Introducing "Unobtanium" (no replies)

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's 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 filipeCampos 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.
6 - Have an enclosure to eliminate warping due to draft.

Due to the fact that it will be almost impossible to reach all these goals I will name my printer "Unobtanium" and this will be my build log.

I will follow Filipe's design as much as possible but I will make modifications where necessary.

The specs will be;

- 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
- IGUS bearings for the X and Y axis.

I have been working on the for a few weeks now and this is the story so far;

While waiting for the parts to arrive from China (and Germany) my prusa is working overtime to print parts for the new baby.









The first shipment has arrived.



A nice package from Motedis.com arrived so I could finally start building.







The 3.2" TFT touchscreen. Time will tell if this is the way to go, but so far I like it.



MKS SBase v1.2





More and more parts start to arrive and I'm making slow but steady progress.



Test fitting one of the side panels.



I realy like how robust and sturdy the Z carriage is.



The IGUS bearings for the Y axis didn't work (too much flex) so I replaced then for LM8UU's. They do seem to work for the X axis, so for now they can stay!



3.2mm rods for cable management.



Optical endstop for the Z axis.



Easy adjustment for the Z height.



230V and an aluminium frame could spell disaster, so I will take extra care to make this machine safe.