XtruBot
Release status: Experimental
| Description | Open Source RepRap 3D Printer
|
| License | |
| Author | |
| Contributors | |
| Based-on | [[]]
|
| Categories | |
| CAD Models | Coming Soon
|
| External Link | http://www.xtrubot.com/ ****Not active yet****
|
Project Goals
- To develop an open source RepRap 3D printer capable of competing for the Gada Personal Manufacturing Prize
- To increase the body of knowledge in the area of 3D printer technology through open source collaboration
- To reduce the barriers to personal 3D printer ownership by:
- Reducing printer cost
- Simplifying printer assembly
- Increasing printer availability
- Reducing printer cost
- To improve 3D printer performance by:
- Increasing printer reliability and repeatability
- Improving the build quality of 3D printed parts
- Adding novel features to adapt 3D printers for new uses
- Increasing printer reliability and repeatability
Interim Gada Prize Criteria
Link to official rules on humanityplus.org
Link to reprap.org Gada Prize page
- All entries must be open source hardware projects, including all designs, schematics, source code, CAD files, etc
- Award amount of up $20,000
- Award date of 31 DEC 2012
The winner of this Gada prize will be the individual (or group) who can make a RepRap that meets the following specifications:
- Ability to print at least three different materials, including one that is usefully electrically conductive
- Ability to print electronic circuit boards
- Print beds† must be of a material which may be reused with minimal refurbishment for at least 20 print cycles
- Maintain a total materials and parts cost under $200 and that 90% of the volume of the printer parts be printed††
- Demonstrate a build volume of the printer above 300x300x100mm in order to ensure that items of daily utility can be printed
- The capacity to print a full set of parts for a complete replica of itself within 10 days unattended save for clearing no more than one printer head jam
- Ability to print autonomously without a PC attached
- Uses no more than 60 watts of electrical power
†Print beds are flat surfaces onto which parts are printed
††Print beds are not necessarily a permanent part of the printer and are not figured into either the cost or the volume requirements of a printer
Project Notebook
20 MAR 2012
- Created XtruBot wiki site on reprap.org
- Registered Team XtruBot for Gada Prize competition
- Purchased used Dell Precision M6400 laptop for $300 from craigslist.org to serve as the CAD workstation for the XtruBot project
- Conducted a review of free 3D CAD software and selected PTC Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express 4.0 as the CAD software package to develop custom 3D RepRap parts and assemblies for XtruBot
- Conducted a cursory review of available G-Code software and tentatively selected ReplicatorG for use with XtruBot
- Developed a list of questions that need to be asked for clairification on some of the Gada prize specifications:
- Does "ability to print at least three different materials..." mean that the printer should have the ability to print a part containing at least 3 materials (possibly incorporating automated material change-over during the build cycle) or simply that the printer should be compatible with at least 3 different polymer materials that are used in the printer at different times (manual material change-over between build cycles)?
- Does "ability to print electronic circuit boards" mean that the printer must print both the board and the electrically conducting pathways or can a blank PCB substrate be placed on the print bed and simply "written" on by the printer?
- Does "...90% of the volume of printer parts be printed" refer to the solid volume of all parts or the overall volume of the printer parts including free volume? For example a 1.0x1.0x1.0cm solid cube has a volume of 1.0cm^3. If you make the cube into a hollow shell with a 1.0mm thick wall, the overall volume of the cube stays 1.0cm^3 (including the free volume in the center of the cube) but the volume of just the solid portion of the cube is greatly reduced. This becomes important with 3D printed parts since it is possible to print parts with sparse fill (less than 100% full density), i.e. you could print the same 1.0x1.0x1.0cm cube with 75% fill and the overall volume of the cube would be 1.0cm^3 but the volume of material that you used to print it would only be 0.75cm^3
- Does "ability to print autonomously without a PC attached" exclude wireless connections such as WIFI and Bluetooth and/or virtual PC connections?
- Does "uses no more than 60 Watts of electrical power" refer to total power consumption or the max power consumption at any given point in time? For example, I could have a 50 Watt heater and also use 30 Watts to power all of the other electrical devices for a total of 80 Watts. If I only run the heater when all of the other electrical devices are off and shut the heater off when the other electrical devices are powered on, the max consumption at any given point in time is only 50 Watts or 30 Watts but never 80 Watts.
- Does "ability to print at least three different materials..." mean that the printer should have the ability to print a part containing at least 3 materials (possibly incorporating automated material change-over during the build cycle) or simply that the printer should be compatible with at least 3 different polymer materials that are used in the printer at different times (manual material change-over between build cycles)?
22 MAR 2012
- Spent the last 2 days searching for structural and linear motion components and comparing prices. Looked at aluminum t-slot extrusions, PVC pipe, aluminum tubing, wooden dowels, threaded rods, etc. The best "bang for the buck" seems to be PVC pipe... a 10-foot length of 1/2-inch diameter schedule 40 pipe is only $1.68 from Home Depot. I picked up a two small 2-foot pieces for $0.99 each just to play around with.
- Working on a rapid prototyped linear ball bearing for use with the PVC pipe based on a design that I found here. My goal is to redesign the bearing housing so that it can be printed without any support material. Images will be posted once the design is complete.
XtruBot Specifications
This section will be continually updated to reflect the latest design changes
Structural Components
Linear Motion Components
Print Head Components
Print Bed Components
Print Bed
Print Bed Heater
Software
CAD Software
PTC Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express 4.0
G-Code Software
Hardware
CAD Workstation
Dell Precision M6400 Mobile Workstation
Specifications:
- Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26 GHz x 2)
- Hard Drive - 80 GB 5400 rpm HDD
- Memory - 16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
- Graphics Card - Nvidia Quadro FX 2700M (512 MB dedicated memory)
