Portabee Portable 3D Printer User manual

V1.1 (17 Aug 2013)

Document Version & Date: V1.1 (17 Aug 2013)
Original Authors:
Md Noh – designer of the Portabee
KP – 3D rinting ninja guru
DanielW – dude from Australia
Special Mention:
The design of the Portabee has been made ossible by ideas, conce ts, designs and good work by:
Brook Drumm (Printrbot)
Whosa whatsis (Re Ra Wallace)
Jean-Marc Giacalone (Emaker Huxley)
Author of this Document:
Md Noh
Daniel Warner
STL Model Files:
htt s://github.com/romscraj/Portabee
htt :// ortabee3d rinter.com/ ortabee-stl-files/
S etchup Model Credits:
Below are the Credits for the Sketchu models from 3D Warehouse
(sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/), modified for use in this documentation where necessary, and are
used in accordance to the Google 3D Warehouse - Terms of Service as of August 2013 under
Section 11.1, Subsection (c):
- 'ste er motor - nema 17' by russ_anderson
htt ://sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/detailsmid=7b5ee9e35f85c343757b961dad12f52
- 'Straight dashed line and arrow, ground' by Google
htt ://sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=f352190b5a788ecff788b21b3d1cd437
- 'S irit Level' by COL 1
htt ://sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=2b43e78280d32d13c9de7b195ccfa970
- 'Wrench' by Xaltix
htt ://sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=8a5eecc4ddf07cfcb847e83cc7b5598
- 'sledge hammer' by Paul
htt ://sketchu .google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=25f6f2002f9287ff6c142f9dd7073357
Licensing:
Portabee: GPL (htt ://re ra .org/wiki/GPL)
This Document: GFDL (htt ://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html)
The source files for this document are available at:
htt :// ortabee3d rinter.com/ ortabee-stl-files/
Issues with this document can be submitted to:
romscra[email protected]om
danielw@ ortabee3d rinter.com
Note on Mr Bu character:
Mr Bu character designed and drawn by Md Noh, using Windows® Paint Version 5.1. Ins iration taken from
the notorious Ikea® man (or erha s woman), with that signature distinctive groovy zoot suit loon alazzo ants
ins ired jum suit. Mr.Bu has absolutely no hair and truly has no skin colour – he is trans arent. His aerodynamic,
wind-tunnel-efficient head was ins ired from (one half of) the Re Ra logo. Due to his addiction to coffee
(consuming 170 cu s a day on average), he has since given u on bringing around with him numerous Thermos®
flasks filled with brewed coffee (28 of them, totalling a roximately 34 litres of coffee) and has switched to carrying
ackets of instant coffee sachets which he kee s in numerous s ecially tailored, internally accessible ockets
within his jum suit.
Daniel W curses at Md Noh for creating Mr.Bu, as Mr.Bu's crazy rouded head now a ears in his dreams, yelling
to build Portabee faster.
Mr.Bu curses at Daniel, because he has had 45 cu s of coffee, oh Mr.Bu you crazy man
Mr.Bu

V0.9 (14 Jun 2012)
- Draft document. Not finalised and may contain errors.
V1.0 (10 Jul 2012)
- Initial release.
V1.1 (17 Aug 2013)
- Manual U grade to accomodate feedback over the initial lifetime of Portabee

2x base 2x x-rod-clam
1x x-end-motor 1x x-carriage
1x x-end-idler 1x extruder- late
1x y-bearing-holder 1x extruder-s acer
1x y-bearing-idler 1x electronics-holder
1x y-block 1x y-endsto -holder
2x y-end 1x z-endsto -holder
2x z-shaft-cou ling 2x lock-cli
2x z-bearing-holder
Note: Part drawings not shown to scale.

1x 9 tooth drive gear
1x 53 tooth driven gear
1x extruder block
1x idler block
Extrduer arts and BOM is treated se arately, you can get the
instruction set from:
htt :// ortabee3d rinter.com/ ortabee-documentation/
Here are the extruder rinted arts for initial reference,

