[wip] My first ever 3d printer - prusa i3 Österlen - wood box frame.

prusa i3 Österlen

Hi my name is cliff mellangård and are living in österlen skåne in the lovely small country Sweden.
First of all my English is pretty much crapp and when I talk English so does it sound silly,so sorry for that in advance for any videos I post where I actually speak

I feel in love with the wooden box frame prusa I started on around 3 months ago.

Why do you wonder?

I could goo to nearest store and start on the frame while I waited for the ordered plastic parts.
The wood box frame also looked like something I could customize a lot to my own.
I made a bunch of design changes to it on the way like a single motor for the z axis.
If anyone wonders on any of the changes so please ask so will I try to help,but keep in mind that I pretty much winged it as I built it

Another reason is also that I am looking in to maybe somehow make a living out of building/selling kits here in Sweden.
And before I even can think about that! so do I need to know with a 3d printer is about more then its cool.
A friend that have a small company here is going to help me when he have the time and we will maybe sell some parts or kits thru that company later.
[www.sweetpeas.se]
But that's in the future as I am unemployed and the Swedish government is like an bulldog and sends you 100 miles to frie some burger if you want unemployment support.
And I need to finish my first build with minimal funds and time.
And no! my friend cant employ me in to his company ! because of various reasons right now

Why do my build take so long ?
I seam to be waiting for parts most of the time as I don't have so much funds now when iam unemployed.
And parts from china seam to nead a lot of changes after they are bought to work with the original ramps 1.4 etc.

Sorry for the ads
I added them when I got unemployed.

Part 3.
[youtu.be]

Part 2.
[youtu.be]

part 1.
[youtu.be]

Here is my bad preview of when I first solved how to do the single motor for the z axis.
[youtu.be]

Some mistakes I made during my build!
Could be good to know for others.

(1)
While searching the web so did I mix the bom for prusa i3 frame and prusa i3 wood box frame.
So wath would that do to the build?
I ended up with to short smooth/threaded rods the first time and had to reorder them for the wood box frame ( They are not in the same length ).
I finally still ended with the y axis bom for the frame version as it thought it where small and could work anyway. (yes there is a difference to them)
I used the y carriage boom from here.
[dl.dropboxusercontent.com]

The rest of it did I find on various places on the web ?
But this where the best.
[reprap.org]

(2)
The plastic parts where ordered from spain and where these parts.
[reprap.org]
The plastic parts are very easy to crack while mounting and tighten nuts.

(3)
Be carefull when ordering hotend/extruder.
I found one that looks so freaking great from a dealer in china.
But it whas not in the end because of 2 mayor things as I haven't had the chance to power it on.
3.5 weeks delivery.
It had a thermocouple and not a thermistor in the hot end.
Wath do that mean anyway?
It simply means that if I want to use the hotend in its current state so do I nead a signal amplifier to get ramps to read the heat correctly.
And that whas simply impossible to find on the web anywhere,and if I found one so whas it sold out and not in stock.
Solution I found whas to find a thermistor placed in a m3 brass stud on ebay and see if it works with it.
[www.ebay.co.uk]
We have to see when I get it?


I will continou to add some of my stupidity during the build to the first prints here as numbered parts

Thanks for looking.

Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2014 05:17AM by Cliff Mellangård.

Maybe I should add an image also ?
This is its current state while I wait for my new thermistor to replace the thermocouple that came with the Chinese hotend/extruder MK8.
I told you guys that iam a reprap noob

I like the single z-axis motor!

I am planning and upgrade on my i3 in the near future

Quote
randyf1965
I like the single z-axis motor!

I am planning and upgrade on my i3 in the near future

Thanks and please let me know if you do the upgrade

The upgrade is pretty straightforward as you only nead to find the center of the top part and then measure the nema motors where to drill the holes for the attachement for the motor.
And cut a wide hole in the front plate for the belt and 2 front tensioners so you can adjust them without problems.
Before I used the hexagonal spacers so did I simply use 40 mm long m3 screws that also should work. ( To attach the nema 17 motor. )

I use 4 m8 bolts for the tension device where one is static and the 3 others is the ones you can adjust so the Kossel belt gets right tension.
And to do the wheels did I simply use 608 zz bearings and washers and a couple of nuts
I think a new construction with lm8uu bearings and longer bolts would minimize the wear of the belt more ?
But I don't know how much these wear up the belt as iam taking it slow and still working a lot on the electronics and waiting for a few last parts so I can start printing


If I haven't mentioned it before so is the belt simply a standard 1 meter closed belt for the Kossel printer,i wanted to use parts that's easy to find for anyone that wants to do the same.

Sorry for my bad English
I attached a few more close up pictures! And don't mid the bent plastic by the bolts as they are only there to protect my paint job




ps...
If you wonder over something just ask so will I try to make better pictures and explanations

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2014 06:52PM by Cliff Mellangård.

Thanks for the post!
I am building my first own prusa i3.
I would appreciate if you take a look at my posts:
[forums.reprap.org]
[forums.reprap.org]

I think the heated print bed is upside down. I believe the Wiki for the Mk3 heatbed states that the Aluminum side should be facing up.

