Using the LulzBot TAZ 6 3D Printer - Part 1 Setup

TAZ 6

LulzBot are without doubt (in my opinion) the most open-Source 3D Printing company in the world.

Here is the start of my journey with the TAZ 6 3D Printer.

I could spend an entire blog post just telling you how LulzBot have open-source in every single aspect of their business. Not just the 3D printers they design, develop, support and manufacture, but all the systems they use, computers running them and well just everything. If someone told me they only drank open-source coffee? I would not be surprised in the slightest.

To the point they will contact independent developers (anywhere in the world) and help them finish, refine and improve a little-known open-source software package, because they would like to use it in their business too.

Just have a poke around on the LulzBot development site if you want to be impressed by Openness - http://devel.lulzbot.com/

LulzBot (and the Parent company Aleph Objects inc.) support many independent projects and diverse developments, they don't always shout about it, they just get involved and encourage. If I lived in the USA I would be camping out at LulzBot HQ.

We need to see more of these manufacturers in an amazing community like 3D Printing. I hope LulzBot always manage to stay that way. Anyway, enough of that. You can see I have a lot of time for the LulzBot team, their products and everything they stand for.

My admiration of LulzBot is not going to stop me from a detailed (and sometimes critical) look at their 3D Printers, software and generally the user experience with all of it. They thrive on all feedback and it's one of the fundamental aspects of open-innovation, so here we go with a first look at the LulzBot TAZ 6 3D Printer.

I'm not going to attempt to 'sell you' on this 3D printer. It's been out for a while and has already won awards on 3D Hubs and has a good reputation in the 3D printing community. You can make your own mind up about the machine. See if it's right for you and at the price point and feature list you need.

I'm not even going to go into detailed specifications about print size or capacity, you can google that or just look on the LulzBot website. I'm going to focus on the experience and how reliable it is over a long period of use and abuse in the real-world and how it handles lots of different materials.

I hope to be able to show you what it can and can't do over this and more blog posts and video's. If you have any questions or want me to try something specific, just send me a message (twitter is best, but anything usually works - apart from carrier pigeon).

If you watch the first video below (it's long, but I make no apology for that) you will see that you get a really good first experience with unboxing, assembly and setup of the TAZ 6.

I hardly ever do 'unboxing' video's, but this machine just deserved a showcase.

Quick jump index -
01:28 - Materials
03:35 - Unboxing the TAZ 6
06:15 - MOARstruder ???
12:30 - Approvals, regulations, safety
17:00 - Taz 6 Assembly
28:50 - Power ON...
30:30 - Handheld Gaming (3D printed)
32:55 - In the next TAZ 6 Video

I have always been a huge fan of the LulzBot 3D printers, I printed out and built up one of the very early prototype TK-0 machines back in 2013 (an early version of the TAZ design) I made many modifications and eventually dedicated my variant as a portable machine to use at shows and events.

During discussions after the TCT Show in 2016, the team from LulzBot kindly offered to send me a TAZ 6. This is not only great, but as it's a machine that is not normally seen in the UK / Europe I really want to help support the growth and awareness of LulzBot products (and their open-source / Open-Innovation nature).

I did have some initial setup problems, I will go into detail in Part 2 of this blog post and video series.

A pesky dislodged connector caused me some initial setup problems, but it was quickly identified and resolved. Much more about the problems, issues and resolutions in the next video / blog post - along with lots of 3D Prints and feedback about both print quality and user experience.

LulzBot also sent me over some materials that are tricky to find over in the UK or Europe. These have been really great to try out and do work exceptionally well in this 3D printer.

 LulzBot standard ABS Filament.

 Chroma Strand Labs Inova-1800 Co-Polyester.

 The only Taulman3D material I had yet to try out - Taulman n-vent

 And Verbatim PLA.

LulzBot also included some sample filament in the TAZ 6 Box. This is what you would get if you just ordered the printer - Very nice filament from Proto-pasta and Colorfabb.

Initial assembly is very straightforward, a detailed manual guides you through all the steps and provides great advice along the way.

