LulzBot TK0

Really neat mod to TK-0.
How do you connect your MDF parts, wood screws or inserts and machine screws.
What type of MDF are you using?
Does Masonite make a good Y stage and heater platform?

Looks like your using aluminum lab support rods for some of the supports.

What mechanism is used to adjust belt tension, and X and Y axes?

What electronics are you using?

Tnx
Cozmicray

@cosmicray

I used some brass round-head wood screws to attach the plastic parts, I think they were '4 gauge' and needed a short 3mm pilot hole. I used an M3 washer on each of them. The frame is joined by 10 of the 90 degree corner brackets from the Mendel90, and the same screws/washers:

[github.com]

The MDF is 16mm, but 18mm might have been better.

A sheet of 1200x600mm allowed for a base 500x600, sides about 300x450 and a cross beam 100x600, with the important edges (base to sides, side edges of base, cross beam ends) using the original machine cuts.

I used a pair of 'craftwood' placemats from the craft section at the hardware with some aluminium right-angles glued on to keep them from warping. The two plates are joined with some aluminium standoffs from lulzbot. Masonite would work well the same way I imagine.

[www.lulzbot.com]

The Y axis was almost perfectly level without adjustment because the printed stands were almost identical, but I added a small square of silicone to each spacer to allow for adjustment. The silicone was from a $2 egg ring. I didn't fix the heated bed down with screws, it's just sandwiched between the glass and top plate with bulldog clips.

There is only the play in the mounting holes for getting X and Y square, but it wasn't too hard to get the holes very close to correct by marking 90 degree lines on the MDF and then using them to align the drilling template. I used my 'camrap' software with a webcam to check X and Y were 90 degrees and to set the X and Y steps. After getting X and Y movements as close to reality as possible I just added a scaling factor in SFACT to allow for plastic shrinkage (I think it was +0.015 (1.5%)).

[reprap.org]

I planned on designing and printing an X-carriage with some sort of adjustable belt mount, but to get started I just formed some polymorph around a scrap piece of belt and glued that on. The belt just needs to be pulled tight and slotted into the grooves, there didn't seem to be any backlash.

That worked so well that I used the same method for my printed X, but with the polymorph formed in a small piece of aluminium "U" section. The electronics is a RAMPS from reprapdiscount on ebay, their cable kit worked just fine too, but maybe the motor leads are a bit too long.

It also uses belts and pulleys from lulzbot.

[www.lulzbot.com]

I can't find the belts there ATM, but they were 1164mm GT2.

I have some parts mods and the drilling templates almost ready to upload to github.

Update parts and drilling templates are up at:

[github.com]

There is a Blender render of the STL parts there too:

[raw.github.com] (1.4MB )

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2013 09:19PM by darkpaw.

Darkpaw
thanks for info.

I can't see how original TK-0 tensions the belts --- I think tensioning belts is critical
and the attachment to X or Y plate should be very secure.

Do you think the small diameter guiderods will sag with the
bigger build area and span?

What is 'camrap' software?

I have Ordbot Hadron and really like makerslides and the RAMPS1.4 has served well.

I have been watching Trinitylabs A1 beta build and Mendalmax 2.0 beta discussions.

There is a small amount of movement in the extruder nozzle position due to the rods bending, but it hasn't been a problem. It allows the extruder to bounce over little scraps of excess extrusion. I'm only using 200mm build area, and will use the extra X length for mounting more 'tools'.

Just stretching the belts by one or two tooth positions seems to be enough tension.

The camrap thing is for reading a 2D position from a webcam that is looking at a target patter. I mounted a webcam on the x-carriage and put the target image on the build platform to calibrate XY steps and adjust 'squareness'.

http://reprap.org/wiki/CamRap

There are a few parts in the BOM that I don't know what to do with. Maybe someone can help me out.

What are these for?
PVC Tubing 3/16" ID, 5/16" OD, 1/16" Wall Thickness, 120mm
M8 x 175mm threaded rod


Thanks.

The M8 x 175mm threaded rod is for the spool holder. The Tubing is for the Z motor couplers.

Where are discussions/wiki/forum about Lutzbot TK-0?

