My second 3D Printer - Tevo Tarantula

Thanks to all the wonderful people who commented and gave me feedback on the first article about my first 3d printer. In that article I had mentioned how my daughter dismantled my acrylic frame printer and brought it to India where I was on an assignment. After some time using the printer, I thought I should make some upgrades to the printer. The main reason I wanted to upgrade was because 3d printing technology and understanding had matured significantly in the 5 years since I bought the first printer. Moreover some of the parts the first printer had, started to break off due to age. I needed another printer to print parts for the old one, or I have to source the parts from some local maker.

I decided to buy a second printer. I narrowed down to Tevo Tarantula printer via Amazon. This printer was a major upgrade at the time. The frame was all made from 20x20 aluminium rods, motors were lighter and the motherboard was a Gen L board which combined Arduino and Ramps into a single board. The movement was guided by v slot and rollers instead of 8mm steel round rods and linear bearings. I got the printer delivered on 13th October 2018. I asked a few of my students to volunteer with assembling the printer for me at my residence. One Sunday morning, 6 of them came to my house and first went through the assembly video which was available online and the manual they had in had. The parts were very neatly packaged in zip lock bags neatly labeled and referenced in the manual. By the end of the day the printer was up and running smoothly.

One of the parts of my original printer cracked when I tightened it around the time. Alarm bells started ringing for me because I could notice that the original printer had some 3d printed parts that were starting to yellow and deteriorate. Before the printer could fall apart, I went about reprinting all the printable parts for the printer. The direct drive extruder, the x axis carriage, the rod mounts, motor mounts, reinforcements, etc. all got replaced. I also got some scrap aluminum 30x30 extrusions that I used to replace the acrylic frame which I was afraid would also have aged and could crack anytime. Moreover, Indian heat during summer could make acrylic behave like jelly and wobble.

I used the opportunity to teach my students about the importance of squareness, measuring often and ensuring quality of assembling. They loved doing the work and wanted to learn more about the technology. So I bought a BMG extruder for consistency , E3d V6 clone hotend from China, some Mosfet for safety and added them to the upgrades for my first printer. It had turned itself to be a beast. Now it was ready for my students to use. They learnt 3d modelling and started printing their own designs.

My Tevo printer was just like me. It empowered the original printer to become a monster and sat there next to it chugging along reliably.

My Tevo Tarantula printer printed thousands of ear savers during Covid time, which I distributed to the hospitals and police in Chennai. Ironically, I broke curfew and stealthily rode my scooter from my place in Chennai to Vandalur in the outskirts of the city to collect a few rolls of plastic filament which became difficult to find as nobody was delivering material any more. When I returned to Canada last year, I disassembled my Tevo Tarantula and brought it back with me and promptly reassembled during my quarantine period. This printer also was showing its age. This time soldering especially of end stops and thermistor started getting disconnected often. I never knew soldering connections could age. But copper wires get oxidized and break off easily after some time. My third printer that I bought recently has hot glue dabbed on top of the solder joints to prevent this type of oxidation. Clever. I will talk about my third printer in the next article. But I want to mention that I disassembled and packed my trusted (but no more reliable) Tevo Tarantula and stored it away this weekend. I may use some of the parts, especially the motors for a future higher speed Core XY project I have in mind. Fingers crossed.

Hope you liked this article. If you did, do let me know if you have any questions or like this article .

I love 3d printing and am excited to share more about the joy of printing. Take care.

#kameshkoates #3dprinter #3dprinting #training #skilldevelopment #Skillsonics