This is a zip file of the rostock-mini firmware that I am currently using. The only changes I made to it were to update the files to compile with Arduino 1.0.1 and modifications to the configuration.h file to work with the rostock mini.

Rostock Mini Firmware

After replacing the 1/8″ plywood temporary base and top frame plates with the final 1/4″ acrylic , my rostock-mini is working very well! The extra rigidity in the frame has greatly improved it’s positioning accuracy and it’s making prints that rival my Prussa Mendel for quality. The video above shows my round print bed and spring loaded adjustable levelers in action, as well as a close up of the delta bot motion.

This is a picture of the clear acrylic base plate before I added the print bed holder to it.

Here is the complete printer with the adjustable print bed.

I mounted the airtripper v3 bowden extruder cold end on the rear of the top plate. As it turns out, the M6 screw holes on the extruder are close enough to the right distance apart to match up with the idler top end printed bracket, so I can use the same M4 screws (with fender washers) to hold the extruder cold end as well as hold the top plate to the idler bracket! Once I saw that bit of luck I gave up all thoughts of mounting the extruder under the bottom frame plate.

The default rostock-mini design mounts the print bed directly to the base of the printer and adjusts the leveling of the hot end nozzle via three adjustment screws on the carriages that home the printer. This may work, but I wanted to make my round glass print bed removable (mounted via binderclips). I figured that if I was going to add an under-hanging lip for clipping purposes, I was going to need some space below it anyways, so I decided to make it adjustable with 3 screws at the same time. I mounted the adjustment knobs under the platform so that I only reduce the build volume by 5-10 mm total. This is my current platform design:

The rectangular areas are where binder clips attach. The holes in the rounded tabs are for a hex bolt and the two rectangular slots are for pins from a plastic piece that keeps the bolt head from turning.

(This allows a knob to turn on the bolt as a hight adjuster.) A piece of adhesive cork acting as insulation sits between this plate (which will be cut from 1/8″ birch plywood) and the glass build plate. The glass plate provides the structural rigidity and provides for a nearly flat build platform.

If you want to replicate this, all my design files are on Thingiverse, #63414.

I finished the bowden tube extruder for my Rostock Mini build. It uses airtrippers V3 Bowden extruder for the coldend, a makergear hot end, and the rostock-mini hot-end holder.

I can actually print things with the rostock-mini, and say that I built a 3D printer using my (other) 3D printer. However, I have a lot of work to finish up before the printer is done (or even prints well). Now that I have all of the parts working together, I need to finalize the mounting position of everything, then I can laser cut the final 1/4″ acrylic top and bottom plate with all the appropriate mounting holes. I think I will be putting the airtripper extruder on the top plate, as opposed to under the body of the printer. I may also rig up a spool roller on the top as well. The 1/4″ acrylic (vs the current 1/8″ birch plywood) will give the printer a lot of needed rigidity. I also have to play with using the set screws on each carriage to adjust the height of the extruder head over the entire print surface, and determine exactly how I want to mount the glass build plate and bed heater.

I have the endstops, automated homing, and steps per mm set up correctly so that my rostock mini can run gcode and “print” an object. Of course, I still need a printbed, and an extruder cold / hot end before actual printing will happen. Also, I’m still using my 1/8″ plywood prototype frame pieces, so it wobbles around a lot with the vibrations. Once I finalize all of the mounting holes, etc, I’ll be switching out to a full 1/4″ acrylic sheet on the top and bottom.

The biggest project that I am printing on my Prussa Mendel is all of the parts for a Rostock-mini which is a small footprint delta platform. Instead of having 3 different x/y/z axis, it has three identical towers that raise and lower carriages that are attached to the extruder platform by rods.

I choose to build this (2nd!) 3D printer for several reasons. First, I wanted a backup printer in case I broke something on my main printer. Second, the vertical design of the delta robots makes having a tall print volume very easy, and while the Rostock-mini will only be able to print in a 6×6 area, it can go up to 8 inches tall. My Prussa Mendel can do up to 8×8 inches, but is limited to objects of around 4 inches high. The only object so far where I have needed the full 8×8 build volume was the small organizer drawer which is longer than 6 inches, but I have several objects I want to print that are taller than 4 inches. Third, I really like the visual aesthetic of the delta mechanism, and wanted to have both types of printers. Finally, I wanted the experience of building the whole thing from scratch, sourcing all of the parts myself.

Brian Evans has done a very good job with the design on this printer, but the tolerances are very tight, so I needed to use a bit of trail and error when fitting everything together.

The motor & idler end use M3x12 screws to tighten the plastic around the vertical upright 8mm linear rods. When tight, the end of the screws don’t quite come all the way through the nut. I found it impossible to thread the screw into the nut until the plastic clamp was tight. I used a combination of M3x16 screws through the holes I wasn’t working on and a pair of plumbers (water-pump) pliers to get the plastic clamps close enough together so that I could thread the screw onto the nut. I recommend using a soldering iron to melt the hex nuts into the motor/idler ends to get an extra mm to make this easier. (However, watch out for my warning about threading into a melted on nut below…)

The major issues I had when building the rostock-mini frame arose mostly from the universal joints in the carriages and platform. The instructions say to melt the M3 hex nuts into the carriage and platform until they are flush. They also say to drill out the holes with a 3/32 or #40 drill. I found that when using a 3/32 drill the M3 screws would self tap threads into the plastic, so if the nut was just slightly off center, tilted, or not at exactly the right level, it was terribly easy to cross-thread the screw into the nut and bind them together, inside your plastic part. I had to use a haxsaw on three stainless steel screws until I got smart and knocked all my nuts out. I would thread/tap the M3 screws into the plastic until they were just to the hex nut indentation, and THEN put the hex nut onto the screw and get them threaded in place. I don’t have a ball end hex screwdriver that lets you drive a socket cap screw from an angle. Because the space between the inner universal joint holders on the carriages and platform was too small for my allen wrench (hex key), I ended up driving these screws by gripping their head with a pair of pliers (about 5 degrees at a time), which is REALLY annoying if you forget to put a fender washer on.

I suspect that you don’t need the M3 screws to self thread into the arms on either side of the u-joint, as the bolt/washer should hold them without plastic threads. I don’t know if you need the inside of the u-joint to be as tight as it is or not. If I were to build a 2nd one, I think I might drill out all holes not actually in the u-joints just slightly larger so that the M3 screws would clear without self taping threads. This would make assembly MUCH easier, and hopefully not introduce too much slop into the u-joints

I didn’t have any PTFE grease and couldn’t find any at the local hardware store, so I used spray on Tri-Flow which “contains PTFE” (I don’t know how much) but it appears to have made the u-joints move smoothly enough. I assembled the platform/rods/carriages before applying the lubricant (grease has the advantage that you can direct it exactly where you want it) and the entire mechanism was very tight before I sprayed all the joints with the lubricant. After spraying the joints everything worked much better.