FoldaRap Buyers Guide

FoldaRap Documentation

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This project was for myself, as I need/want a RepRap that's easy to carry around and for the challenge of making a folding 3d-printer. But I believe in open-source and sharing and all the revolution behind that. Thus I try to well document it, in case others want to make one; to acknowledge all the things we own to those who went before, and to encourage those who come after to do the same.

On a more long-term view, I didn't planned to create a company out of it, I hoped to see it grow on itself in the wild, just by indicating how to source it, because I have more fun in designing stuff than marketing it. Nonetheless I may try to sell few beta-test kits (bulk ordering is good for prices), eventually via a crowdfunding campaign or by request, maybe with the help of my hackerspace. Just for the experience of it and to say I can push a project to that point :D (edit : Done !, again, and it finally gave birth to Open Edge)

(almost all the projects I did during my design studies could have done something, but I never found the time for that and they ended sleeping in their drawing books which is sad; while now I have taken the habit to publish everything, even an old one sometimes).

"Ideas are like living things and breed happily in an open-source context" as I like to think ^^ (on the same spirit I like this comment from User:Adrianbowyer)

Bill Of Material (BOM)

Total end cost for 1 machine : ~500-600€ when you include all taxes and shipping costs. I suggest you to make group orders with friends and always try to source locally, or now for almost the same price I can make a kit for you.

Hardware

5  20x20mm beam 6mm slot 200mm - Motedis or see Aluminium_profile_Suppliers
6  20x20mm beam 6mm slot 300mm
50 M4 T-nut for 6mm slot - Motedis

(=31€)

50 m4x8 round head bolt - Fix'n Vis Round Head Bolt
2  m3x4 / Hotend-heatsink(2) Fix'n Vis Bolts
15 m3x8 bolt / Z-motors (4), Y-motor (3), X-end-idler (2), psu (2), male plug (2), board-mount (2)
2  m3x10 bolt / hotend (2)
6  m3x12 bolt / X-idler (1), extruder (3), Y-belt-clamp (2)
4  m3x16 bolt / X-motor (3), extruder-fan (1)
7  m3x20 bolt / X-carriage (3), hinges (2), Y-idler (1), extruder (1)
3  m3x30 countersunk bolt / bed (3)
2  m3x35 / extruder (2)
19 m3 nut / hinges (2), X-carriage (3), X-idler (2), extruder-fan (1), bed (3), Y-belt-clamp (2), extruder (2), plug (2), psu (2) - Fix'n Vis Nuts
3  m3 nylock nut / bed leveling (3) nylock nut
5  m5 nut / extruder pneumatic fitting (1), Z-rod (4) (for the Z nylon nuts can be slightly better)
11 m3 washer / X-motor (3), X-idler (2), extruder (2), Y-idler (2), Y-belt-clamp (2) - Fix'n Vis washer
2  230mm threaded rod m5 - Fix'n Vis

(=9€)

2  extruder spring - RS751483 or see Springs
3  bed spring - RS 751455 or RS 751607
1m spiral wrapping band for tidying the wires - RS227874
7  faston ferule - Radiospare to crimp the cable for the plug and the switch

(=15€)

2  polymer coupling - See this thread (ebay / emakershop)
6  linear bearing, LM6UU or if you can Igus RJMP-01-06 - See Bearing
4  300mm smooth rod 6mm - (can be salvaged from usual scanners and printers) or see Smooth rod
4  603zz bearings / X-idler (1), Y-idler (2), extruder-idler (1)  - See Bearing
1  600mm T2.5 belt 5-6mm wide - RepRapWorld or see Belts_and_Pulleys
1  700mm T2.5 belt 5-6mm wide
2  T2.5 pulleys - Paoparts or see Belts_and_Pulleys
1  PTFE Tubing for bowden extruder (2mm inner diam. and 3mm outer), 300mm long - See Bowden
2  Pneumatic fittings for 3mm tubing, with M5 thread - See Bowden or emakershop / I'm using the MA12-03-M5 but others can work
1  direct drive gear - Maritime-models (see Drive-gear)
1  bed plate 4mm thick
1  roll of kapton - See Kapton Tape#Vendors
20-30 zip-ties

