Monolith Gantry

Important

This is a challenging build without a step by step build guide or documentation.

What's this?

This is a performance-oriented, configurable gantry platform for Voron 2.4 and Trident.

Available drive configurations:

• 2WD
• AWD

Available belt widths:

• 6mm
• 9mm

Available X-axis configurations:

• Front rail (flipped belts, toothed side facing the X extrusion = limited toolhead compatibility)

Note

If you have questions or want to stay more up to date with Monolith, consider joining the dedicated Discord server.

If you would like to see more of this and other projects in the future, consider supporting me on Ko-fi.

2024 Roadmap

Planned improvements for R1:

• printed and metal versions
• toothed idler delete (drive pulleys with live shafts last longer and they're easier to source with 16mm OD)
• significant effective tensioner range increase (50% or more)
• optional zero protrusion mode (no extra panel spacing, but similar build volume loss to other AWDs) without changing the gantry parts

Design goals

• The shortest and the simplest belt path possible without losing full bed capability even with AWD (toolhead dependant)
• AWD without increasing belt length and idler count
• Double shear support
• Increased printed part rigidity
• Uncluttered design
• Cheap BOM

Performance expectations

2WD: Due to the 10-15cm shorter belt path, stiffer and lighter XY joints (inside Y rails) your printer should perform similarly to a 50mm smaller one equipped with the same toolhead and X axis setup.

AWD: It doesn't come at the cost of adding 20cm extra belt length and more idlers, so input shaper scaling should be close to +100% vs 2WD due to the truly halved effective belt length. IF there are no rigidity bottlekecks elsewhere, which is rarely the case.

What's the catch?

• There's limited toolhead support currently because of the flipped belt path. Voron-compatible toolheads that have loop-around belt clips will work, but you WILL lose the ability to tuck away the excess belt.
• You have to space out the front (AWD only) and rear panels on your printer by at least 5mm (Monolith Panels) or have a 4040 frame.
• The tensioner range is less than half compared to stock. Monolith is not recommended for larger than 350mm build volume.
• Z chain relocation/delete on V2
• Trident rear vertical extrusion brackets have to be rotated by 180 degrees

Acknowledgement

I want to thank:

• ifp, iniqy, krankydonkey, MoneyShot, Nicket, tktktktk, and The Adeo for early testing and good feedback
• Sy-Noon for the awesome logo and feedback on general aesthetics
• Armchair Heavy Industries for the exposure and the moderation help I got in their user-project space
• VoronDesign for making V2.4 and Trident and for starting me on this journey to improve my FDM design skills
• everyone who helped me along the way

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.