me the longer belts that want to intersect put me off corexy. Industry machines are more often H-bot I think. Joshua Vasquez has shown a very nice open source corexy on youtube and also this article comparing H-bot and corexy. www.doublejumpelectric.com/projects/core_xy/2014-07-15-core_xy/

[@drkavnger99]

As a owner of the original x5s let me just say they really need to stiffen that frame up. Putting corner pieces in helped tremendously. Also dual z end stops with a skr 1.3 board and dual stepper drivers keep the bed going cockeyed due to the bed weighing so much on the z.

[@TeachingTech]

I remember seeing a video from Joe 3Dmakernoob where it was full of issues. I will rewatch and see if they have fixed the problems.

[@5bitesrods]

Chris' basement had an entertaining review on the original. I'm hoping the new one you have is solid.

[@drkavnger99]

@@TeachingTech that review was right on. Mine is working great but only kept the stepper motors and frame from the original. Added skr 1.3, tmc2209, 12 and 24 psu, mosfet for both bed and hotend, and the list goes on. Hoping your review comes out soon looking forward to see if anything has changed.

[@Thomllama]

Great vid and informative as always. One thing though, CoreXY isn’t any more processor intensive than other basic movement systems. Take a model and spin it 45 degrees and you have the same motor movement and in turn calculations as a I3 or any other simple style printer.

[@Odd_Taxi_epi04]

​@@TheRybka30 You can't call it more processor intensive, or a reason for requiring 32bit MCUs like the video does. One extra addition is basically free, even for those micro controllers. The inverse kinematics for Deltas are about three orders of magnitude harder, and at that point it rises above a rounding error and the cost becomes a problem on 16mhz 8bit processors.

[@aspmos]

I would love to see a detailed review of TronXY you mentioned in the begining of this video.

[@richard--s]

You are the 13th comment in my view... So I watched it before seeing your comment ;-) sorry...

[@davidevilla9051]

Great video! As usual... @teaching tech where did you find the beautiful model of the mask shown in the video?

[@speedmauler6825]

Are you going to review the X5SA pro soon?

[@TeachingTech]

I haven't had it for long. Assembled but I need to tweak everything to get the gantry square before printing.

[@MirrorOnTheWall23]

@@TeachingTech Can't wait to see your review on the X5SA. will you do a comparison between it and the SecKit SK-Go ??

[@speedmauler6825]

@@TeachingTech Looking forward to it. Thinking of ordering one, not much in the way of reviews about.

[@FranklyWry]

Another great, comprehensively informative presentation. I wish we had this technology when I was in school and someone like you to teach me.

[@SuperYellowsubmarin]

Would be interesting to compare belts. Polychains or HTDs, which are used on most printers, are not supposed to be great at positionning accuracy and repeatability but rather high torque transmission. We should be using T / AT belts.

[@brentc9381]

thinking about designing and building a core XY printer this summer

I feel like CoreXY machines are a nice blend of cartesian rigidity, crazy delta speeds but still prints accurate and beautifully :D If you do, I'd be interested in seeing what you make. I'm lazy when it comes to design work so I stuck to making a delta.

[@xoniq-vr]

Checkout Hypercube, from Tech 2C, as mentioned by Michael, I have one, it’s really great.

[@pielandre8275]

Can't wait for Prusa core XY

[@HoldenArt]

Prusa is King!

[@miroj6323]

Did you publish the video where you reviewed tronxy X5sa that you mentioned on the video?

[@TeachingTech]

That's to come. I haven't had it together very long.

[@wforider4786]

Another amazing video you are the real deal

[@Enjoymentboy]

This was a great video. Very clear and concise. I liken a 3d printer to a hammer. there are many types because they all have their best use situations. A 20lb sledge hammer is great for just smashing stuff but a 1oz tack hammer is better for those delicate tasks. There is no "one size fits all" argument here and it really all depends on what your project needs and what sacrifices can be accepted.

[@brunosco]

I must be missing something, but why then isn’t a Cartesian-style printer with vertically-moving bed like the Ender 5 not better? 1. Problem with moving the bed on the y-axis is eliminated, and 2. there’s no need for these problematic long belts.

[@spaniard3dprints720]

Wonderful, detailed overview!! Excellent timing with so much buzz around coreXY these days!!

[@Grumpyoldtwit]

Not many 'weaknesses'... I'm currently building a Hypercube Evo. By "currently", I mean, I bought all the parts about 18 months ago and finally got around to putting it together yesterday. My two Ender 3 printers (heavily modded) have been busy printing the bits I forgot to print last year. I'm looking forward to getting it up and running...