Electronic

5 nema14 stepper motors - [1]
3 miniature microswitch endstop 20mm - [2]
1 standard male plug IEC C13 C14 - RS 5392045
1 standard female cable - EU/C13 - UK RS6266739 / US RS7316163
1 big blue switch - RS 5287858
1 RepRappro Hotend - emaker
1 40x40mm heatsink - RS 6744769 to make a more compact hotend
1-2 small fan (40 x 40 x 10 mm), for the hotend (can be bought with one) and the extruder motor - RepRapWorld or see Fan
1 100k thermistors - Mouser
0.6 m of 18AWG wire (200mm red, 200m black, 150mm green) for the switch/plug/psu - Read also WiresAndConnectors
10 m of 26AWG (3.6m red, 3.2m green, 2.0m blue) for the sensors and fans

1 Minitronic board [3]
1 USB cable A to B [4]
1 12V power supply : 5A or 10A or [5] (for heated bed)

or

1 Melzi board [6], [7]
1 usb to mini-usb cable - [8]
1 12V power supply : 5A or 10A or [9] (for heated bed)

or

1 Azteeg_X1 board - [10] + 4 drivers
1 usb to mini-usb cable - [11]
1 12V power supply : 10A

or

1 Rumba + 6 stepper drivers
1 usb to mini-usb cable - [12]
1 12V power supply : 20A (RS 7066316 100*150*35mm)

Laser cut parts

See the github repo and eMakerShop, you can have them from Ponoko too

1 electronic under-plate 3-4mm thick
1 bed-plate 4-6mm thick (acrylic or aluminium)
1 Y-carriage
1 reprap.org plate 160x20mm, 2-4mm thick (+2 T-nut and M4x8) - optional but make a nice reference to the wiki :)

These parts can also be made by hand with simple tools.

Printed parts (total : 21)

See also the github repo

foot front left
foot front right
foot rear left
foot rear right
hinge-inner left
hinge-inner right
hinge-outer left
hinge-outer right
z-motor-bracket left
z-motor-bracket right
z-top left
z-top right
y-motor
y-idler
y-belt clamp
x-end-motor
x-end-idler
x-carriage
extruder-idler
board mount (x2)

Other

Heated-Bed

For the aluminium heated bed add :

1 aluminium bed plate (4mm thick)
1 100k thermistors - Mouser
60cm of 26 AWG wire (blue)
2 ferule 0,5mm²
1 peltier element 12708 (40x40mm is enough) - ebay

Padded suitcase

• EU : http://www.abylon.fr/145-valise-olycase-500.html
• FR : http://www.vexi.fr/valises-plastique/etanches
• US : http://www.amazon.com/Nanuk-Case-Cubed-Foam-Black/dp/B003JH7ZU4/

Maintenance

• 0.3mm drill bit [13] (or 0.5mm, depending of the nozzle)

How to replicate a FoldaRap !

If you can print your own parts it will take ~400gr and 22h at ~30% infill.

Material

The parts that act as sliders on the aluminium extrusions (x-slider, z-sliders) will work better if printed in PLA or other low friction plastic. You can print the other parts in ABS or what you want.

Recommended settings

• Nozzle diameter of reference : 0,5 mm
• Layer height : 0,25mm
• Infill : 30-35% hexagonal/honeycomb
• It is advised to have a well calibrated machine (+/- 0.05mm on measured parts) : http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?282,159683

I recorded this little video where I'm playing with some parts freshly printed, to show what to expect about the tight tolerances.

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The part that slide under it's own weight (16gr) have been slided back and forth a few time.

Fully assembled machines

Not yet.

Partial or complete kit

• OpenEdge

Webshops

• Paoparts (out of stock)
• Spares 3d (out of order)

Printed parts

• mendbot-shop (quality of printed part is not known)
• Spares 3d on eMakerShop (1.0)
• 3d Andy on eMakerShop (1.1 + geared extruder)

Misc.

• A draft BOM is on Kitbom
• My spreadsheet is roughly the same as the following lists but a little outdated.

FoldaRapMendel Bom

1 underplate

6 300 mm
6 400 mm

50 M4x8
8 M4x12 (hinges)
2 M4x16 (hinges)