Rotocaster / Rotomolder made from common parts
THIS IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS!
Main frame components are solid and work well, bearing and bolt mounts too. The feet need to be modified to include more bracing and pulleys/motor are still being fiddled with(NEMA17 works great but it's the most complicated).
instructions are still being worked on and model files may be reorganized or changed.
That being said. The machine works well and has made an number of urethane, silicon and chocolate casts of different types. I'll include some photos later.
Photos now include all the needed detail, so you should be able to build one from that and help me find any missed mistakes!
If you have any problems, I'll try and respond to comments and fix minor problems.
PLEASE MODIFY THIS DESIGN
This was made partly as I wanted something that was easy to make, was flexible in size, didn't use gears and was cheap. My build costs are about AU$35 not including motor.
I'd love for someone to redo this, a lot more care could be taken to reduce the amount of filament required, especially on the corners. The current design was made to be simple and solid.
The aluminium size is common in Australia and I suspect other metric places in the world, however a version may be needed using whatever the nearest imperial size is.
An improved version could also reduce the number of bearings to 6 by replacing the single large aluminium with two smaller ones, one either side of a single bearing. Like a 'H'.
Hardware BOM
3m of 10x20x3mm aluminium. (Lager one was made from 10x20mm bar stock. Heavy!)
Cut list small(150x250): 2x 150mm, 2x 200mm, 6x 250mm, 2x 300mm.
Cut list big size(250x250): (keep forgetting)
10x 608 bearings
6x M8 Bolt 65mm
1x M8 Bolt 75mm
14x M8 Nut
4x M8 Nylock (Optional, better machine but harder to work on)
6x M8 Washer
Rubber bands (No.34 100x3mm worked for me)
Optional: GT2 2x6mm belt + neoprene glue. Or GT2 continuous belt large enough and some way to tension it. (You can use rubber bands instead, but the machine has some strange wobbles and effects. OK for a test, but I'd not recommend it.)
Recommended joiner for GT2 belt: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1814419
Tools
Metal cutting saw. (Hacksaw works)
8mm drill bit
3mm drill bit
Countersink bit or taperd reamer
Basic hand tools, including ruler.
Print list
Due to the number of parts involved, they have been organised into 'plates' to suit a 100mm square print bed(Such as the Up! Mini's) so should work on most printers. Most slices can break these up if you want to fit more on larger build plates.
The machine pictured was printed in cheap Red ABS on an modified Prusa i3 clone. 2 shells top/bottom and 2 on sides with typically 20% infill.
2x Corners
1x either Smooth OR GT2 pulley set
1x everything else
1x motor(optional)
Optional
I will not offer help for this side of things. DC motor is cheap/easy to drive, but runs a bit fast and has low torque.
- https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170210075356&SearchText=Right-angle+Gear+Motor+car
- NEMA 17 is strong, controllable but takes more effort. I used an broken GRBL board.
Or NEMA 17 stepper + electronics
Test video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeE7XG8RrDU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhfUAERnrJA