Quad Gantry Leveling
The flagship feature of the Voron 2 series and what draws users to this 3D printer is its quad gantry leveling ability. Using 4 stepper motors located on each corner, the printer physically aligns itself to the heated bed to ensure it is properly leveled. This differs from an automatic bed leveling from most other printers, as those printers use software to compensate for an unevenly heated bed. Users would see the most benefit over very large and wide prints as a physically leveled bed would yield smoother and flat bottom layers over software levelled beds.
Out of all printers we have seen and used, only the Railcore and the RatRig 3 features a similar leveling system by physically moving the bed to be level with the printhead.
Fully Enclosed Print Area
Many high-performance filaments such as ABS, nylon and polycarbonate require a fully enclosed area due to their plastics requiring a warm environment to print properly without warping and possibly detaching from the print bed. The Voron 2.4 features removable acrylic panels and doors to insulate the build volume and provide hard-to-print filaments with a warm environment for printing.
Flexible Removable Build Plate
A flexible spring steel construction plate with textured PEI on one side and smooth PEI on the other comes standard with the Voron 2.4 kit. The flexible spring steel plate makes removing finished 3D prints a breeze; users merely need to flex the construction plate slightly, and the prints pop right off. PEI is a good print surface in general, allowing prints to stick well to it when heated.
This flexible spring steel construction plate has a smooth and textured PEI surface that works well with various filament types. Smooth PEI is most commonly used for PLA, ABS, nylon, and polycarbonate filaments since it has the best print adherence. PETG and TPU are not suggested since their strong adhesion may damage the build plate. Smooth PEI prints have a smooth and glossy surface on the bottom of the prints.
Because it provides significantly less adhesion, the textured PEI side is excellent for PETG and TPU filaments. The bottom of prints made with the textured PEI has a slightly rough and matte appearance.
3:1 Direct Drive Extruder
A unique 3:1 direct twin drive extruder is included with the Voron 2.4. When compared to a normal single gear extruder, a 3:1 drive gear ratio extruder has three times the pushing force (torque) feeding filament into the hotend. This enables the Voron 2.4 to print extremely quickly and consistently. The Voron 2.4 can also print flexible filaments like TPU significantly faster than bowden drive printers thanks to the direct drive extruder.
Hotend Made Entirely of Metal
The hotend of most consumer 3D printers is lined with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Because the plastic degrades quickly and generates poisonous gases at higher temperatures, PTFE hotends limit the printing temperature to roughly 245-250°C. Printers with a PTFE hotend are unable to print with more exotic materials like as polycarbonate and nylon due to their inability to print at higher temperatures. The Voron 2.4 has an all-metal hotend that readily reaches the 280°C needed to print exotic materials like nylon and polycarbonate.
Wireless Connectivity with Octoprint
The Voron 2.4 is equipped with a Raspberry Pi microcomputer with Octoprint web server installed. Users will find this extremely convenient as 3D prints can be loaded, started and monitored completely remotely via a web browser. Additionally, Octoprint’s functionality can be expanded by using plugins created by the 3D printing community. Features such as camera support or 3D print failure detection can be quickly and easily added to the Voron 2.4 if the user desires.
Belted Z Axis
Almost every 3D printer uses lead screws to move the printer up and down on the z-axis. It is an accurate, reliable and inexpensive feature. However, for proper movement, lead screws must be perfectly straight, or it will introduce print artifacts known as z-wobble. The Voron 2.4 avoids this issue by using belts instead of lead screws to move the printer up and down.
TMC 2209 Silent Stepper Drivers
The Voron 2.4 features TMC 2209 silent stepper drivers on all its stepper motors. This allows the Voron to be very quiet when in motion.