Live D-bot build at MRRF 2017 (Mar 25-26)
-
I will be attending the 2017 Midwest RepRap Festival (MRRF) with a small team of printer enthusiasts and a goal to fully assemble a Core-XY D-bot onsite during the event. This is our first attempt at building a D-bot and we will be learning things as we go. Our hope is to have the entire machine assembled, wired, and functional (at least to the setup and testing phase) before the end of the show. Please attend and watch us in person or visit our feed channel during/after the event.
My intent for this build is to bring awareness to the Midwest RepRap Festival (MRRF) and to the build community in general. By demonstrating this build live at the event, I hope to show attendees (many who are still researching or considering 3d printing) that building a printer doesn't have to be a daunting task. It can be fun, enlightening, and less time consuming than one might think.
Because we will be attempting this in a public form, I was approach by Mary at OpenBuilds, who offered to sponsor materials for framing and other hardware. This lead me to recently approach additional companies about sponsorship in the open community. I never would have imagined the overwhelming positive response to sponsorship requests, but the open community is truly awesome.
I approached Roland at Think3dPrint3d about sponsoring a Duet Wifi and DuePanel for this build and was glad to hear back within 24 hours with a "yes". He in turn contacted Tim at Filastruder and together we worked out all the details.
I can not express enough how grateful I am for the sponsorship of OpenBuilds, Duet3D, and Filastruder.
A little about me: I'm an industrial machine design engineer with 15 years experience (and with a 10 year background in plastics processing also). I have previously built a custom delta style printer (using OpenBuilds framing, a Beaglebone Black / Cramps controller combo, running Machinekit). This is my first attempt at building a D-bot (core-xy) machine. I intend to continue this 3d printing quest quite a bit further by designing an all-in-one recycle station to chop/shred compatible plastics, mix/extrude into "new" filament, and wind onto spools to be ready for printing (but that is a project for another time)
This D-bot machine is mostly a traditional build from Spauda01's design on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1001065) with the 300mm x 300mm build plate sizing. However, we have already began the tinkering process and added the Toranado Precision Extruder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1246951) to the build. We are now toying with a modified z-drive belt system for 3-4 acme rods on 1 motor to prevent step loss plate leveling issues.
Some pictures of the build prep are shown below…
Some framing materials and hardware from OpenBuilds
Pieces for the Toranado Precision Extruder
Printing the DReD-Bot out on my DeltaForce machine
Toranado partial assemblyYou can keep up-to-date on the build at OpenBuilds projects here… http://www.openbuilds.com/builds/live-d-bot-build-at-mrrf-2017-mar-25-26.4406/
I will make occasional updates and post final video / image links from the MRRF 2017 here as well.
Show some love to my sponsors and support the open community!
-
Good luck and welcome to the awesome world of the Duet and RepRapFirmaware
-
Latest update… preparations for MRRF 2017 are almost complete. We have created a YouTube channel for the Live Build videos can be seen live or afterwards and will be posting pictures to the Google+ page
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl3cNSCHDScdUIsI6pvIf-g
Google+ Image Collection: https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/kCG_FE
Show some love to my sponsors and support the open community!
-
Thanks for the update, looking forward to seeing the build!
-
I am looking forward to checking this out at the event this weekend !
