NORTHFORGE3D

Forge Updates

Open-source development logs, printer builds, and 3D printing knowledge from NorthForge3D.

2020 Aluminum Extrusion — Why We’re Building a Trident First

As we set out to design the Deuce, we had a few simple goals in mind.

Most of the 3D printing industry right now is chasing multi-material systems, MMUs, and multi-toolheads. Those things matter—and the Deuce is designed for a dual-gantry architecture that can integrate all of them. But our ambition goes further: we want to push FDM itself forward.

We want a printer that is more accurate than anything on the market, a machine that delivers resin-like quality from molten filament. Before we can challenge fluid dynamics and material science, we need an absolutely rigid and perfectly accurate mechanical foundation. And if you look at the marketplace today, nothing truly meets that bar.

So we’re building it.
The Deuce is that machine.

But as we moved deeper into development, we learned something important: progress isn’t linear. Sometimes a simple component—aluminum extrusions—can slow you down, force a rethink, or even shift your entire path forward. In our case, it led us to build a Trident first.

The Bottleneck: Aluminum Extrusions

Our CAD is nearly complete. Our design decisions are narrowing. We’ve sourced custom motors. We’ve secured manufacturing partners. Most of the remaining problems are solvable.

Then we arrived at the one component that should have been simple: aluminum extrusions.

From the beginning, one of our core commitments has been sourcing every part we can in North America. Every component should be stocked here, available here, and ship within a day. That includes the frame—arguably the most important structural element of any printer.

As we began talking to extrusion suppliers across the continent, we found ourselves staring down a list of critical questions:

  • Warp / Straightness
    Is the profile perfectly straight across long lengths? Will we find out it isn’t—after ordering hundreds of meters?
  • Extrusion Wall Consistency
    Will corner brackets align? Will belt tension remain uniform? Will the gantry stay square?
  • Cut Accuracy & Squareness
    Are the ends truly square? Are the lengths precise to the tenth?
  • Surface Finish
    Is the anodizing smooth and consistent? Does it scratch too easily? Will we see color variation between batches?
  • Rigidity
    Can the profile withstand the forces of 2–4 gantries moving at up to 15,000 mm/s² of acceleration?

Ordering a massive batch of custom, non-standard profiles only to discover issues afterward would be a disaster.

So we stepped back and asked the right question:
How do we test suppliers, validate quality, and refine our process without committing to a proprietary extrusion profile?

The Answer: Build a Trident First

We could redesign the Deuce around a more common extrusion—2040 or 3030, something every supplier can make. But that would mean stepping away from our vision and starting over.

Instead, we realized something better:
We already have access to a proven, rigid, well-engineered platform that uses the most common profile on the market.

The Voron Trident.

It’s not the Deuce—we’ll share teasers this spring—but it offers everything we need for this phase of the journey:

  • A rock-solid, proven motion system
  • A 2020 extrusion frame that every North American supplier manufactures
  • A perfect platform to evaluate straightness, cut accuracy, finish quality, and rigidity
  • A real-world test bed for our dual-gantry system and electronics choices

Most importantly: 2020 is ubiquitous.
We can order it from any supplier on the continent and evaluate their quality before asking them to retool an entire production line for custom profiles that only we will use.

Motors were easy by comparison—our suppliers didn’t need to retool their extrusion machines (million + dollar machines) to create our custom 0.9° steppers with integrated lead screws. Extrusions are another world entirely.

So we’re building a Trident. A dual-gantry Trident.
The most accurate Trident we can build.

And you’ll be able to watch the entire process.

In fact, we’re leaning toward opening up the entire Deuce project as well.
Everything we learn, every improvement we make, every step forward—we’ll share it.

The Forge is Lit.
More to come.

OVER THE COMING MONTH, THE NEW TRIDENT CAD WILL BEGIN APPEARING HERE: https://github.com/NorthForge3D/Northforge3D-Trident .. .WATCH IT, FORGE WITH US …