This one seems to have ended.

Would like to know about TK-0 builds and kits???

Tnx

Mee too.
I've heard some forum members are already building their own TK0s...
But I would love to hear Lulzbot's time plan with TK0....
Can you elaborate at least in general?

I looked over at their developer website : [devel.lulzbot.com]
And we can see a lot of recently added files (in the past 2 weeks), important thing to note, the BOM (updated May 2nd) : [devel.lulzbot.com]
It shows the parts used and you can see that they have pretty much everything in stock now, they just needed final review on user manual and to create the labels.
Note also that they changed the printer name to "TAZ" instead of "TKO".
They now have packing list, test/QA/acceptance review sheet. They added the user manual on May 1st : [devel.lulzbot.com]
They also added unpacking instructions, brochure and infosheet today : [devel.lulzbot.com]
There are also a couple of unpacking videos from a few weeks ago here: [devel.lulzbot.com]
This all shows me that they are pretty much ready to ship and the "Lulzbot TAZ" will become available for sale in the next couple weeks most probably.
I suggest everyone does like me, and just be patient and wait for the release announcement
Hope it helps!

I was just gearing up to build this -- got the BOM to about $960 after translating from bulk prices to minimum orders, and excluding some of the extra shipping/unneeded things.

The real problem left after this is trying to find someone willing to print the printed parts of this.

I've been watching LulzBot's dev site on the TK-0, and agree that it looks like moving into the final steps of stocking up for shipping.
I wonder what the price point of this would be, and whether $960 would be significant savings. If the cost of the TAZ/TK-0 is within maybe 2 or $300 of this, there's no way I'm building myself. I'd be all over that pre-assembled, pre-calibrated, pre-awesomesauce from lulzbot

Yeah, their price is pretty low. Thx for looking into the non bulk pricing, i was curious what it would be like. I guess that 960$ was excluding the printed parts, right?
I don't know how much lulzbot is planning on charging but i asked back in January and jebba said pricing would be similar to what the ao 101 was selling at (1750$ iirc). I can only speculate but my guess is that it would be selling at something like 1500$ (if not 1750$) since it costs them 750 for bulk bom, add to it the time to build it, the QA/tests, the tools and filament that comes with it (5lbs iirc, which i saw in the packing check list but not on bom) and add their margin, i guess 1500 would be a good price. And it would still be better to buy from them than build on your own.
I would buy from the anyways because. 1) i would break everything of i tried building it myself, 2) less hassle 3) to support them as i love that company. :-)

kakaroto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, their price is pretty low. Thx for looking
> into the non bulk pricing, i was curious what it
> would be like. I guess that 960$ was excluding
> the printed parts, right?
> I don't know how much lulzbot is planning on
> charging but i asked back in January and jebba
> said pricing would be similar to what the ao 101
> was selling at (1750$ iirc). I can only speculate
> but my guess is that it would be selling at
> something like 1500$ (if not 1750$) since it costs
> them 750 for bulk bom, add to it the time to
> build it, the QA/tests, the tools and filament
> that comes with it (5lbs iirc, which i saw in the
> packing check list but not on bom) and add their
> margin, i guess 1500 would be a good price. And
> it would still be better to buy from them than
> build on your own.
> I would buy from the anyways because. 1) i would
> break everything of i tried building it myself,
> 2) less hassle 3) to support them as i love that
> company. :-)


Dont forget that they also calibrate the machine so for the most part you can print right away. The only thing I had to do with my AO-101 was remove the shipping stops, double check to make sure end stops worked, add the filament, check bed level and adjust the z-height with the height adjuster. Then print, 1st print worked perfectly.

> Dont forget that they also calibrate the machine
> so for the most part you can print right away.
> The only thing I had to do with my AO-101 was
> remove the shipping stops, double check to make
> sure end stops worked, add the filament, check bed
> level and adjust the z-height with the height
> adjuster. Then print, 1st print worked perfectly.

This can not be ignores when it comes to value.

I built a MEndelmax 1.5 from a kit, and spent as much if not more time getting my first good print as I did assembling the machine.

I found the calibration process the first time around to be a bear.

