Hello, I’ve been working the past 2 years in an open 3D printer and I want to share the final step of the project, commercialisation, with the 3D printing community.
In short is a simple and affordable open 3D printer for makers that want to get their first machine. Launch price is 299€ for the kit.
All the info at http://mprime.io/m-prime-one
Does it have a heated bed ?
No, it doesn’t have a heated bed, although some users are upgrading the printer to include it (check the work by @Olivier_Bilodeau , for example: https://plus.google.com/u/0/109084808114644504190/posts/Ue2ov53ejmu).
And again a printer that is moving the whole axis instead of just the print head. I’ll never understand the reasons for that concept.
What is innovative or different about this design?
@Sven_Eric_Nielsen Because the mass of the bed and print is often less or at least near the mass of the hot end with extruder. If it was a bowden, then there would be less justification, but still… given similar masses, why NOT move the axis?
@James_Newton
I mean the axis where the print head is mounted.
And by the way, if you build a bowden printer with a head mass similar to the mass of the printbed, you’re doing something totally wrong 
@Sven_Eric_Nielsen So… you are saying the bed should drop instead of the axis where the print head is mounted going up? I guess that works… after thinking about it… but again, with an extruder on the head, the mass of the head and the table is about the same, so it doesn’t really matter. And with the printer sitting on the table, it’s less likely to wobble at the /start/ of a print if the head moves up.
As I said, if it were a bowden, it would be less justified.
It looks like with the current configuration the head would be prone to sagging in Y. Flipping the rods to be on top of one another would improve stiffness.
@James_Newton
What the…???NO, this is not what i mean.
You have your print head mounted on the (let’s call it Y axis). The printbed is moving through the other (let’s call it X-) axis.
So please ignore the printbed. I dont care about the printbed. I talk about the print head (Y axis).
In this case the head is fixed on the rods. The head, including the rods, is moving back and forth. And my question is (always) why is everybody moving the rods including the head back and forth.
It’s way smarter to fix the rods and mount the bearings on the print head.
The result is :
And again, as soon as your print head weight is the same as your print bed, you’re doing something wrong.
A typical bowden all metal hotend (like E3D) is around 50-60g. With some plastic parts to fix the hotend and the bearings you’ll have (in such a setup) maybe 100-120g including bearings.
Try to make a build plate (200x150mm) including bearings, belt, screws and so on that weights less than 120g. And it will be even harder if you add a heatbed and/or glass plate.
That’s also one reason why such a printer setup will never be able to print at 150mm/s with a reasonable quality.
@Sven_Eric_Nielsen Ah. Ok… that makes sense. Agreed, I can’t think of any reason to move the rods rather than just moving the head on the rods.
@Sven_Eric_Nielsen because most people are just copying designs. In this case, I think @Printrbot was the first one to come up with this design. This just minimizes it, most likely giving up a lot more stability.
That’s almost identical to the original smart rap. Just the frame is different.
I see a lot of mention saying : if it were a Bowden. I have to clarify that it is a Bowden and to whatever you say is wrong about this printer, I answer that it works fine for me.
Ah… is that a fan hanging out on the arm there?
I have no doubt the printer works fine for you… I’ve never asked if it worked or not. What I specifically asked, and never got a reply to is this:
“What is innovative or different about this design?”
I do not ask that as a criticism or a slam or to be negative. I ask it to prompt someone to clarify why it is worthy of attention. As it is, I see just yet another low cost, non-heated, small, 3D printer. There are gobs of them. What makes yours better? If you can’t answer that question, how do you expect to sell it?
@James_Newton , I am the one who designed and is selling the printer, @Olivier_Bilodeau is an user of the M Prime One from Canada. I am glad that you are so happy with the printer Olivier =)
I haven’t been answering because questions were very complex and I didn’t have time to address them properly, but now I can at least answer your question. I also have to say that feedback is appreciated, I like that you all are participating in this conversation with different point of views.
There is nothing totally new in this printer, I just wanted to design a printer simpler than other alternatives such as the great Prusa i3 and deliver as much value as I can at an affordable price. The printer is inspired by the Printrbot Simple family, the Smartrap and the Prusa i3. The value of the printer lies in it’s simplicity, the fact that is an open and integrated system, with all the files (including firmware, printing profiles…) published and with support (manuals, forum and mail) from our team and the community.
I hope this answers your question, if you need further clarification let me know.
Great answer! I might have said "It’s unique in it’s low material count; it uses less material than other printers of it’s type, by combining the motor mounts and slide bushings into one small part, and using a vertical frame which can be quickly hand cut from commonly available materials to increase structural integrity. This reduces the time required to print it’s 3D printed parts to an absolute minimum. "
Your support and documentation are certainly far above average for an open source project.
I’m curious if you thought about mounting the fan somewhere else and ducting the air to the head (a fan bowden if you will).
I only wish you had an America local distributor. :cough: :nudge:
I have being testing a fan duct, which was my initial inclination with this project, but it has proven too hard to print and to integrate in the design. Next step is redesigning the head to use a blower fan, in fact @Olivier_Bilodeau is already testing a design of this kind shared by another member of the community.
If you are interested in the machine you can source it from us (http://mprime.io/shop), we ship to the US. Unfortunately, shipping costs to the US are a bit expensive. We would be interested in getting an American distributor with knowledge about this kind of projects, if you were interested let me know!
@Diego_Trapero I’m always interested in distributing products in the USA. I’ve worked with two different guys from Australia, a dude in Belgium, and a kid from Mexico, who have made a little money selling through me in the USA. All open source stuff. Electronics.
I have a little experience with making things move, like 3D printers big enough to print houses out of concrete. The drivers used in those machines were designed with the guy in Belgium and sold by me here in the states:
http://www.ecomorder.com/Techref/io/stepper/THB6064/gallery.htm
But honestly, competing with China on electronics is stupid. Or, to put it another way, “A nearly intractable marketing issue” so branching out with something else would be good… I do a good job of taking care of customers, updating documentation, troubleshooting problems, etc…
@James_Newton “nearly intractable marketing issue”, that phrase got me xD! Can you give me an email to continue the conversation?