Having owned a Prusa i3 for about two years now and having replaced and modified almost every part of the original kit I'm finally able to use this printer without any tinkering and the print results are usually great without having to do any voodoo anymore. But what's the fun in that?
So, it was time for a new project. I have been looking around for a design that I really liked and stumbled upon the G&C printer made by Filipe Campos and his design ticked most of the boxes.
Although the print quality of the Prusa is fine after all the modifications, there are still a few things that I would like the new printer to do better that the old one;
1 - Speed while maintaining a high print quality.
2 - Repeatably and reliability, I will need to be able to do small production runs.
3 - Ease of use, so that my wife and kids can also print something when daddy isn't home.
4 - Less noise while printing.
5 - Look better (not like an explosion in a spaghetti factory).
6 - Have an enclosure to eliminate warping due to draft.
The name of my new printer is "Unobtanium" due to the fact that it will be almost impossible to reach all these goals. This is my
buildlog on the Reprap forum.
I have followed Filipe's design as much as possible but I have made modifications where necessary.
The specs are;
- Original size according to Filipe's design
- Enclosed at 5 sides, the top will stay open
- MKS SBase 32bit contoller (Smoothieboard ripoff, yes, yes I know!)
- 3.2" color touchscreen
- Single Bowden hotend, maybe a second one in the future
- 200 x 200 mm Mk3 heated bed, with a glass build surface
- E3D V6 hotend
The printer is almost complete and prints fine, the only things left are the front and side windows ans some small end caps for the exposed extrusions.
A few pictures of the build;
