TeeBot – The Mobile 3D Printer in a Suitcase, Now on Kickstarter

Emmanuel Adetutu of 3DStuffsNL is a data analyst and programmer with degrees in computer science and geoinformatics. He’s also a maker, thinker, and developer who creates 3D models, and now he and his team have designed a mobile, open-source 3D printer that not only looks good, it fits in a suitcase.

The new TeeBot “is for 3D printing enthusiast who are always on the move,” and working from Eindhoven, Netherlands, and Adetutu wants to put “the power of production on your desktop” with the foldable printer.

Adetutu is working in conjunction with Paul Lammerts, a maker and DIY enthusiast who will be supporting the project with his electronics, firmware, and cabling skills, and the team from Lijn64, an organization with a mission to offer people with special needs a safe environment by focusing on their skills. Adetutu and the team say the project will also give the Lijn64 members the opportunity to assemble and work with 3D printers.

“Immediately we got huge response from TeeBotMax users around the world, so I kept working on the design and finally,” Adetutu says. “The result is a simple, foldable 3D printer in a suitcase that produce quality 3D prints.”

He says the TeeBot is easy to move around by simply loosening four nuts, and then folding up the printer for storage in a suitcase.

Adetutu says the device was built with rigorously tested key components and features the Lite6 hotend from E3D for printing with standard materials such as ABS and PLA. A full-length PTFE liner also insures that users will be able to obtain excellent performance with flexible materials (like NinjaFlex) as well.

The TeeBot also includes an MK3, 3mm aluminum core print bed which means there’s no need for a glass plate, and the designers say that makes it a much lighter solution than a PCB heatbed and glass. Its maximum temperature rating of 180 degrees Celsius and Reprap.me heatbed mean a flatness across the print bed surface of approximately +-0.2mm.

The TeeBot prints with 1.75mm filaments like PLA, ABS, flexible plastics, and wood plastics; features a nozzle diameter of 0.4mm; has a print layer height of from 0.1mm- 0.4mm; and incorporates an LCD display. Users will be able to print from SD card through the E3D Lite all metal hotend. It boasts a build volume of 200 x 160 x 200 mm.

A Kickstarter campaign is running through June 11th to fund development of the TeeBot, with a €5,000 (approximately $5,580) goal. You can support the project via four simple reward backing levels:

• TeeBot DIY kit, all you need to assemble your own TeeBot.
• TeeBot fully assembled and tested. Ready to Print.
• Adopt a Marvin and we will give it out in your name.
• TeeBot 3D model in Sketch-up 8 file format.

The top reward features a fully assembled TeeBot 3D printer, a filament spool holder, an SD memory card loaded with documentation, manuals, all necessary software and sample 3D files, a small spool of filament, and a 3D printed object to demonstrate that the device was calibrated and tested sent with the printer.

For more details, specs, and videos on the TeeBot, take a look here.

What do you think of this mobile 3D printer in a suitcase? Let us know in the TeeBot forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the Kickstarter campaign video below for a look at the TeeBot.