PrintrBot Play

A pre-assembled Printrbot Play (model 1505) was donated around 7 November 2016. It is one of several 3D Printers Bloominglabs has.

The complete, official documentation can be found on this Google Drive folder.

Capabilities

Materials

As a basic, low-end model, the Printrbot Play is best suited for printing in PLA.

Unlike earlier 3D printers offered by Printrbot, the Play's hotend can get hot enough to handle higher-temperature plastics like ABS. However, without the heated bed (which was available as an upgrade), these plastics will be very difficult to print due to warping.

The Printrbot Play is supposed to be able to print flexible filaments.

Dimensions

The Printrbot Play has a build volume of 100mm wide, 100mm deep, and 130mm tall, or about 4"x4"x5".

With its 0.4mm nozzle, the Printrbot Play can produce layers from around 0.05mm thick (if you are very patient) up to 0.35mm thick. The typical layer height is 0.2mm. If you are feeling impatient, you can try 0.4mm thick layers, but the prints may be weak due to poor layer adhesion.

Like most stepper-motor-and-belt-driven 3D printers, the Printrbot Play can reproduce horizontal movements as small as 0.05mm.

Slicing Settings

Cura is the slicing program recommended by Printrbot. It has a built-in profile for the Printrbot Play.

File:PrintrbotPlaySlic3rSettings20171120.ini.zip is a profile for Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition. It is based roughly off of the profile included in Cura.

Original Condition

When the Printrbot Play was donated, it was nonfunctional. On February 23, 2017, Apple reloaded the bootloader and firmware using:

• avrdude
• a USBtinyISP programmer.
• the RepRap wiki page on the Printrbot's control board: reprap.org/wiki/printrboard
• BootloaderHID.hex
• play-0.6.hex

The controller board, new firmware, steppers, and sensors seem to be working fine.

Future Improvements

(Feel free to take some of these on!)

• test different filaments, come up with slicer profiles for each
• develop high-resolution slicer profiles
• develop high-speed slicer profiles
• set up octoprint server for this printer
• build an enclosure to keep dust out
• set up a webcam for viewing progress and creating timelapses
• build a heated bed