Need pro tips for disassembling my FarmBot

“Pre-optimization is the root of all evil”, someone once said. I haven’t received my FarmBot yet but I’m already wondering if I should even assemble it or not.

I’m considering migrating and I’d love to take the FarmBot with me when I go. I wouldn’t want to find out that after assembling the FarmBot, it’s very hard to actually package it up again.

What things should I consider before completely assembling it, given the fact I want to disassemble it again for easy transportation to the other side of the planet…?

Time may be a factor for you to consider. I built my Farmbot in the middle of March. I’ve been troubleshooting and familiarizing myself with the technology and software. I haven’t been able to plant anything yet. Since Farmbot is in the early Betta phase, it could take you time to get it up and running. I’m a person of average intelligence and tech savvy. If you’re a tech genius, then you may get it going in a weekend.

If packaging is a concern, I wouldn’t worry. The packaging was executed efficiently, but putting it back together won’t be a puzzle. I was very impressed with the packaging that it arrived in. If it were me, I’d keep it in the box unless I had a full year before moving.

I once drove a partially dis-assembled FarmBot across the United States for re-assembly it elsewhere. The main challenge is the wiring and tubing. I would recommend you disconnect all of that. You might actually be able to get away with disconnecting just the cable carriers, UTM, and Electronics Box, but keeping everything in the cable carriers themselves. Though I’m not sure how feasible that is cause I’ve never done it that way.

Once you get the cables off you can pretty easily remove the belts and pull the whole cross-slide + z-axis off in one piece. Then the gantry can be broken down into the main beam + two columns and then pulled off the tracks. Then the tracks removed from the bed. So about 25 machine screws and 25 woods screws later and your bot can pack up fairly small.

By the way, UPS picked up your FarmBot from us yesterday afternoon @mdingena :slight_smile:

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I’m not sure if I will have a full year left to enjoy my FarmBot, but I don’t really feel comfortable leaving it in the box unchecked. What if some parts are missing? I imagine I can’t come knocking on Rory’s door in over a year’s time to tell him I’m missing some parts from the kit he’s sent me this week…

You could do a partial assembly, where you put together the main subassemblies (tools, gantry wheel plates, cross-slide, z-axis, UTM, electronics box) and then browse the BOM to make sure you have everything else you need to complete the assembly after that. And if you came knocking in a year should anything be missing we would likely be able to supply you with an equivalent new version of a part :slight_smile:

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Ah, just want to say, I love this community :slight_smile:

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