Every single part (including the full set of tools provided) feels high quality and 'engineered' to a fine level.

I talk a lot about the approvals and regulations for this 3D printer in the video (it's a very good thing). I'm not going to repeat myself here, but do watch the part about 3D printer approvals (12:30 onwards) as it's good to know why fully assembled, well designed and tested machines are worth the extra cost etc.

Noise level is acceptable during setup and also full operation. It's around the same overall noise level as a Prusa i3 MK2 (normal setting) the Prusa quiet setting is slightly lower. The TAZ6 has a lower frequency to it's noise level output (slightly bigger fans than many 3D printers) so feels less annoying and less distracting in the background. The TAZ 6 is a lower overall noise level than the BCN3D Sigma (2016 version).

I have no problem with the TAZ 6 running in the same small room when I'm 1.5M away from it.

 Bucket O' Octopi by yeoldebrian, published Apr 19, 2011) CC-BY-SA

A test print Octopus (Above) was included, I had no problems replicating and exceeding this print quality with the Taz 6.

We did plenty of  'play printing' over Christmas, lots of the standard objects, test prints and plenty of decorations. When it was all dialled in I started to explore what the TAZ 6 could really achieve.

The Red Chroma Strand Labs filament was really nice to use, and strong. I designed and printed some hooks for hanging objects to rafters, they were clean prints (just look at those perfect layers) and very strong indeed. I'll see if I can work out a way to break these and compare the results with PLA or ABS for the next blog post.

It was not long before 17+ hour prints were being tested and then multi-day objects in ultra fine and full build area dimensions. (more on that next time).

As default it is set to print quite slowly. The default profiles for Cura have a low speed of travel rate, it can handle a lot faster. The firmware (Marlin) acceleration feels slower than my normal settings. There is nothing wrong with going a little slower and having a lower acceleration, in fact it can improve both print quality and further reduce noise level.

The issue is more with the fact this printer can print BIG, so really you are going to need a compromise of both speed and quality for some bigger prints if you want them to finish in a working day or before going to bed. That's no different to many 3D printers, so this issue is not aimed at the TAZ, just an observation with bigger build areas in general.

LulzBot have installed a 0.5mm nozzle as standard. This provides a a good mix of speed v quality in many types of printed model. The original RepRap 'standard nozzle size' was 0.5mm, but over the last five+ years it's now much more common to see a 0.4mm being fitted to almost all 3D printers.

You could replace the nozzle, but if anything I may decide to go even bigger, this machine is just crying out for a great big nozzle to produce some serious 3D prints fast and accurately. And on that point I had hoped to be testing out the now MOARstruder, but sadly it was not quite available when I asked about it.  (see below).

MOARstruder is now fully available for the TAZ5 and TAZ6 directly from LulzBot on the website, you can check it out here.

After a lot more printing and testing with the TAZ6 Hexagon hot-end, I'm probably going to make a new extruder for the TAZ6 using the E3D Volcano. The Volcano is very similar to the new MOARstruder, in fact the nozzles are interchangeable for the Volcano ones, so you can fit hardened, stainless, brass or copper types.

In the next LulzBot TAZ 6 blog post (and video) will go into a lot more detail about the print quality, settings and use of both Cura and other slicing engines on the TAZ 6.

The TAZ6 did a lot of printing towards the end of 2016 and over Christmas. I now feel I understand many of the limits and balance between quality and settings for this 3D Printer. I significantly tweaked the profiles and then also stopped using Cura. It's producing solid and consistent results and has handled all materials I have thrown at it.

This 3D Printer is a very well engineered (slightly over-engineered, but in all good ways). It feels solid and always in control, the bed-level system is low-tech, but reliable and more importantly it works really well.

I'm totally enjoying the 3D printing experience with the TAZ 6. Plenty of things I would (and will) change, but for an out-of-the-box experience, it's delightful from delivery to first print (apart from the issue I had, but more on that next time). I have a lot more feedback for anyone considering this 3D printer, so join me text time for a closer look at the prints, profiles and capability of the LulzBot TAZ 6.

I almost forgot, in the video I talk about a Handheld Retro Gaming PC system I made up (Windows 10 to emulate older games and the like) - it was a simple and fun 3D printing project (anyone could do), I'm happy to go into a lot more detail, let me know if anyone would find this sort of project interesting. I do a lot of projects using 3D printing and often electronics / Arduino etc. - Not really sure if I should post more of these here or not?



Not printed on the TAZ 6, but I found it and talked about this project in the TAZ 6 video above, let me know if you want to see more projects (and maybe a design / assembly guide?) on these sort of things.

This was just a brief introduction to the TAZ 6 experience. Lots more next time, I hope you enjoyed it.

Rich.
@Richrap3D
RichRap on Youtube

3DR RepRap Delta Printer - Part 1 - Release - Mini Maker-Faire London

Hello Everyone,

This post sees the release of my 3DR Delta printer design. I know a lot of you have been asking for it. I had planned to do another monster post on full 3DR assembly, but as documentation is taking much more time to get completed, instead of delaying the release any further I thought it best to do a series of Blog posts to show assembly, setup, calibration, and firmware config in stages.

3DR (V2_001) Release.

This post will be Part 1 - Release files, print some plastic parts and source other materials.

In future posts we will look at the following as a guide to the whole process of building and setup of a 3D printer.

Link > Part 2 looks at preparation of parts and starting assembly of the 3D printer and extruder.

Link > Part 3 tackles the final machine assembly, hot-end, electronics setup, and wiring.

Link > Part 4 gets to grips with the firmware, setup, calibration and first movements of the Printer.

Part 5 will see us setting up Slic3r with 3DR, use some test parts to level our bed and have some 3D Printing Fun!

If you missed my Intro video last month about 3DR, take a look at the video below, I explain some of the reasons I designed this printer.

I also had it running live and printing all sorts of multi-coloured objects (that's another future post :) at the recent London Mini Maker-Faire,

A really big thank you goes out to the faberdashery team who kindly offered me space on their stand to show off 3DR, we had a great day and a lot of fun!

3DR attracted a lot of attention for the entire Maker-Faire day, much more than I expected. It was also great to meet and talk to so many of you who follow my work, read my blog and were also inspired to do something or even start businesses in this great booming industry, thank you all, it really made me very happy.

In past years I have done many different 3D print colour mixing developments, so for the Maker-Faire I had the very British Red,White and Blue 3DR setup with a dual bowden fed extruder mixing Hot-End Nozzle, allowing some nice looking prints to be made during the day. Extruders and the blends of filament feed are controlled in Gcode, still experimental at the moment with this two channel and a new four channel fed bowden version, still some rather complex mixing control to get sorted, but looking very promising!

Here are a few photo's of some of the objects we printed using the fine filament faberdashery provided to all exhibitors during the faire. It's a fast, accurate, and quiet printer, I hope you like it and decide to build one.

Gunny sacks and PrettyTron Vase designed by Ben Malouf

Gear Vase Designed by JelleAtProtospace 

This was a popular one - the colours mix between clear at the bottom, bands of increasing rainbow and gold eventually fading into silver. - Print time of 67mins / 0.125mm layers @ 105mm/sec 0.3mm mixing nozzle.  

A Joris Weekly cup (Nr22) printed in Bling Bling Gold, mixed with various rainbow colours.

A collection of other prints I did just before the Maker-Faire, and one very important thing to point out here, this Printer is not just for Pots and Vases! it was just a lot quicker to test out the Gcode mixing settings with a whole load of different single wall printed objects. This printer can print anything my MendelMax can and at better quality and speed.

Hex Cut bottle designed by Perry Engel (Cerberus333)

I had a lot of people at the Maker-Faire ask if Delta's are better for printing round or organic objects. I would have to say not specifically, it's simply a different way to position the printing head in 3D space. Delta's can move everything about much faster, so have less chance of ooze or print defects, and you can 'lift' the nozzle a lot on each move because Z is as fast as all other axis (unlike most other 3D printers, that tend to have a slower Z drive) to ensure parts do not get knocked off.

