Full Plastic Jacket: Salvaging parts from Robo3D's worthless FIAT of garbage into a 3d printer

chapter 1. hater's gonna hate.

It's no secret that the Robo 3d is the fiat of our age, more of a project than a printer really. It's good that's no secret because it was when I started this project, and if I had known I wouldn't have got a Robo 3d, period--end of story--Oh wait there's more..
I know others have gotten their printers to work but it seems like most of the success stories come from engineers and experienced 3d Printer enthusiasts who know how to get after market parts, -sometimes hearing them say their robo 3d works is like hearing an expert mechanic who put a new honda engine in an antique fiat body tell you the fiat is so wonderful.
I have been trying to get my Robo 3d to print since last year and I thought I just had terrible luck, but after plenty of research found that many if not most people had similar problems as me.
Seemingly, the problem was Robo 3d's sacrifice of quality and focus on brand looks and their poorly thought out, rushed to market design. I have no dislike for the kids at Robo 3d, but realistically this experience has left a sour taste in my mouth about their company and I find it impossible to recommend them, and difficult to keep quiet about.
I fixed my Robo 3d printer finally, but it took completely tearing it apart, reassembling and starting from scratch, replacing as many parts as possible including but not limited to:

1. replace the Y axis drawers with new Y axis rails,
2. the gears, bolt, the filament extruder, replaced with direct drive
3. the hotend, replaced with e3dv6
4. the wires, replaced with decent ones
5. the heat bed, was absurd, clearly an afterthought and more than a little dangerous... replaced with a decent one as well.

luckily it relied on open source parts or else I would have kicked the whole damn mess to the curb a long time ago. thankfully there were parts worth saving.
It's not a Robo anymore. I kind of wanted to call it Rico but it looks like that name is taken by some automation appliance, oh well, something botta?
maybe I'll call it the Full Plastic Jacket....
You may not need to do the same stuff as me. If your printer magically just works, then.. Good? for you?
but otherwise here are the steps I took to get it to work,


Step 1. recognize the Robo 3d has a problem, and it is powerless to print.
Step 2. go out and get an actual, legitimate, functioning printing 3d Printer. You can build one from scratch perhaps but if you don't want to risk it there are actual printers that work. I decided to just get a Printrbot because it's a: Fabulous Machine.
It's Simple (that's it's name) it starts life out with a smaller build plate before upgrading, but where Robo 3d sacrificed on quality everywhere possible in order to afford fancy injected molded plastic cases (slaps face) The Simple is 100% perfect.
Legitimately.
like a piece of weaponry.
It's also made in Northern California (clearly the differences between SoCal and NorCal are like that East and West Berlin) only from a company that actually gives a damn.
Step 3. disassemble Robo 3d: take that stupid case off. It's pointless except if you want to be the mascot for a company and if they aren't doing you any favours, don't do them any. You can keep it for later if you want, I spray painted mine.
Step 4. reassemble, rewire, replacing every part you can along the way. Take apart the extruder and hotend and either fix the hobbed bolt or just throw it away. My final solution involved entirely replacing the extruder, with a direct drive extruder like the Printrbots. Essentially the design from the printrbot a MUCH better one and since replacing it I have had 0 problems. 0.

So that's my advice, get a legitimate printer and start turning your Robo 3d into one, because the other option is to throw the damn thing away. again it's important to note Robo 3d has supposedly made their printers much better albeit off the suffering backs of their first kickstarter backers, so if you can get yours to print without much modification more power to you, if not, this is a way I've found to make as many of the scraps from the useless piece of garbage useful

*In addition, had to add fans to the ramps board and new extruder and create a new firmware with support for added reprapdiscount lcd+sd card print controller to print autonomously.

 

Well for someone that is not an engineer, you seem to have handled this quite well. How's it printing? Share some prints.

I for one have no engineering schooling but have gotten mine to work.

Lately, things are failing and I can't get tech support to answer my emails. Since Sept 14, 2014 - I have sent them my money for replacement parts and they have not confirmed or denied my request. They have my money. What's the problem? Ship the parts, let me know.

I know how you feel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk in Canada

 

The company definitely has issues especially with their customer support response time and communications in general.

Some comments for others thinking of mods from the kickstarter version:

1. I still have my original drawer rails and the bolts did need a lot of tightening and I put in a few washers to level it. Otherwise I'm surprised that they work OK. I'm replacing them though because my bed is concave a bit.
2. The wades extruder is fine. Only the hobbed bolt needs to be replaced. The direct drive replacement is probably a waste of time and money. It's pretty though. (I'm not sure about the hobbed bolt on the currently shipping printer.)
3. E3D replacement is a great idea. The current Hexagon seems to have some QC issues probably with assembly.
4. I had no problem with the wires themselves. The crimp and screw terminal connections were a big problem though. I recrimped all the AC wires and tinned and reinstalled all the screw terminal connections.
5. The heat bed is fine, the problem is with the connections and strain relief.

