Robo enclosure

I have one of the early Kickstarter models that I finally got around to setting up and running this week.. I had tried a first test print last year with the included sample of PLA just to see if the printer worked and it did, but needed a lot of setup/tweaking which I was too busy to do at the time..

Fast forward to last week and I ordered some ABS and downloaded the new MatterControl software, which is a big improvement over RepetierHost, (although I have an occasional problem with .NET crashes- looking at the system app error logs, it appears as though extraneous multitouch events from my touch-screen may be causing some unhandled exceptions in MatterControl's UI).. Anyways, after tiptoeing around the laptop to not accidentally introduce spurious events that would crash the software and trying more prints, I found that my heated bed would heat to some degree (but never even getting close to the 120C ABS preset in the software), and then stop working.. Perusing the troubleshooting forums, I found that it's the PTC causing the issues.. I decided to replace the PTC with a straight fuse as even a higher-rated PTC has a voltage/current drop and I wanted the heater to be able to get as much power as possible.. Unfortunately, even without the PTC in the circuit, the heat bed struggles to get to 100C, and takes a long time to crawl up a few more degrees to about 111C peak, and about 105 with the extruder cooling fan going 50% speed..

Long story short, I may still have to play with extrusion temp settings (I'm running 220C vs. the lower temp originally in the preset as I was getting some layer-to-layer bonding issues) and layer thickness settings, etc (any suggestions for optimum settings for ABS, please PM me), but even with the bed at 105C, there is some distortion and warping going on with the ABS (it's not bad, I printed a couple of fan brackets to cool the ramps underneath and they came out quite well- but there was a bit of lifting at the corners, despite printing the skirt right up on the bracket; without the skirt connected, the parts lift off the bed with ABS "juice" or pull the tape up off the bed) despite the heat, so I was thinking about a cover over the build area as well to keep the heat in..

This brings me to my question though: because of the high current demands of both the extruder and the heat bed running essentially a max, the power supply cooling fan kicks in occasionally, and I note that the hole for the fan is on the inside of the enclosure- is this an inlet or an outlet? My concern is that if it's an inlet, I would want to cut a hole out the side of the enclosure and put a duct on the fan so I'm not pulling in hot air, but if it's an outlet, I could potentially just vent it inside the enclosure which should actually help keep everything warm..

 

As I understand it, that port is an exhaust. I'm not at my printer to check though. Simplest way is to just put your hand on the opening and feel for air coming out

 

I'm fairly positive it's exhaust. It will pull cold air in from underneath and vent into the enclosure.

 

does this enclosure fit the latest model R1..?? are you guys going to post up files for building my own.??

 

Yes it fits all R1 models. It's a little longer than necessary for the new model but only by around 15mm. I'll be posting the files for laser cutting around the time they go on sale.

 

I'm in - let me know when they are ready to order - I don't want to keep my printer in the garage!

 

I need some opinions.

Who would prefer:

Hinges:

Printed hinge with removable metal pin, 8-12 nuts and screws for securing hinge to enclosure and case.

All printed hinge that sits on a mostly open slot.


Latching

Have the front enclosure slide laterally slightly to latch upwards

A rotating lock or a pin type lock so the enclosure doesn't move once it's up

 

Not really concerned about approach. Just want to be able to:

Use a top mounted spool holder
Access the build platform easily before and during prints
Remove or otherwise keep the doors out of the way while accessing internals

If I had to choose I would prefer something that hinges but is easily removable. And make it so you can choose which is front and back. I almost exclusively access my robo from the rear.

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Do you by any chance have a drawing of the latching mechanism?

 

Sorta like this.



The other idea is one of these: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:266956



How would people feel about no mount holes in the enclosure so you can decide what mounting style is best for you? Seems to be a lot of different options people are requesting.

 

Hmm, I was still hoping to get it to just slide down into some sort of guides and it would stay in place under its own weight. To open it up, just slide back up to disengage the guides and then take it out. This way it's easy to put the enclosure on and take it off - no semi-permanent hinges. The guides shouldn't be very obtrusive and can be permanently bolted or glued to the outside of the printer cover...

 

That would work except it would be limited in that it would hit the bed during printing depending on where it was at the time.

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Denys could you draw up your idea?

Spike That's a risk with any design.

 

It shouldn't hit the bed during printing, if the enclosure was already installed. If you mean to take it out after printing, when the bed is all the way in or out and you can't slide the enclosure too far up, then the guides don't need to be too long and sliding them up for half an inch should be enough to disengage them and then you can take out the enclosure horizontally...

 

Ok, let's try - here are my schematic drawings...

 

Actually, that's very very close to what you already have in your picture for the back part of the enclosure:

http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?attachments/rear-jpeg.3091/

I just don't understand why those sliding guides/locks/hooks aren't enough and can't also be used for the front part?

 

You can't take it on or off with a print in progress.

 

Because you afraid its bottom will catch the bed? Yeah, I was thinking about this issue when looking at your picture with those sliding pieces. But if you make those things much shorter - all you need is few millimeters to engage or disengage them. So, to avoid bumping the bed, you'd lift the enclosure by few millimeters to disengage the slides and then pull it out - there should be enough clearance under the bed for that. What do you think?

 

It also needs to be strong enough to support the weight and not break after a few uses. I'll look into it but I feel like a hinge approach would be in most users interest

 

How heavy is the enclosure half

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