Blackwolf 3D Printer Developed in Croatia

I was surprised when I saw Blackwolf for the first time at a Maker Faire in my regional capitol. Blackwolf is a large 3d printer with full enclosure that is developed in Croatia, city of Sisak.
Hopefully we will get more information about it soon.


Here is Blackwolf working at Osijek Maker Faire:

Here is a video of printing L 2 model:




You can find more information about this machine at:

Blackwolf Facebook page

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No, it is not first Croatian 3d printer!

Most of the big news blogs on 3d printing scene published a news article about "first Croatian 3d printer" and it was all over our local news portals as major technology breakthrough news.
When I first saw it on TV my reaction was:

IT IS NOT CROATIAN, IT IS CHINESE!!!!! THIS IS B$&&Sh#*!!!!!

Judge for yourself:

Forcebook UltraPrint 3D printer by HG Spot aka. Myriwell 3d printer

One Croatian commentator (yes, you Čop) wrote:

It's not "similar" to the Chinese printer. It is the very same Chinese printer. But for 120 Euro more. This is hardly newsworthy, and being from Croatia I strongly resent this being published in the context of "first Croatian printer" there's nothing first nor Croatian about this. Just a company reselling Chinese stuff at a higher price, trying to rip off people with a crappy printer while the hype is still on.

This is a great summary of the whole situation.

Now, our local Croatian media are not known for their investigative work, they basically take any PR statement and broadcast it so I didn't expect more for them. I also didn't expect any better from HG Spot. I'm just a little sad that there are no competitors in Croatia and that the our public TV isn't promoting DIY culture more.
And I'm disappointed that we are still just sinking deeper in economic crisis as a country and this is not a type of behavior that will help us.

Croatia does have small but vibrant DIY and 3d print community which I hope will grow more in the future and educate more people. Maybe even produce truly first Croatian 3d printer.

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Fanless printhead with DIY radial blower air cooling system by Chopmeister

You need air cooling to print PLA but do you need fan for it? Chopmeister doesn't think so. He started a project of a fanelass cool air supply to the printhead. He uses a 3d printed radial air blower powered by small DC motor to pressurize the air which then goes trough silicone tubing to the printhead and cools the printed object.

Fanless 3d printhead cooling - air blower and silicone tubing guide cool air to the printhead 

His next steps are to improve control electronics for the fanless cooler to make it more Plug'n'play.

Follow his progress and get detailed information at his blog:

http://chopmeister.blogspot.com/2013/11/road-to-fanless-printhead-diy-radial.html


Nice project Čop!

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Haddon - Ultimaker to H-bot conversion project

Chopmeister is working on a "Haddon" project to upgrade a Ultimaker into H-bot movement 3d printer. First attempt failed but second version will be released soon.

Haddon - first attempt in converting Ultimaker to H-bot

From his blog (http://chopmeister.blogspot.com/):

If you are like me, you think H-bots are totally sexy. (No, not in that sense, shame on you!) You also have an Ultimaker. Now what to do... How about making a kit to convert an Ultimaker to an H-bot style gantry, but in a totally non destructive way, using a few parts from the original UM? The reason behind it, besides testing out an H-bot, was that while I love my Ultimaker, it's design is very unfriendly towards experimenting - it's so tight everywhere there's not much room to put new parts, and to change the print head you need to disassemble half of the printer. With this add-on, I can easily change parts, even the whole print head just by turning a few bolts. Also, if more drastic changes are needed. it takes 6 bolts to unplug it from the UM frame so it can be accessed from all sides. 

Anyways, that all seemed like a fun idea so I set out to design something. After two days the UM to H-bot add-on was born - nicknamed Haddon. It has a lasercut frame which mounts snugly on top of the original UM frame, uses UM's linear rails, bearings and motors. The extra parts are a GT2 belt, two GT2 pulleys, some small bearings and a bunch of M3 nuts and bolts.
Now there's one very important thing about this version - it doesn't work. Having no experience with H-bots, I completely missed the fact that some serious forces appear while moving on the Y axis, and seems like the UM bronze bushings don't like those forces. In the end it moves, but does so pretty awkwardly. So, time to rebuild everything from scratch. The frame, pulley holders and motor mounts are good, so I need to make a new print head and carriages. This could be an issue since I sold my laser cutter a few days ago, and it will be at least a month or so till my new one arrives. I really like to lasercut everything I can instead of printing it, because it's way faster and more predictable, but I guess I'll just have to print everything out this time. 

I've spent quite a lot of time moving the printhead around to get a feel of the whole system and how various parts influence each other while in motion, so I'm pretty sure I know what to do for the next version. Expect an V2 update in a few days, hopefully with some videos of it working.
For the build size obsessives among you, the XY size is basically the same, while you get some more space in Z, exactly how much remains to be seen when I finish everything.

http://chopmeister.blogspot.com/2013/11/haddon.html

Initially he didn't want to post about failed attempt, but we spoke about it and he did because failure is important lesson and information for other DIYers.

Since he is fellow blogger and 3d printing enthusiast from Croatia and we met on a workshop in Osijek, I'm following his work and more exciting projects are to be expected soon.

He is well known for his DD1 Ultimaker direct drive upgrade and H3 Ultimaker extruder.

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/03/lasercut-ultimaker-direct-drive-dd1.html


Update:

Here is a video of Haddon in action.

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High quality and complexity 3d printed fantasy figures

Here is an example of what can be done on a Ultimaker. I took this photo with my mobile phone on 3d printing workshop in Croatia.
Two figures were custom designed and printed in several parts which were then glued together with acrylic finish layer. Very detailed and complex warrior and horse 3d printed fantasy figures.

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Lasercut Ultimaker Direct Drive - DD1

With greetings from Croatia comes the DD1. Direct drive assembly upgrade for the Ultimaker, which enables you to get rid of the short belts on your X and Y axis. Idea behind it is to have one less source of potential backlash, and thus more precision. It is laser cut in plexy.
Development is under way and first in-action videos with downloadables will be available shortly.
Files are available for download at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:58570

The mastermind behind it is Chopmeister, one of the lead Croatian 3d printing scene experts.

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