TeeBot 3D Printer

I needed a 3D printer to carry along, After assembling a few 3D printers based on opensource designs. I started drawing and experimenting with various designs of my own, finally I decided to make a folding!! 3d printer that fits a cabin size suitcase. In Part1 I will show you how to buld the mechanical parts, Parts 2 will cover the electronics. Part 3 will show how to use the software’s. Enjoy!!

The Drawing…

3D Printer folded..

Folded & packed in a small suitcase.

Bill of materials (BOM)
To build the 3d printer I have provided a list of the basic hardwares, materials & electronics needed. The list is an overview of what is needed.

Printed plastic parts.

Stepper motors (5 PCs) All NEMA 17

8mm precision smooth steel rods 3 meters

5mm threaded rods 1 meter

20mm square Aluminium pipe 2.5 meters

Gt2 timing belt 1 meter

Gt2 puleys 2 pcs

Idler bearing 426zz 4pcs

Direct drive extruder TeeStruder (

J head Hotend

Micro limit switch 3 pcs

Ramps 1.4 Board + Arduino Mega + 4 Pcs stepper driver

M4 hex head bolts 20 pcs

M3 hex head 18 pcs

Print bed glass/ mirror 15 cm X 15 cm

Print bed wood 15 cm X 15 CM

Flexible shaft coupling 5mm x 5mm 2 Pcs

Linear bearing LM8uu 10pcs

How to get the printed parts
Download the 3D stl files from reprap wiki here.

If you do not already have a printer ..ask someone who has one to print them for you.

Buy them..On request it might be possible to have a set printed for you, it will soon be listed on ebay, emakershop or somewhere online soon.

How to get the other parts
Talk to people around you who already own a 3D printer (if the person has no clue what reprap means… Run!! 🙂 )

Source for the aluminium pipes, bearings, threaded rods bolts and nuts from your local hardware store.

Smooth rods, belts, pulley Ramps board, stepper motor and stepper driver, you are better off getting it from shops who sell rep-rap parts.
Alternatively you can request for all parts and components from me (complete diy kit). You will receive a box of everything every single parts which has been cut to size and all electronics tested. On marktplaats nl search “teebot”

Know your parts

Printed Parts

Stepper motors

Smooth steel rods

5mm Threaded rods

Aluminium pipes

Direct drive Extruder (Teestruder)

Electronics Ramps + Arduino + Stepper Driver

The build
Assembling the printer is pretty straight forward 🙂 I will spare you the trouble of reading and just load photos…

Mount the Extruder

Easy right 🙂 assuming all went fine you should have a machine looking like this…

At this point the print bed (Y axis), extruder (X axis) and Z axis should all be movable with you hands and no play should be observed along it’s movement.

Electronics .. fire up the soldering iron!!
Big congrats if you made it this far, at this point it will be nice to clear up your work space, shed, garage, work table and get rid of all left over materials,
this is where the fun begins (or never begins!!) …
If you’ve never played/work with an arduino board using stepper motors. Before connecting them to the printer I advice you test the whole components first, in the reprap world there are a lots of variations to almost everything!! your approach might be different, but here is how I normally do the wiring/electronics.

Test the Arduino

Test all motors/stepper drivers

Test all micro limit switch

Load the firmware (Marlin or sprinter) I’ll advice sprinter for first time user. Believe me you don’t want to start wit marlin!!

Install software (printrun) connect to the board

Connect x axis stepper driver and motor, test to make sure it runs in right direction an also that the limit switch works!!

Do the step above for y axis, and z axis, every time before you touch the board make sure it is disconnected from the pc and power supply turned off

In part 2 I will cover the steps mentioned above. Enjoy some photos of some of the printer at work 🙂 .

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