The 3D printer is an amazing invention, but it needs to be maintained like every long-running machine. [Rob Ward] There is a well-used Robox 3D printer that requires some repairs, but it costs too much to ship the necessary replacement parts to Australia. Instead of seeing your beloved printer being discarded as e-waste, He decided to rebuild it with components that are easier to purchaseUnfortunately, Robox’s proprietary software and design made this a bit difficult, so it was decided that a brain transplant was the best way forward.
The first step is to infer how the motor works. The spare RAMPS 1.4 board and Arduino Mega2560 make the limit switch and XYZ motor work shorter. This is mainly achieved by splicing to the PCB itself. The Bowden filament drive motor has a filament detector and an optical travel sensor, which requires some additional adjustments, but now the next challenge task is: extrusion.
Using the cheap CR10 hot end of the online auction house, [Rob] Start to modify the filament feed to feed in a different direction from the Robox design (the filament enters the stock Robox at a 90 degree angle). A fan is required to cool the filament feed line. The initial result is mixed with a large number of clogging and clogging in the filament. Better hot ends and machined aluminum brackets make the path smoother and print more reliable.
The original bed heater is a good heater, but it is a 240 VAC heater. Unwilling to let high voltages pass through his hacking system, he switched them to 12 VDC adhesive pads. The MOSFET and MOSFET snubber allow the bed to reach the feasible temperature of PLA. [Rob] Upgrade to GT2560 running Marlin 2.xx
With reliable machines, [Rob] Take a step back and admire his work. However, switching to feed material perpendicular to the bed surface reduced his overall build height. Through some modeling in OpenSCAD and some clever use of standard silicone socks, he has a solution to feed the wires into the back of the hot end, allowing some build height to be recovered.
This is twelve months of work, but this article is pleasant to read. He includes STL and SCAD files for replacement parts on the printer. If you are interested in seeing more machine reconstructions, why not take a look at this knitting machine with a new brain.