The Robo R2 ($1,499) is a 3D printer that can print from a kind of plastic filament types and by some connection mode, including Robo's mobile printing app. In testing, it had more than its share of setup and operational issues, it printed constantly once they were resolved, though its print quality was somewhat curious. I had been wishing that the R2 would be a step forward from the Robo 3D R1 +Plus, but that mainly turned out not to be the case.
A Great 3D Printer
The R2 is a sizeable printer, with dimension 23.8 by 16.8 by 16.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 25.5 pounds. It has an off-white frame, with an open top, gently curving sides with large windows, and a see through front door. A 5 inches color touch screen is set below the door. The R2's construct area is 10 by 8 by 8 inches (HWD), a tad smaller than the Robo R1 +Plus (10 by 8 by 9 inches) and immediate to square than the MakerBot Replicator+ Printer, our Editors' Choice high-end 3D printer, which has a build area of 6.5 by 11.6 by 7.6 inches.
Unlike the Robo R1 +Plus, which has a front and back that are open to the air, the R2 is more closed framed, with only the top open. In addition, its door can be opened to remove printed objects or for preservation, and closed when a print job has begin. This highly reduces the chances of anyone being burned by touching the hot extruder, as you would have to reach down underneath the build chamber to reach the extruder from the top when the door is closed.
Setup and Functions
I used the quick start guide that Robo includes with the R2 to set the printer up. After unboxing the unit and removing the packing material from around the print bed and extruder, you remove tape, zip ties, and clips that stabilize the extruder assembly and other components during shipping. Then you plug the power cord, which includes a power adapter into the printer and an electrical outlet. A couple of minutes after you turn the power on, the touch screen which initially displays a Robo logo, will show a menu with three main tabs: Files, Printer, and Utility.
From the Files tab, you can select files to print, from memory or from a USB thumb drive, a USB port is just to left of the display. From Printer, you can manage the temperature of the extruder and the print bed, as well as the extruder's position in three dimensions. The Utilities tab lets you launch wizards to perform various setup and maintenance functions, including filament loading and Z-axis calibration, which are necessary steps in the setup process.
Filament Loading
There are two filament spool holders in back of the R2. I only used one, as the second is for 2 color printings if you buy an optional second extruder. To load filament, you fold the top reel holder out until its rod is in a horizontal position. You then put one end of the filament feed tube in a hole in a nearby sensor block, and the other into the top of the extruder chamber. Once you put a filament spool onto the holder, you can feed filament from the loose end into the sensor block and through the feed tube into the extruder, where it will be taked by a set of gears. You can then launch the filament loading wizard, which heats the extruder and then feeds filament into it. Once the molten filament starts coming out of the nozzle, the loading is complete and you are ready to print.
The Mark of Z
A 3D printer's Z axis is its vertical axis, and calibrating it ensures that in its home position, the extruder is set just above the print bed, close enough to it that you could slide a piece of paper between them and encounter a slight resistance. (Robo includes a "Z-Offset Tool" for this purpose, but a sheet of paper or a Post-It should do just as well.) With the Z axis properly calibrated, the gap between extruder and print bed will neither be so tight that the initial layer of filament will be squashed, nor so wide that it won't be placed properly on the print bed.
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When you launch the Z-offset wizard, the print bed will go up until it comes to rest about a little less than a half inch below the extruder nozzle. You can move the print bed over toward the extruder in increments of either 0.1mm or 0.2mm by setting the desired increment and then pressing an up-arrow button. There's also a down-arrow button in case you go too far. Allowing motion only in such small increments helps prevent the extruder from potentially damaging the build plate when they come in contact. Even with the wider increment, however, it took about 50 button presses to set the proper distance between extruder and print bed. Although it is an effective calibration method, it also proved more onerous than with any 3D printer I have reviewed in quite a while.
Touch-Screen Hardship
Although I managed to load the R2's filament and calibrate the Z axis using the printer's touch-screen wizards, most of the time when I pressed any of the screen's buttons, nothing would happen, and I wasn't even able to launch a test print. I spoke to a technical rep at Robo, who suggested that I try stabing or poking the buttons (rather than just applying pressure to them), or use a stylus that comes in the R2's tool kit. I found that both of these methods worked, though I largely stuck with the stylus. He also said that only a small number (two or three) of R2 owners had called with similar issues, and that a software fix to increase the touch panel's sensitivity was available on request. I could not find any mention of this issue or the fix in either the printer's quick-start guide or online user manual.
Filament
One nice feature of the R2 is that it doesn't use proprietary filament cartridges and is compatible with other types of 1.75mm filament in addition to the standard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA). Robo 3D sells 1.1 pound spools of PLA filament for $20 per spool, with specialty filaments (wood, carbon fiber, metallic gold) for $35-$40, and 2.2 pound spools of PLA and ABS for $35, with many selling at a discount. Wood PLA is infused with sawdust, and Carbon Fiber PLA contains 15 percent carbon fiber.
Desktop and Mobile Software
In addition to the MatterConnect software that I saw in the Robo R1 +Plus, Robo now offers another open-source program, Cura 2.5, versions of which I've seen in a number of other 3D printers I have reviewed, including the LulzBot Mini and the Ultimaker 2. The software is easy to use, and lets you resize, move, and save objects, load multiple objects for printing, and change the print resolution and other settings. It has profiles for a number of filament types. You can send files to the printer over a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, or load them onto a USB thumb drive for direct printing.
In addition to the desktop software, Robo also offers the free Robo 3D iOS app, which lets you select 3D files stored on Dropbox or Google Drive from a mobile device, send them to the R2 (or other Robo or OctoPrint-enabled 3D printer) for slicing and printing, monitor the progress of prints on multiple printers (including from your R2's onboard camera), and change or purchase filament.
Test Printing
I printed close to a dozen objects with the R2, using PLA filament supplied by Robo. I printed one at the high-quality (100 microns) setting, and the others at medium quality (200 microns). Several of the objects that I tried to print, including one of our standard (and relatively tall) test objects, pulled off the print bed fairly early in the print. I noticed some curling at the object's base, which is unusual when printing in PLA and all the more so with a heated print bed. Recalibrating the Z offset didn't help. I was able to get them to print by covering the build plate with painter's tape, on which I applied glue using a glue stick.
Print quality varied, from very good to poor. Some test prints turned out nicely, but it did poorly on a test object consisting of geometric shapes and raised text arranged on a near vertical plane, and had much more trouble than usual in printing overhangs.
A Rocky Robo
The Robo R2 has a reasonably large build area, the ability to print with an abundance of filament types, and a good set of connection choices. It can even be converted into a two color 3D printer with the purchase of a second extruder. Setup and operation proved more difficult than I'd anticipated, between a stubborn touch screen, a somewhat onerous Z-axis calibration, and a surprising amount of warp at the base of PLA test objects, assisting to several misprints. The R2 had some of the same print quality issues that I noticed when I reviewed the Robo R1 +Plus, but its setup and operation weren't as smooth, though it did print more reliably after I resolved several issues. Still, for a little less money, the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer, our Editors' Choice midrange 3D printer offers better print quality, is easy to set up and use, and also supports a variety of filament types.
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