For me Delta's are a natural choice to get things printing faster and ensuring a much better Z axis alignment on parts, so for now I'm developing more Delta printers and improving whatever I can.

So much more I could post about the Maker-Faire but many other people have already covered it well. It was a great experience.

It was also the first time I managed to get 3D scanned by the team at Thingmaker.

They used an Xbox Kinect and swivel stool - producing a full colour .PLY file 

I ordered and paid £35 for a full colour print, and a few weeks later this little mini-me turned up!

On with the 3DR release...

3DR - License information -

"Thank you for downloading, please be aware and abide by the license all these files for the RichRap 3DR Delta printer are covered by -

Attribution - ShareAlike Creative Commons V3 (CC BY-SA3.0) - 

This License is not greatly restrictive at all, so please don't forget to attribute my work and acknowledge the work by others that this is built on.

Many people and projects have provided inspiration for this printer design. I would like to thank everyone working on RepRap projects the world over.

Special thanks to - Johann C. Rocholl for all the great work on Delta printers and firmware.

Sublime for the fantastic Tantillus printer using Spectra fishing line as the drive component and the various other great parts and designs used in the construction of this Printer.

I hope this work has been of some use to you, if you wish to say hello or even donate towards further developments please see the left hand section of my Blog.

Many thanks - Richard Horne (RichRap)

My website - www.richrap.com

Catch me on Twitter @RichRap3D

Watch me on YouTube

Please see www.reprap.org for information about the RepRap Project.

Please visit the RepRap forum

Please note - All images, photo', video's and drawings on this blog, on external sites and social media resources are copyright of Richard Horne (RichRap) and are not covered under the Creative commons License detailed above, if you want to use an image, video or drawing, please get in contact, in most situations I'll be very delighted to help you."

3DR - Part 1 - 

The released model files, design source in Sketchup format, images and other helpful stuff are all now in a Github repository.

I'm using the great Githubiverse template by Gary Hodgson for the release and presentation of the 3DR files and to keep them updated as the design may evolve in the future.

Using the Githubiverse template, presents the project as a formatted Github Page in a similar style to Thingiverse. The page can be viewed here - RichRap 3DR 3D Delta Printer - Githubiverse

Printed Parts - 

3DR uses a simple set of 3D printed parts to form the main structure of the machine.

All parts are fine printed in PLA, but you can use ABS if you prefer.

You will need to print our acquire a set... - If you get stuck, give me a shout.

I would recommend printing the following parts with 30% honeycomb infill, two perimeters, ideally with a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.25mm or lower layers.

3x 3DR_Bottom_Motor_Mount_V2_001_RTP.stl 

3x 3DR_Top_Electronics_Mount_V2_001_RTP.stl

3 x 3DR_Top_cover_cap_V2_001_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_Top_Boss_V2_001_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_Bottom_Boss_V2_001_RTP.stl

And also the following parts with 35% honeycomb infill, two perimeters, ideally with a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.15mm or lower layers.

3 x 3DR_Spool_V2_001_RTP.stl

3 x 3DR_Carriage_V2_001_for_LM6UU_RTP.stl 

(Or try out the optional experimental Brass bushings version)

 

1 x 3DR_Jhead_groove_mount_V2_001_PUSHFIT_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_micro_platform_V2_001_RTP.stl

3 x (or you can use 6) 3DR_Print_Bed_catch_V2_001_RTP.stl

12 x 3DR_RichRap_joint_and_rod_adapter_VERSION2_001_RTP.stl  (use concentric infill)

If you use other types of TRXX style rods, you may not need these.

For the extruder, you can use your own Bowden version or a choice of countless others, or my version -

1 x 3DR_Extruder_body_V2_Test_001_RTP.stl - (3DR is designed to use multiple extruders)

1 x RichRap_Greg_style_Guidler_Modified_with_grab_lever_For_1_RTP.stl

1 x herringbone-gear-large.stl

1 x herringbone-gear-small.stl

The Gears are the Triffid Hunter design, you can use non herringbone if you prefer, or other variants. 

