My back couldn't take moving the heavy XL with the enclosure, so I created the retractable casters!  

My back couldn't take moving the heavy XL with the enclosure, so I created the retractable casters!

My printer sits in a confined space in my basement.

I had issues early on with the printer electronics and needed to frequently access the back of the printer. When I bought the enclosure, again, I had to access the back of the printer during assembly. 

I had back surgery and moving this heavy printer, especially where it is located is tough on my back. So, I decided to come up with something that would make turning the printer easier. This machine is heavy ( 25.3 kgs, 55.7 lbs), and I wasn't sure if any print could handle it. But you know, you got to try.... so I did!

My first prototype was a simple casters. It took much trial and error since the wheel base was made out of 3 parts and needed some post processing and gluing. The print direction was vertical, like pancakes stacked on top of each other. I finally perfected a function part. But when I checked to see if it could handle the weight, it simply snapped.... Back to the drawing board, I thought.

The weight of the XL (~50 lbs) was just too much for the stacked orientation of layers. 

Before and after load test. Snapped like a twig!

My second attempt was printing the wheel base horizontally, so the print could take the stress of the lift.

Modified print orientation of the wheel base (picture right) to be able to tolerate the stress on the wheels during lift. 

It was a challenge since I was printing with ABS. Even though I had the benefit of multi material print, I didn't want to use it. My thought was for this to be able to print on printers without the multi material print capabilities. So, I tried splitting the wheel base into three components, so they could be printed flat on the print bed and then glued together. Moment of truth after I perfected the tolerances and IT WORKED!!! I was so excited my functional print worked!!!

We have liftoff!!!  My first attempt at testing the functionality of the print. I apologize for the poor quality, I was holding the camera with one hand, and moving the printer with the other. 

The down side of this print was that it is not print and play. It does require modest post processing. That being said, I think it would handle printing with PETG, so may be someone out there could try it as one unit without having to post process. 

This model needs quite a bit of ball bearings for smooth movement of the wheels. So, after much thought, I was able to design a modified version which has ball bearing for wheels. This works perfectly. There is not much gluing, and not much for post processing, but just as strong.

It lifts the XL with ease, just as the first design did, and while I have not pushed the wheels to find out the maximum weight it can handle, I am sure it could do more than 90 lbs. That's 55 lbs of the machine and 35 lbs of the enclosure (25.3 + 15.7 kgs)  

I'm so excited about this functional print. My first one!

The final version with ball bearing casters. Much smoother and quieter. Not to mention, it uses substantially less ball bearings!!!