Foldie 3D FFF Printer

thingiverse

Foldable , Portable ,3D printable, Green, Fused Filament 3D Printer. Designed for students. If it reaches 100+ Likes Here on Thingiverse, I'll crowdfund the hardware parts in a kit.* Printed parts stay free! Help speed up the development by tipping the designer or donating through https://www.paypal.me/3DPrintersVDB Every contribution, in whatever form, will be noted on foldie3d.com with the release on gofundme. !NEW! : subscribe @ http://foldie3d.com/, get notified of the launch, and receive foldies printables first! We hope to present our final version soon, Since our first succesful print, we've had more updates then a Microsoft computer. We figured, Talking a bit longer to present the final version spares the user from this. NOTE: searching for EU owners of SHEET METAL CUTTING TOOLS or CNC machine, willing to contribute some leftovers and time. PLS send a message here on thingiverse. In exchange for recognition and online credits/link. Instructions As long as u don't profit from it, please share, and adapt as u see fit. This printer is designed especially for students. No 3D printer in the world is so portable, it fits in a laptop-bag, and can be build under 300€. The most expensive parts are: rails, extruder parts, electronics board & power supply. this printer can be assembled out of wood, plastic or metal, but i originally tried to design it so every part would be 3D printable. Except for the linear axles, a threaded rod, 4 stepper motors, some screws, bolts, washers, wiring, and electronics, i succeeded. Maybe an idea for ESA/NASA ... takes up less space & weight on the way up :-p Work in progress: I plan to use an Android smartphone of some sorts in the future too communicate and control the printer. It would also go on the back, in clips that pivot, facing backwards, and fold open until its next to the printer facing forward. that would allow for a 50-70€ stand-alone, wireless, 3G enabled, schoolworthy 3D printer Host. Android apps are easyly build, managed and learned, and a smartphone has usb to communicate with the printers Arduino-based electronics board. So why not. My motto: "If u can imagine it, u can make it" If this reaches 100 LIKES, i'll crowdfund it. So please SHARE.* Special thankx tohttp://www.thingiverse.com/aubenc/about for redrawing & printing the gears of the bed lift. UPDATE as of 27/03/2015, Foldie has no sideplates anymore. the benefits of our new design eliminated the sideplates. Instead, foldie has now a Foldie-worthy foldable constuction at her sexy bottom sides, wich locks her firmly into place when opened. Her brandnew designed, multi-diameter spool holders, are the magnetic-locking crown on the design. take a look at her drawings, next week we'll post some new edition pics. UPDATE as of 19/08/2015 In order 2 improve stability while printing, Foldie's extruder motor goes on the back from now on (like ultimaker, reprap,...). the extruder motor movements on top proved too rough for a lightweight plastic frame. Last but not least: Foldie is COMPLETELY* printed in BIODEGRADABLE PLA. Please only use ABS if necessary. Think Green ;) i don't want my Thing to pollute the planet any further. on the contrary. i spent several months! researching suppliers eco footprint, calculating power usage and what not. Please carry on the trend. UPDATE as of 19/01/2016 Several boards are being tested now the frame is sturdy & ready. Power supplies are considered and tested. Nylon support for heated beds is being tested. Inquiries have been made for a sheet metal alu model. As soon as the board satisfies me, i'll show a vid of Foldie printing... UPDATE 21/03/2017 It seems to be a point of anoyment, to manually re-calibrate the bed, each time, after foldie has been mobile. So i thought of a solution, what woke me up mid-night, only to discover online, i wasn't the first; The hotend is mounted on a slightly flexible mount, which presses upwards, when touching the bed, closing the Z-endstop right above it, what, in turn, allows for non-capacitive, low-cost, multi-point, printbed calibration, each time after a power up, after the print-command is given. UPDATE 14/02/2018 The bed has gotten aluminium u-profile bed support. This to account for the slight flexibility in printable polymers, wich would be nefast for a bed-support. some axle rails are replaced with Igus products, in order to win space, reduce weight, and reduce cost. Yaxle glides on HIWIN Xaxle glides on IGUS Zaxle glides on IGUS UPDATE 21/02/2018 In the last update we stated that the Z would have IGUS rails. It won't. the directional torque of the horizontal bed on the vertical slide proved too much for smooth movement. It has been re-equipped with the Rods and LMUU06's bearings. The actual update; the transmission of the CoreXY is done by fishing silk. Not a nylon infused belt. they were heavy, wide, and their resistance when bending and stretching had effect on the small operating space. The fishing silk is relatively cheap, (less then toothed belts/mtr) UnBeLieVeaBle Strong, doesnt stretch, in comparison too belts, is relatively naturally produced in mothfarms, biodegradable, and commonly available. Also, it withstands time when not in operation. The