German RepRap producer German RepRap has once again altered its designs in an attempt to ensure ease-of-use and construction for consumers of their desktop 3D printers. Coming off the back of an upgrade to the extruder head, now with more torque for faster and smoother filament feeding, and the release of a 3D scanning kit, the company has released a new version of its flagship PRotos 3D printer.
The new PRotos V2 kit offers two obvious updates that increase the functionality and ease-of-build for the PRotos line. The first is a move from a triangular shaped machine to a stainless steel cube, which will offer the machine a much larger build volume and rigidity for stable printing. The second update promises to lower the barrier to 3D printer assembly with the inclusion of a prefabricated cable loom and pre-populated electronics boards. With this updated kit, users only need plug in their cables into the appropriate spots, eliminating the need for stripping and crimping wires and limiting the need for soldering.
In addition to the inclusion of the upgraded 3 mm Direct-Drive (DD) extruder, milled belt drives, and a T2.5 gear belt, consumers can purchase a variety of upgrades, such as a heated bed, dual nozzles, an LCD screen and SD card reader, among other things. The full specs of the machine, taken from the German RepRap site (and translated via Google), can be seen below:
Speed: up to 3mm Material 100mm/Sekunde, up to about 1.75 mm material 180mm/sec, idle to 350mm/sec- Operating voltage: 220/115V AC
- Material: ABS / PLA / PS / PVA / Laywood (wood wire) / Laybrick
- Plastic parts (polyamide plastic, highly impact-resistant and resilient)
- Steel frame with leveling feet, screws, threaded rods, shafts, linear ball bushings, ball and roller bearings
- T 2.5 drive belt and machined pulleys
- 5 x NEMA17 stepper motor with 0.52 Nm torque
- Ramps v1.4 electronics including cable and AC adapter
- Modular hot-end 3mm with 0.5mm nozzle (optional also with 0.4 / 0.3 mm nozzle)
Personally, I think that the pre-crimped wires are a welcome addition, not that I’ve built a PRotos before. I know that, in assembling my own 3D printer, I faced the biggest issues when it came to wiring. I’d be ashamed to show you the exposed copper on my connections and the heated platform was magically rendered an unheated platform for the longest time, thanks to my ineptitude with electricity.