Filament spool holders are a good idea to fit on the top of the machine -

3DR_NYLON_Spool_Holder_V2_001_with_bearing_RTP.stl

3DR_PLA_Spool_Holder_V2_001_with_bearing_RTP.stl

3DR_PLA_Spool_Cover_V2_001_RTP.stl - (optional and experimental) - Print in PLA !

You can print out an external fan mount if you require - 

1 x RichRap_3DR_80mm_Fan_cover_3DR_RTP.stl (or as many as you require)

1 x RichRap_3DR_80mm_Fan_mount_Part_A_RTP.stl (or as many as you require)

1 x RichRap_3DR_80mm_Fan_mount_Part_B_RTP.stl (or as many as you require)

And the XXL LCD display and SD Card case is highly recommended to finish off your machine - 

This LCD case is a modified version of the excelent design by wersy - design here

1 x 3DR_LCDXXL_Base_RichRap_V2_001_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_Top_Case_XXL_V2_001_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_LCDXXL_Controller_knob_V2_001_shorter_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_LCDXXL_Kill_Button_V2_001_RTP.stl

1 x 3DR_LCD_Adapter_RichRap_V2_001_RTP.stl

Mechanical Parts - 

3DR uses a number of different bolts and nuts, the plan is to rationalize parts so less sizes are required.

The bill of materials here is not exact, and will be updated after I build up another 3DR, so take it as a guide, you may find you need a few more nuts, bolts and tie-wraps to complete the build.

The main frame supports are using Aluminium 20mm T-slot, but as all they do it strengthen the machine, you could change the design to use wood dowels, bamboo, steel tubes or even angle iron.

The smooth rods are 6mm in size, I would recommend using stainless steel here.

Smooth rods and Aluminium sections share a size ratio, you can build the 3DR almost whatever height you require, you just need to have the Aluminium sections +50mm longer than the 6mm smooth rods.

I would not recommend going over 1.0M in height, after that it may be better to change the design to 8mm rods. 

My 'standard' sized machine seen in the photo's above uses 3 x Aluminium frame sections of 500mm long and 6 x 6mm stainless steel rods 450mm long. - this also gives a build height of approximately half the length of the smooth rod length.

I have also built up a 3DR with 650mm Aluminium sections and 600mm smooth rods without any issues.

Another key part is the universal joints used for the Delta arms.

I have used the smallest TRAXX Style joints - they are commonly available in model shops and are used for radio control cars, boats, helicopters as push-rods etc. The ones that are ideal for 3DR are using M2 threads and M2 Nuts, if you can only find M3 versions, they should still fit.

Universal joints

* EDIT - I thought I had added the link for these, I used the above from KC model accessories (UK) Many other's seem to also be available and should be compatible, if you find one that does not require the printed adapter parts (for example the 3mm carbon fiber rods could be directly inserted) - do let me know.

I'm also using standard 3mm carbon fiber rod (used on Kites and models) cut to size (110mm) and rod adapters (x12) to join the universal joints and rods together.

Printed joint and rod adapters.

Carbon Fiber 3mm rods - 110mm long

When assembled they look like this.

You can buy complete TRAXX Style joints complete with rods that can be set to size and tightened, they often have aluminium or titanium rods.

Examples of a ready made TRAXX universal push-rod you can buy with various lengths to use for Delta printer's if you don't want to make your own.