silk on our prototype was my dad's. He taught me too look for answers too problems in nature. He's not here anymore, but his 30 yr old fishing silk, is still as good as new. And does wonders. Thnx dad. And thank you moth's. The silk does not slip around the motor's pulleys because they are 3d printed in TPU (flex filament). UPDATE 12th of april 2018 Happy like a kid on christmasmorning. Our Printed Foldie exceeds all expectations. Fast, extremely accurate, 0.05mm on x&y!! and as stable as an I3. Vid coming soon, I'm not a cameraman, it appears... We will revise the most expensive parts, like the controller board, in the hopes of bringing you a more affordable, capable, 1board solution for any 3D printer. Our goal here is to create the next "RAMPS" along with Foldie. In the same pricerange, but on a single board. UPDATE 2nd of may 2018 Currently looking at the new controller design, So far it is a 32bit controller board, similar to the Duet range. This because we appriciate the cost effectiveness of this pocessor architecture, in comparison to the 8bit 2560 architecture. Main diffrence is has basic USB connectivity and an phone/app or PC/host to control it and expandability for BT or WiFi connectivity, where the existing DuetWiFi UI takes over and allows for simultaneously controlling printer, and surfing for printables. It eliminates the cost and config of the whole LCD Display story too. The second main point is that is is a single-extruder board. This mainly out of financial considerations. But also cause there is no competent, compact, affordable, and legit single-extruder starter board out there. (chinese usb drivers and closed source designs dont count in my book, & dual boards are too thick to still fit in a laptopbag) When starting with 3D Printing, its gonna take a whole lot of time before you mastered enough experience to even try dual color anyway. The fact is that it takes a lot of understanding of the technology to print dualcolor succesfully. So, making a controller board more expensive by adding multiple extruder-components on the board, seemed costly for no good reason. Expansions allow it tho. Foldie isnt really intended for DC printing anyway. That doesnt mean that there aint no idea too make that a reality. There is an empty space for another extruder motor on the back, and expansionPins on the board for a reason. Its just costly in time to work out this 'better system' then the current ones. The trick would be in the printhead and the slicer. As for the minimalist functionality, the board does have more then enough expansionpins. As with most boards, we didnt wanted to deprive makers from any hacking option. Also, the board is supposed to be a cost effective single board replacement for the RAMPS family, adding options that are perfectly accomodated by existing boards would be redundant, and make the board fall out of the financial capacity range of our main public: students.. The board will have the ability to be powered by the 12 to 24v range. It also has the ability to make use of a separate 5v Power supply. This to avoid the damage of the voltage stabilizing chip on the stepper driver when emergency stop(reset) is hit. In the time that it takes to finish the board into an endproduct, We are setting up the website; foldie3d.com We are aquiring all media. Photosessions, video, and editing is harder then it looks :s Printed files are made ready(uploaded, described, equipped with pics, and printing info) The assembly manual for the printer is being made. UPDATE 11 June 2018 Previous update stated the controllerboard would have onboard wireless capability;BT This has been revised to an Optional BT module, again, to keep costs down. Initially we intended for smartphones too control the printer over USB, immediately adding WiFi/BT/3Ginternet capability. So adding wireless to our board, -is again, costly for no good reason, -still optional by adding modules on the expansions -And redundant, cause its big brother board has all that and more. UPDATE 11 june 2018 I just noticed, i never mentioned Foldie has a magnetic quick release extruder assembly. I'll post some pics later, but it enables the printer too remove its printhead before folding up, and one can change extruder heads in about 30 sec flat. No more pliers, cramped positions, and messing around to change a nozzle, or fix a clog. *mag-struder-assembly pics uploaded. Let it be noted that the tiny fan will be replaced by directional 4040 fans. The extruder assembly holds 12! small, round magnets, wich make sure the extruder doesnt backslash. UPDATE 5th of sep 2018 While the 32bit controller board makes us work weekends, A small donation allowed us to quickly but succesfully test a more cost effective part solution. A huge thanks to minotaur85 for that! -LM6UU's are replaced with PTFE(teflon) coated bushings. because -they are more cost effective -LM*UU's balls travell inside the bearing in an oval motion, and each change of ball switch gave irregularities and make the Z less accurate. 