Unanswered how often will i have to change the robo 3d r1+ parts?

hi guys..
i just got a new robo r1 plus last night and i am very worried about the life expectancy of the machine... how long may it live with me? what is the best thing i can do to take a good care of it and make it live the longest period?
what are the main parts and components i would need to change from time to time in order to achieve that?

thanks you very much

 

The short answer is to look the machine up on Thingiverse and print multiple copies of every printable part starting with the Y-axis belt clips.

If you have no confidence in the machine though, return it while still within the refund/return window and save your money until you can afford a machine that you won't feel that way about (maybe save up for the mythical R2 that will launch on Kickstarter later today).

Because even people that are ostensibly confident in the quality of the machine get frustrated if they end up with one that suffers from a run of bad components.

 

its not that i dont have confidence in the machine, the thing is, any 3d printer has many moving parts, goes through so much heat and pressure so it would be natural to have some parts loose efficiency by time and those parts would have to be replaced sooner or later.

 

Everybody has different experiences with Robo3D printers. Most of the people that have been posting here for a while have had good experiences (I'm one of the ones that hasn't, but still posts because this forum is the one where I got started in 3d printing as a supplement to my other hobbies).

Most of the parts that are recommended to have as spares are recommended because they are prone to having been damaged in shipment, not because they wear out.

 

Personally I have spent almost double the cost of the printer on replacement parts thus far. I would recommend looking at other brands that have been known for reliability like the Makergear M2.

I guess the people who've had good experience would have no reason to post in these forums, so it's hard to gauge numbers

Good luck!

 

Double the cost of the printer in parts? Hmm... ok. I'll take your word for it.

I have had very good experience with my Robo and this is my primary place to post and get information, I have plenty of reason to post in these forums.

But, I'm one guy with one printer and who knows, the evil printer gollywoggles are probably right around the corner.

I am a tinkerer and this tool has been perfect for my needs and wants for what I could afford. I've had issues, mostly around breaking things because I went into it with no experience and I busted things. All covered under warranty. I'll repeat that part: I busted, they replaced, no charge. Nice.

Being open source is what drew me to Robo. Others are too. If I were to look elswhere which I probably will eventually, I'll go with something that is still open source.

 

I'm in Ireland so I pay import tax on everything from the US. It really is a lot of parts!

 

Yes I'm approaching 1900$ in my excel spreadsheet now. That's not including standard things like filament etc... It's purely replacing parts that have broken, arrived broken or function but do not perform properly.

 

I appreciate it, Geof! I'd love someone more experienced than me to go over my firmware and Simplify3D settings so I can rule out software causes for any of my issues.

 

I can see then why you advice for something else. Possibly local grown if at all possible.

 

Sure. I'm just one guy though. I assume I got monumentally unlucky with the unit I was sent and am too stubborn to move on to a different brand.

 

Nope. People in the shoutbox are probably far more familiar with my Robo3D QC issues than they want to be (every time something failed I'd log on to post some variation of "God damnit Robo3D, X part just failed (again)".

I referred to my original R1 as my "FrankenRobo" because the only original parts on it were the plastic frame and rods (all bearings, steppers and electronics had to be replaced over the course of the 6 month warranty), after the warranty itself was over (for what little that actually covered at the time, which was just the electronic parts) I spent very nearly the cost of the original purchase again on the printer (mostly in shipping, which was equal to or greater than the cost of the parts if I wanted them any time in the same month from the time of ordering).

Hell, Robo3D couldn't even send me a functioning R1+Plus when I won the CES 2016 contest.

Long wait times for replacement parts (remember the incredible delayed shipping times when it seemed like everyone was having to wait for warranty glass bed replacements in 2015?) bent lead screws in 3 out of 3 shipments when that upgrade came out, every single stepper driver burning itself out and Mega/Ramps arcing off when the power supply suffered a catastrophic failure.

Meanwhile, I bought that hilarious chinese knockoff i3 from Monoprice for $350 and that fucker has run performance circles around both of the Robo3D printers I've owned. I upgraded the hotend on that machine so that I could print flexibles whenever I wanted to play with those filaments, but even with that upgrade I'm still less than half the price of an R1+.

Some people get machines that won the QC lottery, others don't. The only real benefit I've had out of owning a Robo3d printer has been the discussions about design practices and jokes about vaguely-3d-printing-hobby related topics.

 

You sure you're not me, Daniel? I realised how badly my robo was underperforming just about 4 months after getting it. I tried asking for a replacement but they kept bouncing me back and forth until that golden 6 month point and my warranty was up. Everything you've described is what I've experienced too.

 

Do you happen to have a few pictures of prints, Mark? Just so I can compare them to what my machine is producing?