Introduction: printMATE 3D

Hello everybody,

my name is Sebastian and together with Jonas I designed a 90% lasercut Prusa i3. Ore goal is a 100% lasercut version. I would like to show you the way we walked...

Nearly three years ago Jonas build his first 3D printer, a MedelMax. After some modifications it printed quite nice and a lot of people used the robust and reliable machine. Meanwhile I become a member of the local hackspace mainframe in Oldenburg, Germany. We also had some 3D printer, but nothing comparable with Jonas MendelMax.

In 2012 the hackspace starts to plan a three day workshop for max. 12 teacher. After just some days we had more than 20 possible participants and we had to stop to promote the workshop. we had more than 30 registrations. The big problem, not a single 3D printing company was interested to support the workshop or to deliver printer kits. There was only one single company that made an offer for a Mendel. From a former workshop we knew that adjusting the threaded rods will be a hard job…..in a group of 12 teachers it could even be impossible to get the machines running within three days.

I did the big mistake to say: "I will organize a printer that will be ready in two days, so we have one day for the introduction of the software part..." I had the MedelMax in mind.

I spoke with Jonas and he told me. The MedelMax is fine, but because of all the screws its also slow to build and there are still things that could be better. Better build a i3.

The i3 looks nice. But we have "just" a 80W laser cutter in our workshop in the hackspace. So no chance to do the main part by ourself. After some search we found the TwelvePro i3, optimized for lasercut. That was inspiring, but didn't go far enough in my opinion, because you have still the treated rods and a lot of printed parts. For a fast assembly that was a no go for us.
Another thing we discovered when we build up a TwelvePro prototype where the tolerances that came along with these printed parts. Especially parts that are holding linear rods or linear bearings need a to be printed very accurately…otherwise the bearings and the rods will wear fast due to the high friction caused by a over constrained construction.
Printing the parts for the prototype took us 3 days…..3 days x 12 printers = 36 days (that was a REAL problem…meanwhile it was only 28 days to go till the workshop should start….)

To make it short. We developed a really lasercut optimized Prusa i3. We spend more than 200h to optimize the frame, for example every join has a number, so its a LEGO like system. Before the workshop we spend again 200h to build more than 5 prototypes to optimize the building manual, the construction and everything related to the printer.
In the end, the printer is ready for high quality prints after just 18 easy steps! We just need 6h from opening the kit to print precise and reliable with a clean and tidy 3d printer!!



At the beginning we spend every second on the construction and we just named the printer JoSeb, but meanwhile we call it printMATE 3D.

The workshop was a huge success! Nearly all 12 printer were ready to print at the first day. So we had almost two days for fine adjustments, creating 3D data and do first own prints.

All the happy faces were enough compensation for all the hours of development.

Now we would like to share our results with the community. Because without all the RepRaps and this community all this wouldn't be possible.

For all design files, pictures and more information please visit printMATE3D.com


Best regards

Sebastian and Jonas


PS: Right now we are developing a just three part lasercut extruder. But fore that I will open a new thread.

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High quality, fast to assemble and everything you need DIY 3D printer kit. - [printMATE3D.com]

Looks nice. Very similar to the Makerfarm I3 printers I use in my workshops. I like some of the accessibility of parts.
It is hard to tell but it does not look like the X-carriage takes a standard extruder (e.g. Wades).
The price from the suppliers you list seems high ($1100 CAD).

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bytemedwb
Looks nice. Very similar to the Makerfarm I3 printers I use in my workshops. I like some of the accessibility of parts.

Thank you :-)
Not just the accessibility but there are a lot of very helpful details hidden in the assembled printer. As already said, every join has a number, there are hints and marks for placing things (place the Motor here, the bearing on the other side, ....), and a lot more that makes the assembly easy and fast.

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bytemedwb
It is hard to tell but it does not look like the X-carriage takes a standard extruder (e.g. Wades).

It's a modified Wades. With the modifications it's possible to print filaflex and to archive a bigger build volume.
Right now we are working on a very simple extruder with just three laser cut parts.

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bytemedwb
The price from the suppliers you list seems high ($1100 CAD).

I don't know how some other manufactures can offer prices around 500$?!? We pay a lot more for just the hardware!
Maybe here some possibilities for the price.

• Engineered and assembled in Germany by two mechanical engineers ;-) (no businessman, maybe because of that we didn't get the best hardware prices)
• A lot of customized parts to make the assembly as easy and fast as possible (you don't have to cut anything, we already prepared all wires, plugs, heat shrink, ...)
• Every step has a small bag with everything you need in that step (if you need two zip ties in step 14, than there will be two zip ties in bag 14)
• We don't use always the cheapest parts but the ones with good quality. For example the frame is out of strong beech plywood, the material is more expensive and the laser needs more time to cut it. We could save a lot of money if we used poplar plywood, the stability would be the same but it wouldn't feel so good...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2014 02:16AM by printmate3d.

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High quality, fast to assemble and everything you need DIY 3D printer kit. - [printMATE3D.com]

Why have you switched x and y? On all other printers, X i the one with the extruder carriage on.

Hello Kenzu,

there is no special reason.

It's maybe a bit like the weired pin spacing on the Arduino ;-)


Regardsb

Sebastian

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High quality, fast to assemble and everything you need DIY 3D printer kit. - [printMATE3D.com]

Hi,

as promised, I started a new topic where we will report about our laser cut optimized extruder.


Sebastian

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High quality, fast to assemble and everything you need DIY 3D printer kit. - [printMATE3D.com]

As far as how MakerFarm can sell a good lasercut i3 kit for around $500, I think his formula is something like this:

- The Mega board is a knockoff made in China as is the RAMPS board - once you have a reliable supplier you can get direct shipments fairly easily (at least here in the US)
- Decent stepper motors made in China
- Hardware made in China. So far this was the only point of failure for me and it was fairly trivial (around USD $0.25) to replace a stripped-out hex nut made from crappy Chinese steel with a better one
- All plastic parts printed in-house (extruder gears and assembly)
- He has his own CO2 laser cutter and does all of his own cutting in-house
- He works seemingly around the clock and manages to do all this and reply to email support questions with lightning speed
- A LOT of care and attention to detail which adds up to many satisfied customers and good repeat business. He probably has a lot of volume of stuff made in China and he is either batch-testing it or has a good replacement policy (I think perhaps a little of both)

I think his raw material is 6mm beech, not poplar, but I could be wrong.

When I was ready to put together a prusa i3, I sourced out all the components and my BOM came to more than Makerfarm was selling the entire kit for. So this was a deciding factor for me, and I have been very happy. I think the key to a reduced BOM is sourcing the electronics and stepper motors directly from China in volume.