0.2 heights were reasonable with LM6UU bearings, anything less resulted in uneven layer heights, because of the "jumping" of the balls in the bearing.. -the bushings are smaller then LM6UU linear bearings, -the bushings are lighter, 6.5gr(LM6UU) against 2.8gr(x2 for each side)reducing total weight with 7.4gr. again, -they allow sliding Z motion, accurate up to 0.05mm. On a frikkin 3dprinted frame printer. To be honest, even i, the maker, didnt expect awesome results like this. I printed a gear for a watch in 4layer heights of 0.05, and at its thinnest point, the caliper said 0.2mm. If that moment would have been caught by a 4K cam, you could have seen the unbelief on my face, me taking of the caliper, and closing it to check if its properly set to "0", measuring it again, seeing me think for a moment, and then smile like a kid on christmasmorning. And i'll be sharing that joy with you soon. Update 15/09/2018 Normally the controller should have been in prototype fase now. But, we figured out a way to make it more cost effective(cheaper) without really loosing capabilities. In short,i made some 'luxuries' optional, in the form of expansion modules.Ex.1) Like the heatbed. on our size bed, its absolutely retardedly redundant to have a heated bed when u have sanded surface borosilicate printbed and a simple gluestick. Ex.2) since we have an app that can control the printer over usb and a wireless expansion module, with existing Duet UI, We've left open the Display connector. We don't have to buy/assemble them on the board, wich makes the endprice lower, but the holes are still there, so any expansion in that direction, is still availeable. RAMPS boards were popular for exactly this reason. But they have serious toddler-issues. Research them. search for RAMPS+melting :) .... Then you'll know why i found it nececcary to bring a new standard. RAMPS require 2560 arduino boards to work. Its a dual board setup, too thick to still fit in a laptopbag. A 2560 is also an 8-bit board. This means, it has a highway of 8 lanes to the processor. Where our board has a 32lane- highway to the processor, because, since the RAMPS, a lot of baby-issues have been adressed, and it became clear, that IF a 3D Printer ever wanted to function professionally; (an Expandeable, RAMPS-like-board), it should be built on 32bit architecture foundations. Our processor is an M4Cortex, derived from the ones in Arduino Due boards, but is a little faster, has ONBOARD USB, eliminating USB to serialchips like FTDI CH340 CP2102, further lowering price. And to top it off, it's a little cheaper then the original Ardu Due processor. UPDATE23/09/2018 All foldie parts are printable on 200x200mm beds, but to save time on assembly(and too streamline our production), i've added an edition, where the Bottom, Back, and Top are three individual part files, printable on 280x280mm beds. It transforms 11 seperate files into 3 single files. But the requirement is a printer with at least a 280x280mm bed. Pré-Printed frames, manufactured by us or partners will consist out of this three-part-frames. They are essentially merged Single files, so there is no diffrence between the versions, except for the weight(extra screws/nuts for the singlepart version) and assembly time. UPDATE 31oktober2018 A) our board development has some delay. Tony Lock from Thinkprint3D and Esher3D, thinks it is ok to string customers along for over 4 months!! "if u want something done right, you gotta do it yourself" "i am greatful for all those who refused to help me, because of them, i did it myself. So i set out to design a trifold of boards myself. All aimed at beginners, some with expansions, for developpers, tinkerers, and hackers. the smarter the architecture, the more expansions they will have. one on the AtMega328 , one on 2560 architecture, and one on a 32bit processor. B) -just after printing the wholeprinter in an uniform color, i got an idea to update the extruder assembly with more effective cooling containing more affordable parts. my update enables: -sheet alu design opposed too a CNC machined design=cheaper(about 9€/10$) -replacing the Alu heatsink+404010 continuous extruder cooling fan with a much smaller and more affordable, single 252507 fan. The sheet metal design enables a COLD-END-approach, not seen, or rivalled, since the Ultimaker series. But some extensive research uncovered some Heat Resistant options that now enable the whole approach. it requires a mold to make the HeatBlocker tho. The point of the whole update was -lesser amount of parts=success -lower cost =success -more effective ColdEnd=untested. -universally apliccable heatblock to keep heat down, IN the hotend heater block= untested. Any donations contributing to the prototypes of this approach are greatly appreciated! Simply cuz ordering low amounts of custom parts, is expensive! need one small metal,CNCmilled, baking mold for molding, baking, and testing the heatblock. need one tiny sheet metal(1.5mm thick) design, cut and bended, to upgrade the hotend assembly. Update 23rd december 2018 There's two printable foldies now. A low cost student version with 6mm linear axle rods. And the HIWIN rail version. The HIWIN version's KIT parts are transferrable to the Metal and the Plastic Molded Upgrades. Can't disclose updates on the boards at this time. Happy holidays! *We plan to use https://www.gofundme.com as crowdfundplatform because others have too limited