Quote
EEstudent
Thanks for the post!
I am building my first own prusa i3.
I would appreciate if you take a look at my posts:
[forums.reprap.org]
[forums.reprap.org]

I will try to take a look as soon as I have fixed the broken power supply I got

Quote
the shrub

That actually makes a lot of sense
I will check that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2014 05:55AM by Cliff Mellangård.

Latest progress and now does I atleast know that all motors work.
I had to adjust the single motor mod as the wheels with washers strained the belt so it stopped sometimes.
I now use dual bearings instead to make a wider wheel.

Iam having problems with the hotend and heatbed not heating up?
And it seam the motors and kind of reversed when I press home????
Anyone have any ideas wath that could be and I use latest marlin firmware

[www.youtube.com]

Ps....
sorry typo not dual washer but bearings
Iam so happy my printer now works and only neads finetuning.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2014 03:32PM by Cliff Mellangård.

Here is the latest video of my printer and I can now state that my single motor construction works like a charm.

I will upload a detailed instruction for this build if anyone wants it and even upload my modified marlin firmware if anyone builds my modded version.

I added led lights to light up my prints and that whas extremely simple and cheap to do as I found a set at ikea called dioder with article number 601.165.40.

Iam only finetuning and then will I print the parts for a smartrap and build one of those printers also

[www.youtube.com]

I like the single motor for the z-axis, you see any slippage at all with that setup?

---

Larsen -
____________________
Creative Shift Workshop

Quote
f.larsen
I like the single motor for the z-axis, you see any slippage at all with that setup?

Nothing at all so far but I have mostly made mockup prints for my smartrap remix and not so many detailed prints where this would show more.
I had problems before I started to use dual bearings as it seamed to move to heavy for the motor!
But wath I noticed so whas it that the belt tried to climb the washers sometime and strained the belt.
It looks risky with my design but it actually is not as the belt have never slipped off even if it looks like it wants to
It can be greatly improved if I made the tension wheels and the pulleys on the m5 rods more levelled,but it works so great so far that I don't want to mess with it
There is one thing I want to do in the future and that is to replace the original rod holders with the nema 17 brackets on with the same ones I have at the top but with them then reversed to how the top ones are mounted.
This is so the rod have support for the guidance bearings in the top and bottom.
I included a few pictures on my recent changes and removed the cover to protect the belt so you can see better.




Iam new to the reprap scene and this is my first ever remix of a design so have that in mind
The custom changes are very simple after you mark the center of the top plate and do the nema motor mount first.

You can see it in action on my tube channel but beware of adds as I enabled them when I got unemployed
Hopefully will I have earned 50$ in august in the rate I have views
Iam thinking about disabling it as a movie where I have over 5000 views have earned me 4$ so far
[www.youtube.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2014 06:54PM by Cliff Mellangård.

Hi Cliff, nice printer you've built!

Have you gotten any further with the building/selling kits plans? I'm curious how you go about with that.

btw I live in Umeå. (Haha, not really close to Österlen but at least it's Sweden )

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torbjornludvigsen.com

Thanks tobbe
Not so much as I have the will but not the money
Its not easy to be unemployed and wanting to start a business in Sweden since they revamped the starta eget bidrag.
It shows its only your akassa in another name and from another government and they reduct your akassa days from wath you get.

I have started to buy some small things when I se I have some money after the bills but that's to slow and we have to see wath happens.
And after I read about this printer so do I think I would be dead in the wather somehow??????
You cant compete with a printer like that and its on its way late this year (only 1500 skr)
[pcforalla.idg.se]

But if you toast some things on your printer so do I have some small bits for good prices.
2 = ramps 1.4
40= stepsticks
44=lm8uu bearings
1= 340 w 30 amp power supplie
And a bunch of small things for hotends etc.

Iam on my way this week to 2 work interviews and if I get one of them so do I have some more money and can buy some nema 17 motors and other stuff

Its slow to try to start a business on only akassa as funds

And to keep some sanity so do I currently do my first real remix of a printer here .
[forums.reprap.org]

I have used 1kg of filament already to test parts while doing them in tinkercad.
I will upload a batch of new parts there soon.

And its always fun to know about other swedes hanging around here

Ah, don't worry about other people building nice printers. Companies can mass produce hardware, but they can't mass produce skills on how to use it. Using a 3d-printer to its full potential as well as troubleshoot and repair it is complicated and hard. Look at the programmers, they never even got the chance to produce their own hardware at the beginning of the PC desktop era, but theire not particulary short of money today. Where there is machines, people need (and pay for) the skills of how to use and repair them. This printer looked like a small Ultimaker with a slick metal frame, nothing that RepRap enthusiasts won't recognize and understand. I suspect that the more printers like this that gets sold, the more potential work there will be for a RepRapper like you.

Ah, writing that felt like therapy to myself to. I admit.

Good luck with your interviews, hope you get one of them!

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torbjornludvigsen.com