3D Printer Build.

I have been absent from this forum for a long time. I built a CNC router a few years ago, then bought a laser cutter from Full Spectrum Laser after that, used both of those to create effects as a partner in Robert Kurtzman's Creature Corps. The next logical step would be a 3D printer, and that is the next logical step. There is a plethora of information online about making a machine, and I decided to make a REPRAP MENDAL machine because it interested me to make one, and my natural instinct as an engineer made me want to spend my nights building this to keep me off the streets and safe so that I would not be doing something stupid because I'm bored.
The RepRap Wiki is an open source information website that has complete plans, links to software, and links to places that you can buy pieces and parts in order to build machines in order to make machines of your own. That's where I started. One of the beautiful things that is part of the RepRap community is that the first thing that a 3D printer can do is make new parts to reproduce new copies of itself. Therein starts my journey.

My first step was to buy a set of printed parts, which Ebay is stinking with, I chose to get a set of ABS parts, along with all the hardware (threaded rods, screws, bearings, etc.) for about $150. details are at https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=321299395729. Electronics and other items had to be bought separately.

Check around here, vcp has started to print parts already. The work so far involves shrouds on a Nike Hercules.

The other items I needed to buy were the stepping motors, electronic board, hot bed (I'm planning on printing ABS) homing switches, and hot end, which is the plastic extruder.

First thing was to clean up the ends of the threaded rods which were obviously cut with a carbide chop saw, in order to put the frame together.

Continuing with construction, the sturdy framework is built using printed parts and threaded rods.

Great thing to do, a nice project that you'll be able to make fun things with. I cheated and bought mine ready to use..a Stratasys uPrint SE.

dave carver said:

Check around here, vcp has started to print parts already. The work so far involves shrouds on a Nike Hercules.

Click to expand...

I do too as well. I have already made Estes MR LES towers for a few folks including myself. I would never ever fly my Mercury Redstone naked.

Because the Prusa Mendel is an open source project, I'm running into a number of issues. First problem is that the rods I got from the seller are not long enough, but cutting new ones are not an issue. The template for the print bed don't match the printed parts. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to take on this project, I'm just looking forward to using this printer to make a better one.

For the minor use I could put one to, I can't justify spending very much. I've been considering this kit:

https://printrbot.com/shop/printrbot-simple/

However, just yesterday, the same outfit announced the pending release of this one, slightly more expensive, so I'll continue to wait and see:

First look: The All-Metal Printrbot Simple

[video=youtube;wIterZYRjYc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIterZYRjYc[/video]

PLA only without ABS related options.

I looked at that, and seriously considered the price. Because I'm seriously studid, and like to pile problems on myself, and wanted a larger print envelope, and welcomed printing ABS, i went with the reprap mendel, figuring that my next step would be to print parts for a bigger printer. That's just the nature of my line of work. I have already bought about 9 feet of threaded rod to replace the short pieces in the kit I bought (Cheap Bastard!) in order to square everything off properly. Thank goodness I live at the effects shop during the week, and my boss/partner is waiting to see what I do with this. Just waiting on the electronics and stepping motors to be delivered in the next few days.

Perfect timing! At our club launch this weekend my daughter and I met someone who had printed a rocket and was telling us about it. Now my daughter is fixated on getting a 3d printer. I've been looking at these for a while now, but I'll have a hard time justifying one that costs over $500. But that printerbot one looks tempting...

What do you think the total cost of your reprap printer will end up being?

Good luck and please keep us updated!

Replaced the shorter threaded rods (extra cost about $6.00, but I can use the parts excluded for other rods in the build....or else in electronic bays). Big problem appears that the ebay seller I bought it from had a previous iteration of the Mendel, downloaded a newer version of certain parts from Thingiverse, and didn't link to any online resources for building the updated version. The extruder parts provided I finally figured out; it actually guides the filament better. I need to draft up the dimensions for the print bed and cut a new piece of MDF on the laser cutter (maybe $3.00 worth of MDF, if that). All in, it will be done for under $300. the print envelope will be about 9X9X6, which will be big enough for a time, but upon proving its' usefulness to my boss, he will be willing to finance a larger machine (like a MendelMax) which uses 8020 extrusions instead of threaded rods, and the printed parts can be produced on this machine, and would have a substantially bigger build envelope.