I also:

1. Replaced the polyfuse and the bed MOSFET.
2. Added Z stablizers and Ziggy's coupler ball bearings.
3. Added the XXL LCD from Printed Solid. This is a really good idea.
4. Mods to the firmware including for the E3D thermistor and to hold the Z steppers between moves.
5. Added a duct to the print fan.
6. Threw out the filament holder and put a robust one made of a metal lampholder cover.

Not a complete list but it is most of it.

The printer is made in China and perhaps some QC () and mods in Southern Cal.

 

The printer I have was made in southern California, it was only after that they started building in china, I have said it before and I'll say it again I wish my printer was assembled in china, but this is the second or third time it's been assembled it in california

where did you /which did get to replace your polyfuse and mosfet, can you post a picture? I have considered just taking out the ramps and arduino and saving for another project and upgrading the boards themselves perhaps with one suggested as a "someday" by mike kelly

the gadget3d looks pretty top notch but not quite the most expensive, perhaps over kill. http://gadgets3d.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=61

 

You said northern California above Andreas, that's why I corrected you. You must have one of the earlier than September ones that was assembled in southern Cal.

• MOSFET (IRLB3036PBF) - http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...BFvirtualkey57370000virtualkey942-IRLB3036PBF
• Polyfuse (RGEF1400) - http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=RGEF1400virtualkey65000000virtualkey650-RGEF140

More details on this thread and others: http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/issues-with-new-printer.3102/#post-26689 . There is nothing new in a photo of them. The polyfuse is just a bit larger. The Mosfet is the same size.

 

Printrbot is made in northern california, ^

 

Schematics here:
http://www.reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMPS1.4schematic.png
http://www.reprap.org/wiki/File:Arduinomega1-4connectors.png

More detail on this thread. Ignore all the early talk about relays.
http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/ind...t-heat-bed-cutting-out.1299/page-4#post-13191

It is F2 and Q3 that we replaced.

 

OK now I am parsing that correctly, my bad.

 

I love the word parsing, almost as much as the meaning "process of analyzing a string of symbols" Love it.

well not to pretend I have perfected it either, just that I can start to finally. Here is a spool reel, perhaps printed slightly too hot (205-210) and ribbing like over compressed?

 

They are in southern california and it was summer time, and now they have your money, you do the math. I have been in touch with them recently they told me straight up, they were on vacation.

 

The thing I notice a lot about the printers that do get working is they require upkeep, where as I go more for the solution I won't have to keep resolving. rehobbing a bolt or replacing the hobbed bolt is no problem for some people, for me I'd rather not... I will let you know next time I need to replace the pully gear in my extruder and you let us know next time you need to renovate your hobbed bolt or replace / fix something, deal?

 

While my robo had a few minor issues (welcome to being an early adopter of 3d printers), with a little tinkering and a little patience its been running like a champ for over 3 months. I print things almost every day, and just finished a 14 hour print last night. Its not a perfect machine, but since you cant come close to the print quality without spending 2-3 times as much, I'll take the tinkering. I have to say that for a first design from a group of people who never made a 3d printer before, its pretty darn good. I've not had to make any adjustments in a month and a half now...I just find my STL file, load it and print.

I'm not an engineer...but I do drive a Fiat...its awesome too.

 

it's interesting all the expressions that won't mean the same thing anymore, but can mean something better like "after all it's only rocket science" "it's as intensive as Pi" now " fiat" means good things, it's a brave new world.

I like the idea of post metal detectors saying "it's as easy as finding a needle in a haystack meaning"

that's a beautiful rocket, I hope you are going to grab some B6-4's and launch it?

I don't agree that you can't get a better printer for less than 3 times the price, effectively this is a chinese reprap only without the best design, check the internet you can find plenty, right in this range. Honestly, I would appraise the actual value of a robo 3d around $350 / $600 max if I was being generous, you can get the whole thing made of aluminum from china or india and be quite happy. The problem is people want something that has something to do with USA for some reason, even though it's a bit ridiculous as the printers are still made of parts from china if not wholly assembled there.

and haha nice fiat, The new fiat's are pretty cool, and probably about as modular as printers. I like the idea of the EV model. Fixable things are great, I love the old beatles for that, but you have parts! In our area near the "Old Volks home" we we have a family friend named Tonio who has run the local Fiat fixerilla for decades. a great big sign that reads F.I.A.T. "fix it again tony" (I kid you not) and he always seems inspired with a love of the fiat for the very same reason: it's what they mean when they say a mechanics special.