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A renewed approach to building your own RepRap style 3D printer.
The SmartRap Mini was originally designed to be a simple RepRap type of printer with a minimalist approach. It had most of the parts as printed parts, and no heated bed. Over time the design evolved and was forked and improved upon by many people. The extent can be glimpsed at on ThingiVerse where there are about 15 variants. There are so many in fact, that the most asked question is "What parts do I get?"
As I began my journey into the SmartRap Mini I gathered as many parts as I could find, and began to piece together the parts that worked for me. My initial goal was to build a working 3D printer as cheaply as possible. The Chinese (or GearBest Effect as MakersMuse put it) race to the bottom beats me on price at all levels.
But since a maker can always use more than one printer, this makes a great learning tool and secondary printer. Be warned however, the SmartRap Mini is a bit high maintenance, learning to tune and diagnose issues will be required. I hope to pass on what I learned here in this site.
Benefits
Benefits
Simple to build, minimal part count in its basic form.
Expandable, add a heated bed, removable bed, sensors, led lights.
Quiet, well its quieter than my Anet A2 !
Build to size, you decide the size.
Drawbacks
Drawbacks
Maintenance, operator needs to keep an eye on bearings and drive lines.
Plates not easily swapped without having to re-level. This could be fixed using magnetic type plates.
Original Credits.
Original Credits.
The original SmartRap Mini was developed by SmartFriendz. Their main site no longer offers the SmartRap Mini, but you can start here, SmartRap Mini on Thingiverse. There are also several videos made by SmartFriendz on YouTube.
Neither of these videos show my version here.
SmartFriendz build 1 of 2. Video.
RCJoseB also had a whole series. Video. But he did not allow comments, so no sharing here.
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