payment solutions for students. !NEW! : subscribe @ http://foldie3d.com/, get notified of the launch, and receive foldies printables first! This also helps us estimate the level of interest there is for the foldie project. You help us gather some numbers, and you'll be the first to receive the files. Your data will not be used for any other purpose as to send you the files. Contributing can be done by: Contacting us -if you have a CNC and some leftover ALU. -if your php skills suffice to write plugins for wordpress on ure own.Buying me a warm choco, warm meal, or pair of socksDonating via Paypal Depositing Crypto currency @ Bitcoin BTC 1N33x6ATb51WNUPRdieGRxarPnUqbj1pob Dash DASH Xtji6LuMMbmAMi9GySz8JHDjWKMxgDvwiC Stellar XLM GCNPRZ2ETPIB64EDJJMCNNZZGOA5CNEGED7OC72CUEM5ROQSIOYEJ4WA Ryo RYO RYoLsjBsw1qcvWDkVt4CofdSqPMATXVNChqgUde3b5HcMXUjJqgKVb3ihgqPbKgonkawUQGourLf6BX7LzCR3dxHRG7wmRn64wd Ripple XRP rwYtyncGpGVmpJQBHmbDHPYMn8bhNFak7H Neo NEO AVfMYhNjyWPRLgk19N3MYD4TNSuWsVSqpT Monero XMR 4ABT7zEtGXGM63SVjLLFHVUd3McQxChCChDe1NNLrydVGPqfJ3jw9LzDA5CBsNYZoMVBtLVaDN3ZARDR4faazLvNFzNP7jH Ether Classic ETC 0xcb2736a0c957218fa1408590e4a551d1c5873a05 Ether ETH 0x4BB4aF591E8C0659A8d2943a325c053f9FB5d666 Haven XHV hvxyGJhGfWgWKSTxXAWLpAbKNJzjz8qYydg2TDxZCBpddJ7KJA6nsLw9PTvvd1VAgHR6op6oSW9ckKAP59ZopxhD3Ez6GaaCP3 Extra note on the crypto-age. Not completely unrelated to the Foldie project. Why crypto? Wich reader has never attended a party where one has to buy drink-coupons? Or never encountered InGameCredits? Or has heard of Paypal? Crypto is kind of a cross between the three above, and a peer-to-peer-bank. Some deliberately make transactions near untraceable, but what makes crypto so interested in comparison with fiat money, is that it is based on near unbreakable blockchain technology. If you were to buy crypto of any kind, you would own a part of the blockchain, wich would be registered on this blockchain. Until it is transferred, your blocks are known to belong to Your adress, to the whole blockchain. And here is where the anonimity comes in. The currency is held in "wallets" these wallets represent one or more adresses, wich can receive and send funds. But the wallets are name-less. So allthough the transactions are known to the whole blockchain, ure ID aint. Governments don't like this, offcourse, they immidiately realised; oeps; criminals too, can send and receive funds without us knowing it. So they started implementing identification rules to "exchanges": places of business like stockExchanges, where crypto gets exchanged instead of stocks. These are places where people without trading licences, can go trade as if it where with shares and stocks. And these places are being forced to demand ID verification from each user. The exchanges are notoriously known for demanding verification in form of the copy of your ID. DO NOT EVER SEND A COPY OF YOUR ID OVER INTERNET. 1)they cant guarantee the safety of your docs. 2)one of their own employees might get ideas... 3)i'm pretty sure each and every lawbook on the face of this planet prohibits the copying/fasefing of government issued documents. 4) the balls to demand you expose yourself to ID theft.... 5)There are alternatives; white label exchanges, open source exchanges, peer to peer exchanges like Bisq. 6)you simply are supposed to be smarter then that. Right now, anyone can make a coin/token, so there allready are thousands of diffrent ones, the best known would be Bitcoin. If anyone can make a new cryptocurrency, then who to trust? the ones that have a purpose. Aint it just a bubble thats about to burst? Yes. and thats required for the sector to stabilize. Why are WE mingling with Crypto? 1) everyone, everywhere has different payment providers and options. Accepting crypto currency solves this. Just like drink-coupons, crypto allows us to accept everyones money. wether pale, colored human, or E.T., whatever continent or payment options you're locally forced to swallow, Crypto is universally available. 2)Transaction costs go WAY down, and with that, so do our store prices. 3)With some exeptions, transaction time is real-time. No more "transactiondays" 4) now, crypto is as new as a Telegram, a TV, a FAX or the internet was in the beginning, people are weary. its normal. and justified. but in 5 to 10 yrs, crypto currency will be as everyday-normal and even required, as the internet is today. Just remember,never upload copies of your ID. Nowhere. Never. They can check credentials like social security and pasport number with relevant authorities, but they are not in their legal right to demand a copy of your ID/pasport. Tip: Take a hundred bucks(only if you can mis them). Go2 coinmarketcap, and after researching ALL of the coins, pick ten with a purpose. Write those down, make wallets for those coins, and backup logins and pneumonic reset prases on a USB, Encrypt this USB. Now go buy ten dollars worth of each coin. And SIT on them for at least two yrs. Dont go trading. Dont go shopping. Forget about them. When the bubble bursts, it will stabilize the sector. Traders will be more carefull, people will slowly learn the upsides of decentralisation, and ure crypto with a purpose, will be worth more and more over the yrs.