3D printer simulation

Hi there.

This is my first post so please bear with me if this subject has been
done before.

I'm interested in designing a 3D printer but I'd like to vary some
parameters to see the trade off of print volume versus precision, speed...

Say I have a delta printer design in mind - Rostock and I've already
(perhaps foolishly) bought some universal joints in advance.

These joints can move in the vertical direction without problems but
they tend to stick if they are moved more than 30 degrees in the
horizontal direction.

Then there's the arms - I would like to vary their length to see how
that affects print volume too.

So the user interface should consist of two sliders - maximum universal
joint X rotation and arm length.

Can I use orocos to display the print volume in 3D and display the print
volume as a number?

In the more general case, I've also got some other ideas for delta
printer design - is there a way to describe a 3D printer design to
orocos so it can produce an interface where I can tweak some variables
like in the example above, and get outputs I can use?

Also, it would be neat if orocus could also simulate the printer
printing gcode and be able to provide speed and accuracy information for
various gcode models and 3D printer configurations.

Sorry in advance if this is asking too many questions in one post!

Regards,
Philip Ashmore