Printrbot Play tiltup bed

thingiverse

This is a work in progress published for comment! Not ready for printing! With an extended bed the Play becomes much harder to store and transport. So I decided to try building a tilt up for the Play instead. The Printrbot Jr. V2 had a tilting bed, as did the Go style printers. Their tilting beds make them easy to store and transport. The "bearings" have been designed for an 8mm smooth rod. A reinforce piece connects the base back together after cutting on the opposite side inside. The idea is to cut the base on each side of the bed bearings and switch, meaning about 120mm of base will be cut loose. Printed long bearings will attach to the base ends, with a bar attached to the top of the base to bridge the gap. Short bearings will attach to the "tilt Bed" part of the base, all secured with screws. I intended to make these parts out of Aluminum on a desktop mill but decided to try printing them instead so you could make it for yourself. The printer that improves itself is just more fun and makes more sense. My worry is that the sturdy design of the Play, which makes it such a good printer, will be reduced by using printed parts instead of milled 6061. I think I'll use magnets to hold the bed in print position. These will be mounted in the "reinforce" printed part. One side of "tilt bed" must be shortened, on the bearing side, to allow tilt. The wires are on the bearing side of the base. Unfortunately, this cannot be printed on a stock Play model. The parts are 160mm long and can only be printed on extended bed models. I'll most likely print them with PLA at 50%+ infill. To tilt the bed, the Bridge will have to be lifted up out of the way. With the printer at the edge of the table, pull the bed all the way over then push it down. Then you'll pull it up into storage position. I need to design a lock to hold it in place in storage position. EDIT: After looking at the base, I think it would be better not to cut the entire bed base loose. Cutting just one side loose and across the top and connecting across the top seems like a better idea. See top base2.png and reinforce2. This piece will be mounted inside the base. Magnets will be inset into the top to lock the tilt bed down for printing. Not cutting one side of the base will give it more strength than before. Alignment won't be an issue now either. The corners of these parts are now beveled. There could still be issues with wires being pinched, so I may need to design a wire guide to prevent this. Printer: Printrbot Play extended bed Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: .4mm Infill: 50% proposed Notes: Will be printed on a Printrbot Play with an extended bed. Cannot be printed on standard bed as parts are 160mm long.