Yes, excluding printed parts. Hard to price those when they're not available for purchase anywhere yet

I have more time and patience than I have money, so I guess I'll continue with the building plans. When it comes time to final buying, assembling, calibrating (and apparently more calibrating. and more) I'll be sure to bring the build log over to the forums in case it makes anyone else's life a little easier.

I agree with the <3 for lulzbot. What parts I can I am purchasing directly from them

Agree, lulBot is the best of the 3d printer companies for everything.

Best products, service and support by far.

AVRkire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Dont forget that they also calibrate the
> machine
> > so for the most part you can print right away.
> > The only thing I had to do with my AO-101 was
> > remove the shipping stops, double check to make
> > sure end stops worked, add the filament, check
> bed
> > level and adjust the z-height with the height
> > adjuster. Then print, 1st print worked
> perfectly.
>
> This can not be ignores when it comes to value.
>
> I built a MEndelmax 1.5 from a kit, and spent as
> much if not more time getting my first good print
> as I did assembling the machine.
>
> I found the calibration process the first time
> around to be a bear.

Oh, I'm definitely not forgetting/ignoring that. I know that the calibration process is the hardest, but I somehow consider it part of the building process and I did mention the QA.
I agree that those cannot be ignored, and actually, in my case, it's the highest value for buying it pre-assembled from lulzbot. If it wasn't such a huge/hard task, I'd probably go for a kit.

I have begun to run the printed parts and am getting ready to source the rest of the parts. Nice design, I like the foldable idea.

Milt

Is there a google group or some other forum that the kit builders are going to use?
A Beta builders discusssion

I would be interested in a kit

I have an Ordbot Hadron so I can print plastic small and crappy/

I have started to print all of the parts. Looking forward to the build.

Milt

TAZ (development codename TK-0) was released today. See: [www.lulzbot.com]

All the final source files are here. It is 2.0 gigs pared down from 6.9 gigs in TK-0's devel dir:

[download.lulzbot.com]

It is also available via rsync, if that's your thing:

rsync://download.lulzbot.com/lulzbot/TAZ/

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2013 08:24PM by jebba.

Great, the TAZ printer is finally out! But I'm quite surprised at the price, it's much more expensive than I expected. That's a disappointment, I guess I'll wait and hope for a price drop soon
Thanks jebba for your work on the TAZ, it looks great!

p.s: There's a typo in the announcement on the blog ( [www.lulzbot.com] ), should be "waiting for", not "waiting here"

Jebba, will a plastic parts kit be available soon for purchase through lulzbot?

No plastic sets coming from us for the near future. We're printing lots for assembled machines. I'd encourage folks to print them and sell them on ebay or emaker or wherever they like.

So is it about $960 for everything except the printed parts?

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[www.matter-replicator.com]

Ya, the BOM cost is around that.

FYI I estimated the amount of plastic necessary for a kit of printed parts to 1.73kg (3.8lbs) based on Lulzbot gcode files available on the download page. Lulzbot calculates it to a slightly smaller value because they print in high volume.

I posted the LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet on the Lulzbot forum: [forum.lulzbot.com]

Today I ordered everything to make an OpenBeam 1.4, and it is costing me about $600. I could do it for $550 if I didn't get fancy ACME screws and a RAMBo and stuff. But now thinking about it, I don't see why the TK-0 would cost much more to make. The heat bed costs more but not much else. It would take a lot of work to figure out the true cost, but I spent 20 minutes on it, and I am thinking about $825. I don't need the foam and box and manuals and tools, and the power supply can come from an old PC. Probably I should have built the TK-0, but it is tough to undo and redo buying the parts. Well not really - but mentally it is.

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[www.matter-replicator.com]

Changed to a TAZ.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 10:31AM by rsilvers.

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[www.matter-replicator.com]

HFSB5-2020-500 for the extrusion.
I used my own nuts so I didn't have to order. A quick search in their online catalog will bring them up.

LE: of course your printer will print as well with non-black anodized extrusions, it's up to you if you want to pay the extra amount.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 10:32AM by MPower.

Thanks. I found it. They have many nuts. Some you can put in after assembly, and some only before.

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[www.matter-replicator.com]