Desktop 3D printers are handy gadgets to have at our side, but they often spend the majority of their time at our homes or in workshops. Thomas Sanladerer, a YouTuber, wanted people to be able to bring their trusty 3D printers anywhere and everywhere, according to New Atlas.
So, Sanladerer modified a cheap 3D printer to run on battery power and be controlled with a smartphone. The “bring with you anywhere” 3D printer is created from a Printrbot Play desktop 3D printer. He chose this printer because it already had a beam on top that could be used as a handle to carry around and was “built like a tank.”
The Printrbot Play contains a non-heated aluminum print bed and auto bed leveling. The battery power is designed with six 7.2 V Sony NP-F batteries that are attached to the back of the printer for up to six hours of 3D printing. Charging and powering the device is routed through three DC/DC converters. One of these feeds 5 V into a Raspberry Pi that runs the OctoPi Raspbian based OS, while the other converter increases the voltage to the 12 V that runs the printer.
Sanladerer added a WiFi dongle to give the printer a mobile WiFi access point, so 3D printer tinkerers don’t need access to a wireless connection when they bring their printer with them.
Check out the wirelessly operated and mobile 3D printer below on Sanladerer’s 3D print ANYWHERE channel.
Filed Under: 3D printing • additive • stereolithography, Product design