Going Full Circle

My nameless bot has gone through a number of calibrations and is ready to start printing. The Printrbot + will stand by and take a nice little break after 20+ hours of printing. I'm in the process of designing the 2nd version of the original with added improvements and simplifying the assembly.

For the first print, I will start with the Z rod holder since it's the smallest part of the build and there's no need for it to be redesigned.

As I stated earlier, this bot doesn't even have a name yet. I couldn't decide on a name ever since I started building this bot. Although, I recently attended the 3D Printing Boston's meetup and brought this bot with me. By the end of the day, it was dubbed as the "Mutated Printrbot."  Guess I'll just call it that for now.

Print & gcode specs:
- Black 1.75mm MakerBot filament
- .35mm nozzle


; generated by Slic3r 0.9.8 on 2013-02-21 at 18:23:59

; layer_height = .1905
; perimeters = 3
; top_solid_layers = 3
; bottom_solid_layers = 3
; fill_density = .6
; perimeter_speed = 50
; infill_speed = 120
; travel_speed = 195
; scale = 1
; nozzle_diameter = .35
; filament_diameter = 1.7
; extrusion_multiplier = 1
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.50mm
; infill extrusion width = 0.50mm
; first layer extrusion width = 0.50mm

My Printrbot+ is now a father

It works! I did print a thin wall calibration cube earlier to tweak my extrusion width and was surprised to find the numbers spot on. I thought I print out a novelty part to mark it's birth. 

It's still not over yet! The final goal is to print a part of itself, marking it a true, reprap printer. Still need to make a few calibrations, leveling the bed has been quite an ordeal. I do plan on filming this event but my phone doesn't have enough memory to record a long print. Trying to setup a camera and record straight to my computer but stay tuned!

Mounting the extruder

Title says it all. I'm using the QU-BD extruder I backed on a kickstarter project. It's basically a clone of the Makerbot's MK7 for 1/6 of the price. Not bad. It's been sitting around for months since I couldn't figure out a way to mount it on my Printrbot properly. Mostly because the "Universal Mount" that came with it wasn't very useful at all.

CAD file made by Coelestinian here

Most reprap machines use the Wade Extruder, a geared filament driver. The standard distance between the two mounting holes are 50mm apart. The problem with the Universal Mount is that the holes are 57mm apart. Not sure what QUBD team were thinking but this really stopped me dead on my tracks from using it. Really didn't want to give up on this extruder yet and was ready do anything to make it work.

Mounting the QUBD Extruder

Tried to drill out two new holes thinking that would solve the problem but later realized that the mount was made out of stainless steel. I hate working with stainless steel. I always had a hard time drilling through stainless steel since it's tough to get the drill bit to catch. Well I tried anyways and after 30 minutes, all I got was two small craters. Decided to dremel the crap out of it instead, turning the holes into a straight slot. Problem solved.

QUBD Extruder Front View

QU-BD extruder ready to go. Swapped the filament guide with mickb's extruder mod and hobbed the Raptor filament driver with a 3mm tap to provide extra grip. 

Waiting for the spool to arrive. 

Mock print test....

A few days ago, I changed my mind about using the printed timing pulleys and instead purchased two high quality, 16 teeth GT2 pulleys. Even though the pulleys I printed came out real nice, I kept reading online that I shouldn't skimp on the timing pulleys. As much as I wanted to cut down on the cost of this project, I really didn't want to deal with belts skipping and inaccurate prints.

GT2 Pulleys and belts from Lulzbot

Belts installed on the Y carriage. I manage to cut my finger somehow during the process. It was a pain the ass to put these on. I'm going to think of a better way to mount the belt on my design iteration.

GT2 pulleys. Didn't realize how tiny they are.

Belts on the X carriage.

I think it's ready for a mock print test

The brain of the printer, the Printrboard.

Father & Son

It's alive!

Printing the last two parts!

After spending about 5 hours printing both the X motor and idler, it was time to print out the last two pieces of the puzzle, the X carriage and extruder mount.

I initially wanted to have both parts to be as one so I can cut down on the print job but realized that would limit me to one type of extruder to use. I plan on using the QU-BD extruder I had lying around but I hear it's really finicky to use. If it were to give me a hard time, I would want to switch to a Wade style extruder. By having them separated,  I can change the orientation of the extruder mount.

Wade/J Head Mount

QU-BD mount

Halfway through the print job.

Hot and fresh from the bakery

Insert captive nuts

Does it fit?

It fits nicely!

Starting the extruder mount

Skipped to the finished print

After a quick test fit, everything lines up. The M3 bolts I had aren't long enough to reach the captive nuts, just 5mm too short. Home Depot doesn't carry any M3 bolts so I need to make another McMaster order. Bummer.

It is slowly coming together