Note: Extruder parts are not included in this BOM.
Quantity Item Description Remar s
2 Ø 8mm smooth rod, 290mm Z axis smooth rods. Hardened linear rods recommended.
2 Ø 6mm smooth rod, 235mm Y axis smooth rods. Hardened linear rods recommended.
2 Ø 6mm smooth rod, 250mm X axis smooth rods. Hardened linear rods recommended.
2 M6 threaded rod, 210mm Z leadscrews
2 M6 threaded rod, 350mm Base frame rods
25 M6 hex nut
15 M6 flat washer
10 M4 hex nut
15 M4 flat washer
4 M4 nylon large washer 4mm ID x 18mm OD x 2mm
45 M3 hex nut
1 M3 wing nut For mounting electronics (exc;luded if M3 screw not
included on Z motor)
45 M3 flat washer
25 M3 nylon flat washer
2 M4x35 bolt Socket ca head recommended
5 M4x25 bolt Socket ca head recommended
2 M3x40 bolt Socket ca head recommended
4 M3x30 bolt Socket ca head recommended
12 M3x16 bolt Socket ca head recommended
25 M3x10 bolt Socket ca head recommended
2 M3x8 set screw
2 M3x5 set screw For use on motor ulleys. Requirement may differ if other
ulleys are used (may be excluded if ulleys re-attached).
2 624 ball bearing Ty ically 624ZZ
7 LM6 linear bearing Ty ically LM6UU
4 LM8 linear bearing Ty ically LM8UU
2 Manufactured belt ulleys For X and Y axes. 2GT rofile.
1 350mm belt For X axis. Belt teeth rofile to match ulley (2GT)
1 650mm belt For Y axis. Belt teeth rofile to match ulley (2GT)
1 set
Electronics + Endsto s + associated
connecting cables + com atible
ower su ly
Portabee kits shi ed with Gen6.d and set of 3 PCB-
mounted mechanical endsto s. Power su ly: 12V 10A
4NEMA 17 bi olar ste er motor with
cable Note that extruder motor is not included in qty

Quantity Description Remar s
1 Printbed (heated latform)
Provided with the Portabee kit. If a non-heated latform is
desired, refer to ' rintbed-sim le. ng' dimension drawing:
htt s://github.com/romscraj/Portabee
1 Ka ton ( olyimide) ta e
For covering the rintbed rint surface. 50mm width
recommended (and rovided with Portabee kits). If non-
heated latform is used (i.e. not using the rintbed), use
blue ainter's ta e or masking ta e.
2m S iral cable coil Used to organize wires and cables
10 Zi tie Used to organize and affix wires and cables
1Extruder, com lete with motor and
hot end
The Portabee is designed to work with the Wade V3
extruder. Other extruder ty es may be used with
modifications likely required.
1 S irit level 15cm length or shorter would be ideal – must have bubble
windows for both horizontal as well as vertical alignment
2 10mm combination wrench Very highly recommended for ease of assembly – for use
with M6 nuts. Small adjustable wrenches may also be used
1 2mm hex wrench (allen key) For use with M3 set screws
1 2.5mm hex wrench (allen key) For use with M3 socket ca head
1 3mm hex wrench (allen key) For use with M4 socket ca head
1 Steel rule / measuring ta e 15cm/6” steel rule with zero at the edge is recommended
1 Needle nose liers
1 Small wire cutter / diagonal liers Shar blades for trimming belts, zi ties etc.
2 File Round / rat-tail, and flat bastard files. A set of assorted
needle files may also come in handy.
1 Small mallet or hammer
May be required for gently ta ing in metal rods into lastic
arts during the assembly. Sledgehammer not
recommended.
1 Safety eyewear
Eyeballs are delicate, soft, recious, well, balls. Eye
injuries usually aren't much fun at all.
Authentic aviator goggles recommended for ultimate
stylistic effect. (Refer to figure 1.1)
Note: Extruder parts are not included in this BOM.
Figure 1.1
prepare for assembly

Note: Most of the rinted arts in your Portabee kit are unreamed and uncleaned. Most
times they may require cleaning u before assembly, es ecially for the holes. A range of
screwdrivers of varying sizes are sufficient for cleaning the holes (a drill can also be used
carefully). A file will come in handy to clean off certain arts.
Below are the sizes that are needed to clean out / ream out holes to the corrrect diameter:
Reaming Tool size: For use on:
3mm holes for M3 bolts
4mm holes for M4 bolts
5mm holes on ulleys for mounting onto motor shaft
6mm holes for M6 rods
8mm holes for M8 rods
Note on identifying motors in the it:
There are a total of 5 motors in the Portabee com lete kit – X motor, Y motor, two Z motors
(left and right), and one Extruder motor.
Set aside two Z motors, you should select one with a short cable length, and one with a long
cable, so as to reach the electronics (mounted on one side of the base).
Ins ect all the remaining motors in your kit. If there are two motors with a blac or golden
pulley attached onto the motor shaft, these are the X and Y motors.
The one remaining motor will be used for the extruder, check this cable length also, it should
be long and reach nicely down to one side of the base.
Motor with attached ulley.
The X and Y motors.
If your motors came with
vibration-dam ing lates
attached, remove these.
X25cm + Pulley
Y25cm + Pulley
Zleft 25cm
Zright 35cm
E50cm

Re eat the revious ste for the other 350mm M6 threaded rod.
Insert the following into one of the 350mm M6 threaded rods:
M6 nut – 6mm ID x 8mm OD x 10mm LG PTFE tubing – M6 nut
Position them to a roximately the middle of the rod. Do not tighten the
nuts.
Insert a nut followed by a washer into each end of both 350mm threaded
rods. Insert the rods into one base art and leave a roximately 7mm
rotruding out – adjust the osition of the nut and washer on each rod to
achieve this.