[@Side85Winder]

I dont know weather you have seen it or not there is also that 3d printer that has the round build plate that spins. It made on a Polar system its totaly different again to the others talked about in this video, the machines them selves seem to have died off though as the popularity of cartesian has dominated the market and is slowly shifting to a cube shape thats either a CoreXy or like that Ender 5 design because they are better. The main thing that makes these machines more expensive is the frame cost which is the biggest apeal to a cartesian machine they are just way cheaper and still print very good. When going to anything 300x300 or bigger deffently go for a CoreXY or that Ender 5 style as moving the bed in the Z is a massive advantage to getting better prints and faster speeds.

[@AdityaMehendale]

A better way to discern the Ender5 from a "true" core-XY is to ask the question "Does an axis-motor's stator move when another axis runs?" The beauty of CoreXY is that the dead-mass isn't moved.

[@AdityaMehendale]

@Izan TM Agreed. I never claimed exclusivity :)

[@wordedon]

Fantastic video mate. A really great explanation of kinematics of linear motion systems and the math going in behind the scenes. Love your videos

[@Dave_the_Dave]

I'm really interested in the X5Sa pro review. I have the Artillery SW X1 now and the ringing in Y direction, especially on tall prints is pretty bad unless slowed way down. Would be nice to be able to add speed.

[@joncheek2413]

Im looking to get one of these printers in the near future. Thank you so much for putting out all of the good info!

[@FlightIsLife]

Great video. I'm still fuzzy on the exact advantages and disadvantages of corexy. Keep thinking I should change(upgrade?) my Ender 5 plus to a corexy system, but it seems like the advantage is simply increased speed and precision at the cost of increased complexity. I just might have to give it a shot before I can tell if those trade offs are worthwhile.

[@albertobassig]

Can not wait for your tronxy x5sa pro review! I have one for 3 weeks now and it prints good.

[@dasy2k1]

I'm sure I have also seen a cartesian printer before with a static bed X and Y the same as the ender 5 but the XY gantry moves in the Z plane instead of the bed

[@johnm.gerard1718]

I am thinking of getting either a correct or a crony printer. I like the fact that the bed dos not have to move back and forth. I prefer a 4 lead screw in each corner configuration. I think it makes for a much more stable bed.

[@jetstream01]

Thanks for the video. New to 3d printing and this helped me understand what corexy is.

[@avejst]

Great walkthrough👍 Thanks for sharing this great video👍😀

[@DaevonBranche]

You explained this so perfectly!

[@Epiphalactic]

I think we're gonna see these things become fused, for multiaxis(5+) and tool changing 3d printers at home. Core xy type movement of a robot arm hot end that can print centers before exteriors for extraordinary finishes. , beds that can move in various axis and even spin 360° to eliminate the need for supports in most applications. Easy color changes and multi extruder setups without the need for tons of steppers. I see these things working together and as additive manufacturing becomes sufficiently advanced, I think we will see these things become available for home use, along with other meshes of the tech like the positron that can fold down but print larger than anything else of it's size and print upside down.

[@cathyomalley2772]

Fantastic explanation Michael. Thanks.

[@davidelang]

Thanks for the good overview. One question, how vulnerable are CoreXY machines to racking the X axis? (i.e. the two ends moving different amounts). Do the belts really do a good job of moving each end evenly? or do they depends on the mechanical linkages on the rails to resist racking? Think of something constructed similar to the MPCNC which has almost no resistance to racking (due to the large size and flex in the plastic), could that sort of structure be used in a CoreXY configuration? or would it rack and be inaccurate or bind up?

[@Celcius1]

David Lang core XY does not have racking issues, the main issue with core XY is the belt tensioning, if the tensioning of the belts is uneven it will skew the X axis and cause prints to be trapezoidal and then it would be required to enable marlin’s skew correction feature. To correct for the skewed axis on the printer. Or tension the belts to be firm but not tight, to prevent axis skewing

[@VolJoe]

Great video. Thank you I'd put in a vote for replacing the Bowden tube if your printer has a cheap one (ender 3). I just had mine break off IN the hot end. It was so baked in that I had to finally remove the hotend and drill it out. Printing for a month and never over 225.

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

Very helpful and interesting, off to read that forum debate now!

[@Cfontes82]

Again excellent video

[@woodwaker1]

Very good review and lots of information. Keep it up!!

[@Theprofessor1212]

Deltas are amazing. Only thing is the cost of getting high quality delta motion cheaper. We use delta robots all the time in pick and place applications.

