Building a 3D Printer - My Experience

Cause

The reason that prompted me to collect my printer from everything that is on hand is very trivial - In May, M3D was ordered on the kickstarter (I was in the January batch). January came and judging by the updates from the kickstarter, the delay promised to be quite large (at the moment already 7 months), and there was a self-made CNC which I had not used for about a year. I stopped using the CNC right away as soon as I realized that for my needs (robot assembly) the flat parts that I cut out from PCB did not solve my needs, and it was not technically difficult to mill three-dimensional parts (some models couldn’t be eaten do not break into parts) and the garbage of this process is clearly not for home use.

Robot

The hinges and joints bent under the weight and forced to make at least one step I did not succeed, for example - I lifted one leg but the second lacked strength to hold the hinge of the second foot along the axis where there is no degree of freedom. It became clear that for durability it is necessary to use a ball / taper joint (with a servo drive inside) - which will limit the rotation along only one axis and not allow for the rest.

CNC before disassembly.

Available after disassembling the CNC machine there appeared 3 stepper motor size Nema23.
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purpose

Build a printer from scratch without using printed parts on another printer. The long-playing goal is a comparison of the printer that will arrive and assembled independently.

Type of printer and mechanics

The type of printer was determined very simply - 3 stepper motors and shouted that they would work normally only in Delta form (For non-delta, you need 2 stepper motors for the Z axis or 1 but with a complex belt drive).

Parts of a delta printer:

• Guides and linear bearings in the carriage
• Platform
• Hinges for connecting the platform and carriage
• Hot End (Hot end?)
• Extruder
• Electronics

Details on the components (Delta Mechanics):

• 8mm guides - 6pcs 500mm
• SC8UU linear bearings in SC8V blocks - 12 pieces (2 for each rail)
• Ball Joints DIN 71802 (Good to look at "FEBI BILSTEIN 07041") 6mm mount - 12 pieces
• GT2 belt and 3 gears for gt2 (I used 20 cloves)
• 6 bearings 8mm inner diameter for the belt on the top of the printer
• 3 Nema23 stepping motor from CNC machine (20 + kg per centimeter) - usually use nema17

Printhead

• e3d v5 (nozzle 0.4)

Extruder

• Plywood
• Step motor size Nema17
• Door hinge
• A pair of springs

Heated platform

• MK2b (you can solder smd diodes and resistance there and there will be a platform indicator in heating mode (under voltage))
• Thermistor - I used Chinese NSC 100K 3450
• 4 springs
• Glass 3mm (but I use 4mm so ka 3mm could not find if you find borosilicate glass, it's generally super)

Electronics

• Ramps 1.4
• LCD screen - I took the Full Smart Graphics Controller, but it is really hefty, in the future I bought a 20x4 controller
• A4988 drivers - 4 pieces
• Bluetooth HC-05 for working without a wire (3-packs of everything — it’s not clear why they don’t do it all) ( I learned how to even reflash via Bluetooth )
• A pile of wires 0.75 for a heated platform 0.5 for the walkers
• Terminal tips 0.75 and 0.5
• 0.25mm pin connectors mom (4-ex 2-and single) and glands for them (it turns out they are just crimped, and I soldered)
• Voltage converter 12v to 5v - Arduinovsky was clearly not enough, it was enough to connect the bluetooth module and the screen brightness dropped to unreadable
• Small radiators for cooling transistors on ramps 1.4
• Cooler for general cooling ramps1.4 (resets the temperature on the radiators of the transistor from 105 to 40)

Any

• Fastener
• Drill
• Screwdrivers
• Fum tape - in fact, PTFE, aka Teflon - for thermal insulation of the print head
• Kapton tape - as for me without it anywhere, it is used to fabricate a thermistor, thermal insulation for the platform, and for the layer on which printing takes place over the glass
• Kitten in the package
  

Result

Printer

(Plywood is laid so that the glass does not kill ahead of time)

Print head - the first option

Print head - the second option

The print head is the latest version with a magnetic suspension (I highly recommend it to everyone)

View of electronics

Extruder - First Option

Extruder - upgrade

Coil for plastic (reel for hose)

Price

If only I ordered everything from scratch

• $ 58 - 5 shagovikov
• $ 32 - RAMPS 1.4 + driver + LCD
• 12 $ - 12 LM8UU
• $ 30 - 3 meters 8mm guides (in fact, he took from the local seller for $ 5 per meter
• $ 20 power supply (but you can use a computer)
• 8 $ E3D V5
• 8 $ MK2B
• $ 10 Springs bolt shpuntik etc.
• $ 5 kaptonovy adhesive tape - on glass I put in soap solution

Total: $ 183 (If you save on the power supply and on the guides, you get about $ 148)

There will be 1 unused footstep in stock (they are sold for 5 each) and one driver (5 drivers too)

Why I am already doing a new printer (there will be an article soon)

• Noise - works very loudly that mutes the TV
• Weight - it turned out 5 kilograms (very hurt)
• Dimensions - 40x30x70 (obviously not the desktop version)
• Fan - this is really interesting.

PS Micro3D has not come so far.