Good thing about reprap is that all the software used in running it is open source (read that as FREE) and Autodesk even has free software like 123D that can spit out 3D drafted parts specifically for printing. This is definitely an adventure, not for the weak of heart, ut the challenge will be worth the effort. I'll keep everyone appraised, and let you know what glitches I run into.

Thanks for the update! I too am confused by all the variations and derivatives, but I think I at least have my frame stuff figured out. I've been working out the various extruder and hot end options for it now. I think these are even trickier. Next will be the 3mm/1.75mm filament size debate...

Where did you get your motors? I've been looking at these:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEMA-17-Bi...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item791ff233df

I bought these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/231022522770?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Yours looks like a better deal, plus it's from a domestic retailer. All my electronics came from China, which worked out well. My hot bed arrived today, so now everything is here.
I assembled the extruder last night, but the stepping motor with the printed gear could not be possibly engaged, using the "Nextdayreprap" instructions provided. I looked at it with fresh eyes on my lunch break today, and I realized that the next picture had the big gear on the opposite side, which worked out much better. The hobbed bolt is still a little off, but that can be fixed by sanding/filing the socket that takes the roller bearings.
My kit had no parts for a J end hot part, but the fancy shmancy hot end I bought doesn't use those parts.It includes some serious heat sinks that protect the ABS parts from damage. See my above post for the hot end I purchased.
Derek, if you are building one of your own, I'd love to continue banging my head against the wall with you. Building one of these makes you understand how it works better than just buying one.
Please let me know how your progress is going, and I'll be posting my progess is going here.

Thanks for posting your experiences. Here is the frame kit I bought:



https://tricklaser.com/GRABER-i3-Printer-wood-frame-Gi3.htm

I haven't received it yet but it is supposed to show up Monday. It is base on a Graber i3, which can be found here:

https://github.com/sgraber/Graber

There isn't a whole lot of info out there on this printer, but I really like the design. It isn't clear from the pictures I've found what I receive exactly, so it will be a bit of a surprise. The original source files don't exactly match the pictures from tricklaser. I like the printer in the pictures a lot more than the original design so I'm hoping that is closer to what I'll receive. I'll find out next week...

The design is pretty simple and should be more or less self aligning. There are a lot of clever touches and you can tell a lot of thought went into it. You only need 6 8mm smooth rods and 2 5mm threaded rods and a bunch of screws to put it together.

The extruder is also a bit of a mystery, but I believe I've settled on an initial one that will work:



https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:65939

I found someone on ebay selling it so I'll order it from them. They have been really helpful with answering questions, which is really nice.

I've settled on 1.75mm filament and a j head hot end. I'm not sure if I'm going to buy an original or a clone. That is still up in the air.

I am trying to buy everything from us sellers. The only exception I've made is for the stepstick drivers which I ordered from china. The price difference was enough to justify it imo. I've already ordered those because I know it will be 3 - 4 weeks before they show up.

For a power supply I'm going with a xbox 360 unit from ebay, about $22 shipped. I've bought a ramps 1.4 board (<$20 on ebay) and I already had an arduino mega lying around so that was free. For firmware I'm starting with repetier. We'll see how that goes.

https://www.repetier.com/

Initially I'm going to print with pla, but I will probably buy a hot bed but not hook it up. I'm still debating on the print bed. There _may_ be one included with the frame kit, but it isn't clear.

That's about it for now. I can't really order the rods until the frame gets here and is partially assembled because I don't know the exact dimensions I need. The lack of documentation has been the most frustrating part of this so far.

This will be a huge learning experience and I'm sure the learning curve will be steep (especially when it comes to tuning it), but I'll eventually figure it out.

Please keep sharing your experiences and sources!

Good luck!

Excuse my ignorance, but "printing", sounds just like that, ink? associated with paper?

These devices manufacture plastics? They build up in 3D? Looks like they have a spool of plastic that gets
melted/formed?

I don't get out much!

JP

JP Morgan said:

Excuse my ignorance, but "printing", sounds just like that, ink? associated with paper?

These devices manufacture plastics? They build up in 3D? Looks like they have a spool of plastic that gets
melted/formed?