Other parts you are going to need include - 

• 6 x M5 washers (connecting the Plastic parts to the Aluminium frame)
• 6 x M5 T-slot nuts for the Aluminium channel - I recommend getting more and adding them into all the channels so you can attach extruders, fans and other things to the machine
• 6 x M5 x10/12mm Socket cap or dome bolts
• 20 x M4 x12mm Socket cap or dome bolts for connecting most of the plastic parts together, and mounting the LCD adapter.
• 40 x M4 washers - use on the above
• 20 x M4 Crinkle washers - use on the above
• 20 x M4 nuts (You can use Nylock nuts in many places rather than the Crinkle washers and normal nuts, but you need at least 4 x normal M4 nuts to complete the build
• 10 x 3mm x 12mm self tapping screws - for the Hall-effect end-stops and LCD case.
• 8 x M3 x 20mm Socket cap or dome bolts - for the bed catches and mounting the electronics.
• 15 x M3 x 10mm Socket cap or dome bolts - for the motor's and extruder.
• 9 x M3 x 6mm dome bolts. I know a silly size, but they are for the Motor Filament spools - you could cut down 10mm ones if they are tricky to get.)
• 12 x M3 nut's 
• 12+ Tie-wraps 3.2mm x 100mm for the carriages LM6UU's and tidy up electronics wiring.
• 3 x M8 nut's (one is used on the Top Boss for the filament spool)
• 1 x M8 Threaded rod x 120mm for Filament spool
• 3+ M8 plain Washers
• 3 x 608ZZ bearings
• 6 x LM6UU Linear bearings
• 4 x NEMA17 Stepper Motor's - ideally over 1.2M versions (look for 1.7A or 2.5A) max 50mm Long body.
• You should be able to use NEMA14 motors too, as the mounts are designed to fit both, but I have not yet tried NEMA14's so let me know if you try them out.
• 3 x Hall effect end-stops (I'm using RepRapDiscount versions, here)
• 1 x RUMBA Electronics (you can use other electronics sets, but 3DR electronic mounts are spaced for RUMBA).
• Megatronics electronics also fits nicely into the 3DR. RAMPS it a little high but could be made to fit with a small printed adapter.
• 4 x Pololu stepper motor drivers or equivalents
• 1 x LCDXXL display and SD card Kit
• 1 x M8 Hobbed Bolt
• 1 x J-head MKV 1.75mm or similar / equivalent kit for Hot-end (heater cartridge / resistor / thermistor / thermocouple)
• 1 x Teflon tube 4mm outer 2mm inner x 500mm long
• 2 x 1/8" Pneumatic fittings (metal or plastic) 4mm Tube size 
• About 6M of Spectra Line 90Lb (0.5mm) fishing line - or other options that are similar.

• Material for the Build platform, it's a ~170mm circle 3mm thick - ideal materials are Di-bond, Aluminium or Tufnol. - Glass if you can get a round or hexagon shape.
• 1 x USB cable.
• 1 x 60W or higher DC 12V power supply (Brick)
• Mains cable for your country.  
• Various wiring requirements for electronics (I'll go more into that in the next post)
• Some 1.75mm PLA or Nylon Filament.
• Probably some tape, glue, bit of luck and beer / tea / coffee, as you like.

That's Part 1, start printing parts and sourcing bits, I'll see you in Part 2.

In the next post (Part 2) we will do preparation of the parts, assembly of the main machine and extruder.

In Other news - 

It feels really good to release 3DR, and yesterday for a break from documentation and to do something a little different, I finally started printing a set of Jo Prusa's i3 parts. - 

I'm using this machine build to 'celebrate the layers' of our printing progress.

In very funky Rainbow Colours - should be an eye catching machine

The i3 is a machine I have been meaning to build for quite a while, now don't you just love RepRap and this great community :)

Received my pre-ordered Leapmotion the other day, it's working really well, even better than I had imagined. Could be very interesting for virtual 3D modelling at some point in the future - Imagine virtual clay sculpting or pottery wheels! 

RepRap Community meeting Hub at the TCTShow Birmingham (UK)

And don't forget, lots of us will be at the TCTShow NEC Birmingham September 25th-26th for a Grand RepRap Community Hub meeting event during the two day show, come and say hello on stand G54.

Preparations for the show are well under way, it should be a great RepRap Event!

It's free to attend, but you need to register - do that here.


Thanks for reading, back again soon, and do let me know what you think of 3DR and if you decide to build one.

Cheers,

Rich.