IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

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reibuehl
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IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by reibuehl »

Since the topic came up in another thread, I will use the chance and show off my home made portable 3D printer workbench :-)

The idea is based on an article about IKEA hacking that I read in the German MAKE: magazin. It featured an IKEA hack that converted the BEKVÄM serving cart into a portable workbench.

I used that inspiration to create my own portable 3D printer workbench:
2015-04-18 20.22.55.jpg
The base is the IKEA BEKVÄM serving cart nearly unmodified. I just did not install the middle wooden grate. Instead I took it apart and used the wood peaces to create the slides for the plastic trays. The plastic trays are IKEA ANTONIUS 25l trays with lids, but I think they are not available anymore.

On the front and the two sides, I fixed 40 cm long IKEA GRUNDTAL rails. One is used as a handle when moving the cart and they can all be used for hanging all kinds of stuff. I have a variety of accessories - also mainly from the GRUNDTAL series in use.
2016-02-28 11.20.42.jpg
2016-02-28 11.21.22.jpg
The mounts for the rail in the front had to be shortened a bit and a new hole drilled to keep them out of the way of the trays.
2016-02-28 11.21.49.jpg
On the backside, I mounted a power extension lead with six sockets. On the left side, I fixed the power supply of my UM2 with the power supply holder created by Labern.
2015-04-18 19.51.10.jpg
2015-04-18 20.08.01.jpg
I then drilled a hole trough the top and mounted a lazy susan ball bearing on top with a square piece of wood as turntable. The turntable has the same hole in the middle. This allows me to feed the cable from the power supply to the printer through the middle of the desktop and under the printer to the power socket on the back of the printer. This way the printer can rotate >360° without any issues.
2015-04-18 18.13.04.jpg
2015-04-18 19.51.21.jpg
The printer sits on some noise dampening feet printed from FlexPLA that also prevent it from moving on the turntable.
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Neotko
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by Neotko »

Awesome!
johan
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by johan »

Really nice!
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Izzy
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by Izzy »

Great hack, I've had my UM2 on a lazy Susan too for over a year now, great for getting easy access all round the printer.
I was considering the serving cart but now I must take another look you've done a great job.
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martin-bienz
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by martin-bienz »

Really cool. I actually created my own 3D Printer workbench as well. Will paste some pictures later.
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Blizz
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by Blizz »

That, my friend, is a very nice hack!
reibuehl
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by reibuehl »

Thanks for all the compliments.
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jonnybischof
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by jonnybischof »

Very nice indeed!

The only thing it's missing, is being enclosed somehow. I'm looking for a good solution to put multiple 3D printers and a CNC router / grinder / lathe all in one workshop. But that means I have to separate all the machines from each other because some generate dust and others shouldn't be exposed to dust.

I was thinking of using IKEA IVAR shelves and adding acrylic walls & doors to it. But these shelves only have a 25kg load rating. The printer I'm building will be heavier than that... I suppose adding a little more weight won't be a problem though.
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martin-bienz
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by martin-bienz »

Okay, as promised, my current workbench / setup :)

As you can see, it's a really tiny space, so I made this custom table / bench for my printer from regular, laminated chipboard (16 mm and 18.5 mm) I had from a previous project. All was sketched in 123D Design (to fit the filament boxes, printer, spool holder, the two insulated pipes runing down the wall etc.) and then cut in my garage using a jigsaw (from hand, pain in the ass to make straight cuts...). Also the drawer was then hand cut and all glued and screwed together.

Pictures of the current state, completed:
2016-02-29 22.16.24.jpg
My version of the spool holder from IRobertI, re-designed completly in F360 to also fit DiamondAge Spools :). Mounted on a 25mm aluminium pipe cut to lenght (the height of the spool can be adjusted of course):
2016-02-29 22.16.37.jpg
Some more detail of my mechanism to mount the pipe (the red piece is ninjaflex, the thread clamps the pipe with the ninjaflex piece) here you can also see the cutout for the piping:
2016-02-29 22.16.46.jpg
The drawer in detail, the handle is of course 3d printed, designed in F360:
2016-02-29 22.16.53.jpg
2016-02-29 22.18.13.jpg
And then some storage of course:
2016-02-29 22.17.04.jpg
2016-02-29 22.17.08.jpg
The printers feet (https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ulti-foot + Longer Version (Heated Bed Power Supply) + instead of rubber bands, ninjaflex inserts). You can here also see how I connect my HBK PSU (had to cut my UMO, that really did hurt!) inserted proper connector with light and fuse, so I can shut down the heated bed seperatly from the UM itself:
2016-02-29 22.17.43.jpg
The printer itself, with my custom ulticontroller case, um-handle, twisterblocks (chopmeister), spacer and endcaps (dim3nsioneer), HBK (custom), gt2 belts and pulleys, bondtech qr3.0, my colorfab XT - fan (does NOT bend, wink LePaul), ikea dioder mounted, and my Raspi-Case with 2.8 inch TFT (PiTFT) with resistive touch to control my TL's, Light, monitor the printer etc. (written in python, pygame, tornado), also added a print screen of the current web view (tornado => bootstrap, fontawesome):
2016-02-29 22.17.28.jpg
umcam_web.JPG

Hope you like it. Maybe the post was a bit long... but I could not stop once I had started.... sorry. :)
reibuehl
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Re: IKEA hack: Portable 3D printer workbench

Post by reibuehl »

Nice work Martin!
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