RooBee One - SLA DLP Aluminum Frame 3D Printer

Roobee One is an SLA DLP 3D printer inspired on the Cristelia - SLA/LCD 3d printer and the Vulcanus MAX 3D printer.

It is built out of 20x20 mm aluminum profile chassis, It has an adjustable print area of 80x60x200 mm up to 150x105x200mm build volume using a ACER DLP projector.

The open-source machine is called RooBee One because it is red color just like a Ruby gem.

This instructables will guide you way thought the entire build process of assembling one.

The machines design is open source, feel free to download the skechup file to get access to all dimensions and parts. All dimensions are in 1 to 1 scale.

In order to open the file please, download the sketchup file here:

http://www.sketchup.com/

All 3D printed parts can be found on thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2001118

Here are all the 3D printed parts source:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2001118

And here is the list of material you will need:

- Aluminum profile (open skechup file to find out how much you will need)

- M5 12 Screws

- M5 nuts

- NEMA 17 stepper motor (1.2A 4000gr/cm is more than enough)

- Aluminum Motor coupling 5 to 8 mm

- 30cm M8 lead screw and nut

- 2 LMK12LUU bearings

- Plexi glass ( Open skechup file to find out how much you will need )

- DLP projector ( Acer X113P )

- Arduino Mega 2560

- RAMPS 1.4 shield

- 12V power adaptor

- M5 wing nuts

- M8 screws and nuts

The aluminum frame is made up of 20x20mm aluminum profiles. It is composed by a rectangular prism with a bottom and ceiling floor, as well as a center floor.

The structure is put together using M5 nut inserts and M5x10mm screws attached to 3D printed corners. This fixation technique is widely used among DIY aluminum profile hobbyists.

Note: Dont forget to insert the M5 nuts into the profile slots before fixating the corners.

You will need to print 32 corners in order to get a nice and steady frame. The corners have 2 holes each, these holes are for the passage of the M5 screws.

Print settings:

Material: PLA works fine

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

The Z AXIS is composed by most part, from the Cristelia 3D printer and some new parts and some redesigned parts from open source designs.

The linear guide system is composed out of two 12mm smooth rods and 2 linear LMK12UU bearings .

The bearings are housed inside a 3D printed part, as well as the lead-screw nut, as shown in the pictures. The transmission system is composed by a NEMA 17 stepper motor and a 8mm trapezoidal lead screw and nut.

The linear guide from the Z axis is composed by 2 3D printed parts. The motor holder, and the top rod holders. The 2 printed parts hold the 12mm smooth rods in place.

The Z axis is composed by 4 parts the Z ROD Holder, the Z Stepper holder and two Z smooth rod fixation.

Print settings:

Material: PLA or PETG work fine

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

The bottom 3d printed part holds the NEMA 17 stepper motor in place using 4 M3x20 screws. The middle 3D printed part holds the trapezoidal nut in place.

The trapezoidal screw is fixated to the stepper motor via a motor 5mm to 8mm motor shaft coupler. Use a Alan Key to tighten the grub screws on the coupler. Make sure the M5 motor shaft does not invade the couplers M8 inner channel. This will minimize the Zwobble phenomena..

The Z ARM had to be redesigned from the original design in order to fit inside the RooBee One machine. The nut holder is also a redesign from the original A ARM.

The Z arm is composed by a 3d printed part, 2 LMK12UU bearings a trapezoidal nut. The Bearings are housed inside the holes of the 3D printed part and fixated using 8 M4x40mm screws and nuts. The Trapezoidal nut is fixated using 4 M3x30mm screws and nuts.

The Z arm is a big part, you will need a printer capable of printing is huge size.

Print settings:

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

The pan and tilt of the Cristelia system can adjusted by untitening the red nobs. The new position is than locked in place buy tightening the nobs again. This adjustment system is very useful in order to position the build surface parallel to the VAT. I take the opportunity to thank the Cristelia developers for sharing their designs.

The pan tilt system is remarkable, you will need M5 wing nuts and M5 threaded rod.

There are 7 parts in total.

Print settings:

Material: PETG

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

The projector needs to be placed in a static position during printing. This is achieved by using the yellow corners to clamp the projector in position. Before that make sure the projector is aligned to the center of the VAT. Also make sure that there is air circulation in order to avoid heating the projector during operation.

Print 4 of these parts.

Print settings:

Material: PLA

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

The VAT is the place where you will pour your resin. My first option for VAT is a 3mm plexiglass container. Using plexiglass glue to fixate the plates to for the VAT.

The VAT container is composed by 5 plexiglass panels, 4 red panels and one crystal panel. After gluing them in place, you will need to glue 2 extra pieces to function as wings for the VAT.

The fixation method is done using special acrylic glue, in order to apply it you will need a syringe and a pair if gloves. Be very careful handling the glue, it is very toxic and dangerous.

After gluing all the plexiglass parts together, you need to make sure your VAT is watertight, this can be done by putting a colorful liquid inside the VAT(water with pen ink for example), and putting the VAT under a white piece of paper. After 5 to 10 minutes later if your paper is still white, your VAT is most probably watertight. If it is not, you just need to apply one more coat of glue.

The VAT Option 1 did not work, so we used the FEP foil solution with great results. You need to apply a nice tension to the FEP foil in order to achieve a nice flat surface. Use duble sided tape for glueing the fFEP foil to the VAT.

The VAT holder was built using a 6mm acrylic sheet. Using a CNC we made a center hole in order to let the VAT fit inside. The dimensions of the hole depend on you projectors minimal focus point.

After this, several holes where drilled in order to fixate the VAT holder to the aluminum frame.

In addition to these holes, two more holes where drilled to make way for the VAT fixation system.

The VAT fixation system is done by pacing the VAT onto the Holder and tightening the wing nuts until the VAT is under pressure form the 2 pieces of acrylic as shown in the photos. In order to achieve this 2 springs where used, they give tension making it easier when releasing the VAT from the holder.

The Aluminum print bed is build out of 5mm aluminum sheet, it has 4 M3 holes aligned to the 4 M3 holes on he printed part.

The holes where drilled in a way, the conic heads of the M3 20mm screws fit perfectly inside the hole. For extra adjust-ability, 4 springs where used in between each screw. This allows for adjusting the position of the plate in 3 Dimensions.

The Screws are screws onto M3 Lock nuts that are inside the 3D printed part. This guaranties that the screws will not be undone easily or bu them self's.

NOTE: The Surface of the aluminum plate was sanded in order to optimize 1 layer adhesion.

The print bed calibration is done manually, the idea is to get the aluminum plate parallel to the base of the VAT, this is done by several mechanisms, fist, by un-tightening the red knobs and tilting the system , second by un-tightening the wing nuts and panning the system, and finally by screwing or un-scrwsing the screws under the aluminum plate. A height adjustment is also possible by un-tightening the top knob.

After the calibration is done make sure to tighten everything up again.

After calibrating the build plate, you need to shake the resin and pour it in the VAT. Make sure you have enough resin for the print and enough for the minimum quantity threshold.

The Electronics are composed by an Arduino MEGA a RAMPS 1.4 shield, a micro stepping driver, a NEMA 17 stepper motor, a endstop and a 12V transformer. Follow the diagram to wire all components.

The stepper driver is attached to the Z position on the Ramps board. Dont forget to put all 3 jumper under the driver, onto the ramps board (this will communicate 16 micro-stepping to your micro stepping driver).

The Endstop is connected to the Zmin endstop on the RAMPS board. Finaly the Z motor cable is connected to the Z motor connection on the Ramps board.

The Arduino/Ramps is positioned on the rear panel using 4 zipties. The rear panel has 4 drilled holes in order to pass the zipties. This fixation method is temporary, until we print a nice box for the ArduinoRAMPS combo.

Make sure the hanging cables are nice and tidy.

The Z min mechanical end-stop is located and fixated next to the 12mm smooth rod. This is possible thanks to the 2 3D printed parts that hold the sensor in place.

The Z endstop has 2 printed parts that are attached to each other using 2 M3x20 screws and nuts. They hold the endstop close to the
vertical smooth rods. If for any reason the system does not hold on tightly tho the 12mm rods, you can always file done the parts to reduce the reach diameter. By doing this you get a tighter grip on the 12mm rod.

The end-stop is locked in place using 2 M3x12mm screws and nuts. Have a look at the photos to see the orientation of the end-stop. Your end-stop will be triggered by colliding with the vertical screw from the LMK12UU bearing.

Print 2 of these parts.

Print settings:

Material: PLA

Layer height: 0.3mm

Support structures: off

I have always been a user of repetier firmware, we use it in all our printers, and i am glad we are using it in the Roobee One also.

Head to the repetier.com website and download the free firmware.

After downloading extract the content, and alter the following parameters in the configuration.h file:

Baud rate 250000

Z steps per mm 400

z size 20mm

Z endtop Z min

Z inverted

Z pullup

Download Arduino IDE here: www.arduino.cc

Connect the USB cable to the Arduino, open the repetier.ino file and select the Arduino MEGA in the menu option - tools - board. Now go back to the menu option tools and select the COM port connected to the Arduino and upload the firmware (COMx).

If all goes well, you will now have a done uploading message in the bottom left corner of the Arduino IDE interface.

Download the attached file. It is already configured for the RooBee One. Run the exe file and choose the Help option on the top left corner and that click on User Manual and read the documentation. All the information you will need is very well documented there.

I have already configured all important parameters for your fist print, you just need to double check your projector resolution in configuration, machine configurations.

Fist you need to check if the Z motor and Z endstops are working. navigate to control and move the Z axis up and down. After that, adjust the Z axis speed if necessary.

Finlay test the Z endstop and position it in place.

To star a print, connect the Arduino to your computer using a USB cable. Then Import an object and press slice, after that you press play button. A new black window will appear on the projector with the first layer of your print. An estimate of the time will be shown on the upper right corner.

If something goes wring you can hit the stop button to cancel the print. Make sure to cover the projector as this option leaves the last layer projecting on to the resin.

The SLA resin used is the Standard Blend Resin from Fun to do Resins. It is a bit toxic from my experience, so for that reason i have installed a fan on top of the printer in order to guide the toxic vapors outside away from the machine operators.

They are Acrylic based resins systems with very attractive properties:

- Broad range of wavelengths

- Suitable for laser, Dlp, Led systems

- Ultra short exposure time

- Low shrinkage

- Hard, Soft and castable types

- High Chemical resistance

- Range of colors

MDF printers are very clean compared to the SLA ones, you need to where gloves at all times to avoid touching the sticky toxic resin, you also need a couple of paper towels or tissue to clean any necessary contaminated objects.

In addition you will need running water and detergent to clean up before during and after printing.

Regarding the toxic airborne particle (smell), the FunToDo resins are not healthy to inhale, you should avoid inhaling these particles, you can adapt a fan to the top ceiling of the chassis of the RooBee or use it as i do, inside an laboratory ventilation cabinet.

After printing you should clean everything extensively in order to avoid contaminating the air in the room with contaminated objects (contaminated with the resin). The Build platform can be easily removed for cleaning purposes.

If you do not have conditions to use the machine, i advice you to stay away form SLA machines until you have safety conditions.

The RooBee turned out great, it is a biutiful machine

More coming soon.