Newbie to the forum. Little background for you. I entered the 3D printing industry when my boss decided on a whim to purchase a Makerbot Replicator for me to play with (as if he thinks I’m going to sit there like a monkey pumping out inventions for him!). Anyway, within a month I was hooked! By October 2012 I had already decided to build my own Prusa i2 printer from scratch (“Ecksbot”) using my Replicator to print the RP parts.
$400 over budget and about 200 hours later, I had a semi-working Prusa i2. Unfortunately the design was horrible, my X and Y axis weren’t secured well to the linear bearings. Ultimately I shorted my Azteeq X1 control board hotbed thermistor, and had to print in PLA only. This was fine until I jammed the hotend. Obviously I could fix the printer, but I hated the design, I decided I’d scrap the printer and start fresh.
Fast forward to February 2012, I decided I wanted to build a Delta 3D printer, so I purchased a Rostock Max kit. That printer is working fairly well, but I still have a dead Prusa i2 and a whole bunch of spare parts just itching to be re-used.
Now, It’s time to begin planning what to do with my Prusa. Initially, I wanted to build a MendelMax2.0, but was recently pointed to the Lulzbot TAZ via Reprap.org. So far I’ve been very impressed with what I’m seeing.
However, I’m a bit confused. From what I understand, the TAZ is open source, and the STL’s and BOM is available for download. Can someone show me where to find this information? I haven’t been successful in finding any information beyond links to the store.
TL;DR - Where can I get information on how to build a Lulzbot TAZ from scratch?
That’s for the production version of TAZ. Lulzbot also keeps all of their development/internal work out in the open so you can see what they are working on or even grab the parts and try things before they are officially production ready (e.g. the dual extruder they are working on). For those things, you’ll want to browse around here:
I could have sworn I saw an assembly guide they use internally up there (on the devel site IIRC), but I can’t remember where it was. I might have dreamed that up, but you may run into it if you browse around a bit.
When you’re on the store’s TAZ product page, the link at the bottom under the title “Source, Bulletins, and Updates” is the same as the first one Adam posted.
Yeah, I found this directory which I assume is the one I’m looking for - http://download.lulzbot.com/TAZ/hardware/
But what I still haven’t seen yet is actual instructions for assembly. Is there anywhere I can find that info?
Obviously since I’ll most likely be using a different control board/power supply/hotend, I can’t follow the build instructions verbatim, but it’d be nice to know how things go together before I start the build.
Where they used the same TAZ printed parts, but reduced the rod/extrusion measurements by 100mm. I haven’t gone through things to see if I can shim up my 8mm rods to be used. The Z axis bearing mounts may need to be changed to accommodate 8mm pillow block bushings or lm8uu linear bearings. I’d rather not have to replace the precision ground smooth rod for this, as the smaller TAZ may not need the larger diameter rods.
I shot a quick video showing what is involved in building a Taz. I hope this helps you a bit and please ask me if you want a more in depth look at anything. There are also some videos about building it on my youtube channel.
Awesome, glad to hear I’m not the only one thinking about this! Question is http://devel.lulzbot.com/TAZ/2.1/ for the standard sized TAZ, or the mini? I’m assuiming the standard TAZ 2.1
But, why would you make a printer smaller??? I can’t wait until I have a 2meter+ cubic build volume!
Thanks! I’ll definitely take you up on that! I’m happy to see you were able to build one for half the price of a MendelMax2.
Though I’m a little surprised there is no real documentation for the TAZ aside from the parts list and STL’s… I might need to contact Lulzbot and request any documentation they may have (even if it’s rough).
Has anyone ever considered using a Maker-slide for the Y-axis? Just curious.
Thanks for all the input so far, I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me a LOT in the next few months once I start the build.
We have a TON of documentation, keep in mind that for our designs under development it’s usually in flux, and spread out in a few directories. The link I gave you above, is for the development server, which has production photographs, models, previous ideas and iterations, BOMs and such.
We’re working on some assembly guides but they may not be available for some time. The TAZ is one of the easier printers to look at and assemble, thankfully there is quite a few pictures available.
I like having a large printer like the TAZ, but it’s nice to have a more compact and portable printer. I travel a lot with 3D printers so portability ease is something I have to consider.
That works great on an AO-10X style printer, particularily with the AO-TAZ mod. THe problem you might run into would be length of the maker-slide. You would need to find a source that has them long enough for use with a TAZ, and you would need a modified front and rear mounting bracket since the TAZ design doesn’t have the same front and rear crossmembers to mount to that the AO-10X does. You could possibily get away with just a mid mount, but that would impair the stability of the whole unit.
Is there any way I could see some drafts of the assembly guides? I know I can’t follow the entire thing but i like to get all information possible. The assembly photographs will help and so will the build log, but some step by step instructions (at least for assembling the frame) would be helpful I think.
Hmm, shame. I guess I’ll stick with smooth rods for now and see how it goes. I really like the “cheap-skates” SeeMeCNC uses on the Rostock Max - 150 hours on the printer so far, and the skates still slide smoothly on the acetal wheels
