RosBot V 1.0

[AndThenSome09]

I am almost done with the design phase of my new deltabot called the RosBot. I have sourced all the parts for it from various suppliers and am awaiting one shipment before I can start the build. I plan to run a campaign on Kickstarter.com or indigogo.com. Right now I really don't have any wholesale suppliers or any idea how to get in contact with some to be able to offer this kit at a reasonable price where I can still make a few bucks.

I'm turning to you guys for any help or advise I can get as far as choosing and finding direct suppliers to meet my needs. Before I can even think about running a Kickstarter I need to have all this figured out so I can figure out what my goal would be and also what percentages of the goal are going to what. I have already been talking to John Oly about deals with the Onyx and have found a supplier for my linear motion needs.

I'm about to start building my prototype but as far as the whole business side of things I'm still a little in the dark and I would love to be able to work this thing out so if any of you could point me in the right direction or have any advise feel free to reply or PM me please.

I've spent hours upon hours designing and printing and testing over and over to make sure I knock it out of the park with this one. It's been hard and a lot of fun too! I just need a little help if that's at all possible guys.

Thank You!!!

[brent]

Use alibabba/alixpress for your bulk order needs. Make three BOMs before you decide to put this on KS. One should be for 50 units, one should be for 100 units and one should be for 250 units so you can estimate what it will cost to build your RosBot at those quantities, although you can't predict how well it will do. You might want to write a business plan, even though you aren't officially forming a business. A LLC should be sufficient for protecting yourself, not your company (eg: user got shocked/burned on your printer and sues). Software-wise, you can use Shopify (managed), BigCartel (managed) or host your cart elsewhere (unmanaged). Kickstarter isn't entirely about getting funding, it is also about getting publicity. You should set your goal 1.3x - 2x higher than what you expect to allow for price mismatches/vendor suddenly goes out of buisiness/wrong parts/broken parts/etc.

[Jimustanguitar]

Or make a point out of using Made In USA parts. There are a ton of domestic suppliers, and it's something that people aren't scared to spend a little extra to support!


Do you have pictures or a build log or anything? Is the design open source?

Sounds cool!

[AndThenSome09]

I am leaning towards open source as I am all about open source and the basis of the design comes from the Kossel. I'm just a little worried about some big company taking my idea and stealing the wind from my sails if you know what I mean. Is there anything with open source to prevent that? I guess I need to learn more of what open source really implies. But I still think I will go open source after the Kickstarter campaign is done.

[geneb]

Well look at it this way - the Rostock MAX and the Orion are both 100% open source printers, yet nobody is even close to beating them with their own design.

g.

[Jimustanguitar]

The value added isn't in proprietary design, it's in implementation, customer service, innovation, etc... Companies fight over patents and intellectual property all the time, and in the end it's the better company/people that end up on top.

After you publish something as open source, unless it infringes on an already filed patent, you've officially made a public disclosure and it's protected that way. Another company could make it and sell it, but they can't do anything to take that right away from you.

[AndThenSome09]

Good points, I think I will go with open source in order to better the community. I wish there was some sort of license I could release it on that would make the plans open for individuals to use as they wish but stop companies other than myself from profiting from the design.

[dpmacri]

Good points, I think I will go with open source in order to better the community. I wish there was some sort of license I could release it on that would make the plans open for individuals to use as they wish but stop companies other than myself from profiting from the design.

I'm pretty sure that the Creative Commons license that E3D uses does just that: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- ... deed.en_GB

[AndThenSome09]

Yes the Creative Commons license would work great, however I am not sure if it can be applied to something like a 3D printer. I'd have to ask someone in the know.

Does anyone know weather or not it could be applied to an actual 3D printer??

[barry99705]

Yes the Creative Commons license would work great, however I am not sure if it can be applied to something like a 3D printer. I'd have to ask someone in the know.

Does anyone know weather or not it could be applied to an actual 3D printer??

How about this?

http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRapGPLLicence

[grabredemeyer]

How's the progress on this looking? What are you doing for your linear motion? Actual linear bearings? Are you going with a belt driven system?

[AndThenSome09]

How's the progress on this looking? What are you doing for your linear motion? Actual linear bearings? Are you going with a belt driven system?

I am almost finished with the build for my prototype, I have all the printed parts finalized except for my hot end mount(currently working on that as we speak), I have used openSCAD to design all my printed parts as I feel it gives me the best control over dimensions and the final STLs turn out great, always nice and manifold as long as you pay attention to your code.

For my linear motion I have gone with 600mm long and 12mm wide rails, pretty much the same thing the Mini Kossel uses just longer and I found a different supplier out of China which is much cheaper and the rails are very solid and flat along the whole length the motion on them is smooth as butter! I got 3 rails with the carriages for $130 USD including shipping through FedEx.

I am not using belts to drive my axises, I'm not quite ready to reveal that part of the design just yet, but it is something that hasn't been done as far as I know anyway, all in all it is looking very promising!

It is going to use the new FSR method for the Z-probe for which I have designed and made my own little circuit to convert the signal from analog to digital and also provide sensitivity adjustment through a POT on the board, the board also has an LED that lights when the signal goes low indicating that the FSRs have been triggered. I plan to use the new Marlin firmware by Rich Cattell which has a promising auto calibration function, not just bed leveling but actual calibration where it adjusts the rod length and delta radius and such automatically based upon multiple probed points on the bed.

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-eE08 ... 000712.jpg[/img] [img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fKou ... 000713.jpg[/img]

I am using the Onyx heated bed (same as the Rostock Max), which I had ordered for my prototype but now that they are re-designing the Onyx I will have to wait and see if the new design will work with my printer or if I'm going to have to go another route for the heated bed.

I will have some pictures to post here and on the "Delta Robot 3D Printers" Google group very soon

Thanks for asking for an update!

BTW: I could still use some help with some suppliers for the parts needed by every 3d printer that will give me a decent discount for ordering in bulk assuming a successful KickStarter Campaign.