Robo R2 - Review 2022

The Robo R2 ($1,499) is a 3D printer that can print from a variety of plastic filament types and by several connection methods, including Robo'south mobile printing app. In testing, information technology had more than its share of setup and operational issues; it printed consistently once they were resolved, although its print quality was somewhat uneven. I had been hoping that the R2 would exist a pace forward from the Robo 3D R1 +Plus, just that largely turned out non to exist the case.

A Substantial 3D Printer

The R2 is a sizeable printer, measuring 23.8 by 16.viii by 16.half dozen inches (HWD) and weighing 25.5 pounds. Information technology has an off-white frame, with an open top, gently curving sides with big windows, and a see-through front door. A five-inch color bear on screen is set below the door. The R2's build surface area is 10 by 8 by 8 inches (HWD), a tad smaller than the Robo R1 +Plus (10 by viii by 9 inches) and closer to square than the MakerBot Replicator+ Printer, our Editors' Choice high-stop 3D printer, which has a build expanse of 6.5 by 11.6 past 7.half-dozen inches.

Dissimilar the Robo R1 +Plus, which has a forepart and back that are open up to the air, the R2 is more closed-framed, with merely the top open. In addition, its door can be opened to remove printed objects or for maintenance, and closed when a print job has commenced. This greatly 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 pinnacle when the door is closed.

Setup and Functions

I used the quick-get-go guide that Robo includes with the R2 to set the printer up. After unboxing the unit of measurement and removing the packing fabric from around the impress bed and extruder, you remove record, nil ties, and clips that stabilize the extruder assembly and other components during shipping. Then you lot plug the power cord—which includes a power adapter—into the printer and an electrical outlet. A couple of minutes after you turn the ability on, the touch screen—which initially displays a Robo logo—will show a carte with three main tabs: Files, Printer, and Utility.

From the Files tab, you lot can select files to print, from memory or from a USB thumb drive—a USB port is just to left of the brandish. From Printer, y'all can control the temperature of the extruder and the impress bed, likewise equally the extruder's position in 3 dimensions. The Utilities tab lets you launch wizards to perform various setup and maintenance functions, including filament loading and Z-centrality calibration, which are important steps in the setup process.

Filament Loading

At that place are 2 filament spool holders in back of the R2; I simply used one, as the second is for 2-color printing if you buy an optional second extruder. To load filament, you fold the top spool holder out until its rod is in a horizontal position. You then insert 1 end of the filament feed tube in a pigsty in a nearby sensor block, and the other into the top of the extruder assembly. Once you lot 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 information technology will be grabbed past a ready of gears.

You can so launch the filament-loading magician, which heats the extruder and and then feeds filament into it. One time the molten filament starts coming out of the nozzle, the loading is consummate and you are ready to print.

The Marker of Z

A 3D printer'south Z axis is its vertical centrality, and calibrating information technology ensures that in its dwelling house position, the extruder is ready only above the impress bed, close plenty to information technology that you could slide a slice of paper betwixt them and encounter a slight resistance. (Robo includes a "Z-Kickoff Tool" for this purpose, just a sheet of paper or a Post-It should practice just likewise.) With the Z axis properly calibrated, the gap betwixt extruder and print bed will neither exist and so tight that the initial layer of filament will be squashed, nor so wide that it won't be placed properly on the impress bed.

When you launch the Z-offset wizard, the impress bed will ascend until information technology comes to rest near a little less than a half inch below the extruder nozzle. Y'all tin move the impress bed up toward the extruder in increments of either 0.1mm or 0.2mm by setting the desired increment and then pressing an up-pointer button. (There's also a down-arrow button in case you become besides far.) Allowing motion only in such small increments helps prevent the extruder from potentially damaging the build plate when they come in contact. Fifty-fifty with the wider increment, withal, it took about fifty push presses to prepare the proper altitude between extruder and print bed. Although it is an constructive calibration method, information technology also proved more than onerous than with whatsoever 3D printer I have reviewed in quite a while.

Touch-Screen Woes

Although I managed to load the R2's filament and calibrate the Z centrality using the printer'southward touch-screen wizards, most of the time when I pressed any of the screen'due south buttons, nothing would happen, and I wasn't even able to launch a exam print. I spoke to a technical rep at Robo, who suggested that I try jabbing 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 as well said that only a pocket-sized number (two or 3) of R2 owners had called with like issues, and that a software ready to increment 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'south quick-start guide or online user manual.

Filament

Ane nice feature of the R2 is that information technology doesn't employ proprietary filament cartridges and is compatible with other types of one.75mm filament in addition to the standard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acrid (PLA). Robo 3D sells one.1-pound spools of PLA filament for $20 per spool, with specialty filaments (wood, carbon fiber, metal gold) for $35-$40, and two.ii-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 xv per centum 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 programme, Cura 2.five, versions of which I've seen in a number of other 3D printers I have reviewed, including the LulzBot Mini and the Ultimaker ii. The software is easy to use, and lets you resize, move, and relieve objects, load multiple objects for press, and change the print resolution and other settings. Information technology has profiles for a number of filament types. Yous can ship files to the printer over a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, or load them onto a USB thumb drive for direct printing.

In improver to the desktop software, Robo also offers the gratis Robo 3D iOS app, which lets yous 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 photographic camera), and change or buy 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 ane of our standard (and relatively tall) examination objects—pulled off the impress bed adequately early in the print. I noticed some crimper at the object's base of operations, which is unusual when printing in PLA and all the more so with a heated print bed. Recalibrating the Z starting time didn't aid; I was able to get them to print by covering the build plate with painter'southward tape, on which I applied glue using a glue stick.

Print quality varied, from very skillful 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 nearly-vertical plane, and had much more than problem than usual in press 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 practiced ready of connection choices. It can even be converted into a ii-color 3D printer with the buy of a second extruder. Setup and performance proved more difficult than I'd anticipated, between a balky touch screen, a somewhat onerous Z-axis scale, and a surprising corporeality of warp at the base of operations of PLA test objects, contributing to several misprints. The R2 had some of the same print quality bug that I noticed when I reviewed the Robo R1 +Plus, merely its setup and operation weren't as smoothen—although information technology did print more reliably later I resolved several issues. However, for a petty less money, the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer—our Editors' Choice midrange 3D printer—offers better print quality, is easy to ready and use, and also supports a diversity of filament types.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/3d-printers-1/18117/robo-r2

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