A selection of random ideas from a couple of days of playing.

[Ian @sonicthehedgehog]

In no particular order (and from the perspective of a new user, both of the Robox and 3D printers in general)

• Removable door/press-on cover for the filament area.
  Given it’s stated as hygroscopic, it seems a bit odd to me that it’s just hanging there in the breeze.
• Frontloading frame for the heated bed.
  I’ve already had to flip the PEI, as it was annoyingly flexy, so I was thinking it didn’t make sense (to me, anyway) that the load/unload procedure has a requirement for it to flex, given it’s in a position where you want the surface to be as stiff as possible.
  If you change the frame to a front-loading, slide-in design, you could use stronger stuff for the bed and avoid flexing.
• Allow the software to control the lights mid-print.
  I’ve nearly blinded myself from staring, lost, at prints as they feed out. Being able to turn it off and on at will may save me.
• GCode preview.
  I’ve had some geometry where the slicer does slightly odd things, so it might be nice to see a view of what it thinks it’s going to send to the printer before it does so.

Thoughts or commentary/suggestions welcome.

[Dr. Woo @dr-woo]

+1 for Filament Door: Make it sealed and give it a reservoir/pouch to store silica gel bags in. And to make it as airtight as possible, add a rubber sealing with a single 1.8 mm hole to the extruder entry.

+1 for Frontloading bed frame: Those clips on the existing bed are kind of weak and not even in the optimum position to prevent bed warping. A surrounding notch which catches the PEI from all 4 sides with a flap on the front, is much better and allows a thicker and stiffer bed as well.

[Dr. Woo @dr-woo]

On that Frontloading print bed drawer again: the notches which the PEI bed slides into, should have spring elements moulded right into the plastic, which push down the PEI bed and thus make sure it neither lifts nor moves.

[gid @gid My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Beta]

As far as the filament door’s concerned, I don’t think it’s worth doing unless it’s done well.

What I think I’d do if I were CEL (which is NOT necessarily the same as what I think might be the best solution!) is to make the SmartReels closed containers. An outer non-moving torodial container would be fixed to the current non-moving inner hub including the EEPROM. This would wholly contain a free-to-move reel just like the current one, but without the spokes. The container could be a two-part split on the circumference, or perhaps like CD/DVD cake boxes, except with a second internal thread to seal the inside circumference from the hub. The filament itself would exit via a port in the outer container with a very soft grommet. I’m not sure if that would be enough to block humidity well enough, but it’s a thought. Maybe include a few gel pouches inside the torus.

That would add an extra raison d’être for the proprietary SmartReel model and wouldn’t cost much to add to the existing design.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  gid.

Tom Gidden -- Bristol, UK -- New Roboxer? Check out the wiki, and add yourself to the map! http://roboxing.com/user_locations

[Dr. Woo @dr-woo]

Nice one. If I recall correctly, Stratasys has that, e.g. on the Mojo printer. Could be patented. The container needs to be openable (like the CD case concept you’ve described), just in case the end of the filament slips in.

[Chris White @chrisyt]

Hey guys,

The current plan is for the second reel holder is for it to BE a closed filament container with a hub on one side. So the closed cartridge would fit inside the Robox, making it particularly useful for the particularly hydroscopic materials e.g. soluble support (PVOH) and then the second reel would be attached to it. The reason for the bed not sliding in from the front is that this is impossible to tool using injection moulding without splitting the bed tool into two separate parts - a very expensive tooling change, as it would require a whole new tool. As stated before, it’s NEVER as simple as you think…

[SuperChocolateBear @superchocolatebear]

agree with switching off the lights mid print, ive left it printing a few times while im out and just seems like a waste of power

A little waste filament catcher for when it extrudes the small amount just before starting the print would be good as a lot of mine seems to have fallen under the bed and now rattles about (only slightly annoying)

A ‘go to layer #’ option would be good as a few of my prints have been sppiled by a single layer messing up which (as im still fascinated by my robox i sit there and watch it) coukd have been saved by pausing and going back a layer

The option to turn off support material mid print would be nice as a few of my supports have been knocked over mid print and following this the filament just squiggles (technical term) up and becomes a waste, or the print must be started again

Also like the idea of the previewer before print, maybe be able to see the placement of support structures and manipulate them

[gid @gid My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Beta]

I wish it would leave the lights alone; except when using them for signalling, maybe. If the user switches them on, leave them on. If the user switches them off, leave them off.

Whenever a print fails and I have to scrape crap off the nozzle, I keep having to manually switch the head light on, and I also want to see when it’s doing calibration and wiping.

The case light, on the other hand, I could take or leave. I can see the point of it for status display, but it’s not much use to me otherwise. What would be more useful is a strip of, say, 10 LEDs in the same location, indicating percentage progress.

Tom Gidden -- Bristol, UK -- New Roboxer? Check out the wiki, and add yourself to the map! http://roboxing.com/user_locations

[Anonymous]

I would have preferred just some decent white LEDs on a dedicated exterior switch to give us plenty light and enabling us to take good photos (i.e. bit like an Ultimaker 2).

[Author]

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