I don't get out much!

JP

Click to expand...

Yep, they "print" with plastic. You can read about the family of printers we are building here:

https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap

We both are building different variants of reprap printers.

Derek said:

Yep, they "print" with plastic. You can read about the family of printers we are building here:

https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap

We both are building different variants of reprap printers.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I'll check it out.

JP

Someday I am going to buy a 3d printer and print a 3d printer.

that is what reprap means (replicating rapid prototyper).

DAllen said:

Someday I am going to buy a 3d printer and print a 3d printer.

Click to expand...

Careful, you might rip open a black hole.



Braden

JP Morgan said:

Excuse my ignorance, but "printing", sounds just like that, ink? associated with paper?

These devices manufacture plastics? They build up in 3D? Looks like they have a spool of plastic that gets
melted/formed?

I don't get out much!

JP

Click to expand...

A quick summary for those not really familiar with the concept:

Start with an XY table similar to what you would find in a CnC Routing Table. Add a "print head" carriage tha moves up and down in the Z axis. The print head is a lot like a hot glue gun nozzle only much finer. The heating element behind the nozzle heats certain plastics such as ABS that comes in a wire spool (again kind of like a glue gun). The computer moves the table under the nozzle and it lays down one thin layer, then the table drops down one notch and it prints the next layer.

I'm building an older Makerbot Cupcake, but it is stalled at installing the Z axis mech. Need to get back to it and finish this thing. I have a second machine on the way that I supported on Kickstarter before I got laid off. It is called the Deezmaker Bukito and it got very high marks in the last Make Magazine Guide to 3D Printing.

Wow!!! I'm thankful and impressed about the extent that the members of this forum are going to in order to build printers to make rocket parts. Although I'm doing it to make parts for work.... that's why I can do it during my work hours.
On an aside, how many of you were genius children of the 60's, who were labeled as "troubled", who were packed away on a short bus, with a select group of "special children", who ended up being the best of the best? My son, who is in the "autism spectrum", who tests far above his peers at school, is being bullied by his peers. I want to beat the crap out of those kids. Please talk me down. I know this is not the place to talk about this, but I know we're friends here, and I know you have all been through this. I went through this, and I managed to survive, but I paid an emotional cost. I want to save my 11 year old the hell I went through. Any feedback? PM me if you'd like. Sorry about venting here. Thanks.

I'm sorry to hear about that. Bullying is probably our biggest fear for our kids.

You might want to start a new thread looking for advice. I'm not sure how much exposure you are getting in a 3d printer thread.

Good luck.

I run a two year old Makerbot Replicator. It wasn't a kit, but I've made enough changes to it that it pretty much qualifies as a kit anyway. Hard to believe this is the only picture I have handy; this pic is before several significant mods. The most significant addition shown in the pic is the addition of the acrylic hood and side panels, which effectively create a heated build chamber. Just with the heat from the build plate, it will get the chamber up to 45C. I print almost exclusively in ABS, and adding the hood dramatically reduced warping problems.


I'm planning a new printer, that will be based on this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:252041 Several people have had excellent results with the CoreXY belt system, and all of the new Makerbot printers (too expensive) are CoreXY. I'll use the Makerbot Replicator electronics, which are available aftermarket, because I'm attached to the aftermarket Sailfish firmware that runs on it. Somewhere on TRF someone mentioned the 'earthquake' vibrations of their printer - Sailfish runs smooth and fast. I use the Makerware software, but I'm in process of changing to Simplify3D, which appears to have slicing features I haven't seen elsewhere (but S3D is commercial, not freeware).

Remember, for the rest of this month, Misumi is offering $150 worth of free extrusion, fittings, and other products, no joke: https://us.misumi-ec.com/news/topics/2014/01/misumi-first-150-promotion-terms-and-conditions.html Perfect for building a printer frame.

These are some of my typical prints: The larger NC is a BT101, the shoulder is printed separately. The two on the right are Aquarius clones in BT60; I also have a BT70 of this.


Gary

Holy cow that misumi deal is fantastic! Corexy looks like an interesting mechanism.

I got my frame kit the other day and it looks great. A lot of thought was put into the design. Now I'm just need rods, motors and the hot end. I'm getting there!