Insert a washer followed by a nut into the o en end of each threaded rod
against the base art. Tighten the nuts only by hand against the base for
now (do not use tools).
Tighten these nuts by hand only
(without the use of tools)
Note: Actual nuts are not red in colour, and
are highlighted so for illustrative ur oses.
More of such highlighting can be found as
you roceed through this document.
Insert the other base art into the o osite end of the threaded rods. Add a
washer followed by a nut to the o en end of the threaded rod. Tighten the
nuts by hand for now (do not use tools).
Tighten these nuts by hand only
(without the use of tools)

Insert one 290mm Ø 8mm smooth rod (the z smooth rod) into one of the
base arts. You may find it easier to do this by lacing the arts on a table,
and ressing the rod down into the hole with a twisting motion. You may
want to rotect the tableto surface from damage by doing this on a hard,
flat material eg. a cutting mat, coaster or an old faulty com act disc (or
erha s a working condition music CD from an artist that you do not like).
Ensure that the rod does not rotrude out of the underside of the base art
– it should be flush with or slightly recessed into the bottom of the base.
Re eat with the other z smooth rod and base art.
Put a washer on each of two M3x10 bolts and insert them through the two
rod clam holes on the base. Insert an M3 nut to the end of both bolts, into
the nut tra s on the inside face of the base art. Tighten the M3x10 bolts.

Re eat the revious ste on the other base art.
Refer to the ictures below and verify that your build is correct.

Perform an initial levelling of the base.
Find a suitable erfectly flat, stiff object of at least 25cm x 7cm in size.
Exam les would be a lastic cho ing board or a large smooth tile.
Place the flat object on a table and use the s irit level to check if the surface
is absolutely level. If not, stack bits of a er under the four corners of the
object until this is so.
Once leveled, lace the base assembly onto the object.
Check that object is erfectly level
by lacing s irit level in the two
ositions shown

Place the s irit level vertically onto one of the z smooth rods as shown in the icture with the
green tick. Check that the rod is erfectly er endicular to the table surface, if not, file down
only one of the two tabs on the underside of the base art in small amounts until this is so.
Re eat with the other z smooth rod on the other base art. Note that you may need to twist
the base arts slightly with res ect to each other to ensure that they sit flat on the surface as
you are reading off the s irit level.
Refer to this bubble
to check if rod is
erfectly vertical
(underside of base art)
File down small amounts
at a time from only one of
these tabs to make the
z smooth rod erfectly
vertical
(End of Part 1)
(side view of table)
Wrong lacement
of s irit level

Insert three LM6UU bearings into the bearing channels on the x-carriage.
You may find it easier to do this by lacing the bearing on end ('standing
u ') on a table, and ressing the x-carriage down onto the bearing. Take
care not to injure your fingers underneath the art when ressing down. If
the bearings feel loose when inserted, wra a few rounds of ta e (masking
ta e or ka ton ta e) around the body of the bearing to im rove the fit.
You may want to rotect the table surface from damage.

Insert the two 250mm 6mm smooth rods (one at a time) into one of the x-
rods-clam art. Note carefully the orientation of the art in the ictures
below. You may find it easier to do this by lacing the x-rods-clam art on a
table, and ushing the rods down into the holes with a twisting motion.
You may want to rotect the tableto surface from damage.

Carefully insert the x-carriage into the o en end of the two smooth rods
from the revious ste , sliding the LM6UU bearings onto the rods. Note
carefully the orientation of the arts in the ictures below.
Slide the carriage along the rods and check that it can do so smoothly. If
this is not the case, lightly file (using a round / rat-tail file) the inside surface
of the long bearing holder on the x-carriage, es ecially near the ends.
Insert the o en end of the smooth rods into the other x-rods-clam art.
Only if necessary, lightly ta the rods in with a small mallet or other suitable
tool - be sure to ta the metal rod ends and not the lastic art.
Refer to the ictures on the following age.