[@thomassutrina7469]

The biggest advantage of core X Y, single or double belt is that the motors and electronics do not have to be in the printing chamber and with a little effort even the limit switches do not have to be in the chamber. So what is the big deal? Temperature in the chamber can be much hotter so engineering plastics like Ultem, Peek, Kapton, and Teflon could be printed. Thermal plastics that are heat cured such as Epoxy. Silicone rubber is also heat cured as well as ceramic materials. All could be cured to a point where they hold shape and be capable of building up. I would even suggest that metal could be printed. Thus only the printing head and possibly the motor driving the print material into the head need to be in the heated chamber which means that the additional cooling means need to be also added to keep these components in working condition. Far less material. Belts are not the only means of getting linear motion. Within every timing belt are cables that actually define the stiffness. Slippage is the issue and the teeth prevent that, however, cable system that wind the cable on to a drum do not slip. The failure mode of a timing belt in a high temperature environment is the material modeled around the cables. NOT NEEDED with fixed length cables wound on a drum. Finally I agree that the processing power needed for an x-y core machine is the same. In fact identical. My guess is that if one summed up the processing effort the difference between a standard Cartesian and a core Cartesian will be less then 1%. Note I am including even the cube models so long as on the core machines those prime axis of the item are laid out on the 45 angle, the angle for a single motor motion.

[@Netherlands031]

Getting steppers out of the printing chamber is also possible with an Ultimaker-style design, it's not unique to CoreXY, right?

[@tomliao5413]

SainSmart Coreception CoreXY 3D Printer, Nice design!

[@kerricaine]

so just to see if i'm getting this right; with a corexy, the print bed moves away from the extruding source, similarly to how a resin printer pulls it's item up away from the light source it uses? would this change how you would need to design support structures to your models?

[@TeachingTech]

With these machines, yes, but that is not exclusive to coreXY. You could potentially have a stationary bed and the whole coreXY motion system could lift up and down, but that would be inefficient.

[@hunn20004]

Scara looks amazing

[@haenselundgretel654]

You are a perfect teacher! Cheers mate!

[@FyresGames]

Nice video. I do own a Tronxy X5SA 330x330x400 and upgraded it a lot to be safer, sturdier and smoother. Printed PETG parts for the step motors and idle corners are fine, just need to be thick and a good infill. I've changed as well the 2 belt for a single one allowing the tension all in one go. Great printer, but quite complex to setup. WIll probably still upgrade it even more to a pro to get the rails and metal wheels. The ruber ones worm out too fast.

[@jamesphillips4836]

I own a cartesian and a delta printer. I picked up the delta because I wanted a fixed bed. But the problem with the delta is that XY and Z axis movement involves all three stepper motors. There is only one parameter to adjust which is "diagonal rod length" to calibrate dimensional accuracy. Changing this value changes X and Y movement simultaneously. If the Delta printer isn't built perfectly X and Y dimensions will not be accurate. You can calibrate one of the two to be correct but the other will be off. That is one advantage of the cartesian. You can calibrate each axis individually and get them very close to perfect. I was hoping to build a corexy machine but it looks like it would have the same drawback as the delta. That being the coupled X and Y axis. Is this assumption true? Maybe what I really want is a cartesian that has a print bed that moves in Z only like the ender 5? But of course it has the moving weight of the X motor.....hmmmm?

[@Specte]

Hey Michael, what is the clock in the beginning?

[@TeachingTech]

Just a cheap ebay clock I used to use for timelapses. Reset it to 0 o'clock and let it run in the background.

[@TomFYouTube]

Why don’t we use ball screws on all axis like on the best CNC machines? Thanks

[@ErikMiddeldorp]

Because they're expensive and noisy and the forces in a 3d printer are low (basically just print head inertia) compared to other CNC machines.

[@UncleF115]

Grt video. So is fix bed Cartesian the best? Can we convert printer from corexy to Cartesian

[@Cyberginger1]

I know this is an old video now, but what printer is that? I'm thinking of taking up a Core XY conversion project and it seems all the available guide or existing printers I can find have the printer bed raise/lower instead of having the printer head also move on the Z-axis and have a static bed plate. Having found no other examples, I don't know how good of an idea that kind of thing is.

[@Soravia]

CoreXY would work best if the belts are replaced with something that won't stretch nor need so much tension. Fine wire rolled over a fine low angle screw.

[@RhamonGB]

great idea

[@fluxpistol3608]

Great explanation. Thanks

[@olivierchatelain6237]

A very interesting concept, thank you to explain it so well.