Assembling Your Own 3D Printer

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Assembling Your Own 3D Printer

Posted by Soulskill on Monday January 30, 2012 @10:28AM from the build-to-build dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "Following a tour of a 3D printer factory, analysts at PCMag wanted to explore the option of building a 3D printer themselves. With the help of a 3D printer manufacturer, Buildatron, they were able to compile a step-by-step guide on how to build a 3D printer."

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!EarlyAdopter by bughunter · 2012-01-30 10:31 · Score: 3, Insightful

I think I'll wait until 3D printers can 3D print other 3D printers.

--
I can see the fnords!
1. Re:!EarlyAdopter by tripleevenfall · 2012-01-30 10:33 · Score: 2
  
  Not me. If 2D toner is more expensive by the ounce than imported Russian caviar, 3D toner will be more expensive than highly enriched uranium.
2. Re:!EarlyAdopter by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-30 10:35 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I think I'll wait until 3D printers can 3D print other 3D printers.
  Actually a RepRap can print 50% of a new RepRap. You just need the metal bits and circuit boards.
3. Re:!EarlyAdopter by SomePgmr · 2012-01-30 13:52 · Score: 2
  
  I'm 99% sure its HP that has 350 meg printer drivers...
  They're one of them. Sometimes you can avoid that by skipping the crap that comes with the machine and downloading the "basic" version of the driver. The bundled one is 349.5 MB of UI designed to sell you HP's ink, derived from genuine unicorn tears.
4. Re:!EarlyAdopter by durrr · 2012-01-30 16:41 · Score: 2
  
  Amusingly, the Buildatron in the opening article IS THE FUCKING REPRAP!
  
  They took an opensource project, added some shoe polish to some parts, then put a huge metal box around it and cut their name into the box.(also, price markup).
5. Re:!EarlyAdopter by benthurston27 · 2012-01-30 17:03 · Score: 2
  
  Maybe the tolerances are normally distributed around too tight and too loose so every now and then you "accidentally" make one with tighter tolerances than you started off with.
Hmm by lisaparratt · 2012-01-30 10:33 · Score: 3, Insightful

Looks a lot like someone put a RepRap Prusa Mendel in a box, and pretended it was a new product.
1. Re:Hmm by daid303 · 2012-01-30 10:49 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Indeed. And the worst part is, it's silly expensive!
  If you want a 3D printer DO NOT GET THIS. Get something from Makerbot or Ultimaker, they sell easier to build kits that give higher quality prints for less money. RepRap is a fun project, but it takes quite a while to get usable results (lots and lots of tweaking). I have an Ultimaker myself, and took me 8 hours to build and get my first print working.
  As for people wondering about the quality of these kinds of machines: http://daid.mine.nu/~daid/IMG_20120125_211716.small.jpeg this is printed on mine.
Re:Complicated by vlm · 2012-01-30 10:52 · Score: 2

Sorry guys my 3d printer made three copies of bennomatic, now look what happens.

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
3D printers suck by Charliemopps · 2012-01-30 10:55 · Score: 5, Insightful

Sorry, but these things suck. Every non-mechanically inclined "geek" I know wants one... then I point out that a Combo Lathe/Mill is far far far more useful, can do metal, plastic, wood, whatever you want... and they still tell me this is better somehow... when there's only a single material medium it can work in, and that medium has an ultra low melting point for obvious reasons, isn't very durable and the damned printer costs as much as some of the nicer mills out there. Granted you can blow $100k on a mill if you really wanted to, but you could do everything you can do with a 3D printer with a mill thats under $1k and spend another $500 making it CNC... and the objects you build with it could be made out of nearly any material you can think of short of solid rock...
1. Re:3D printers suck by vlm · 2012-01-30 11:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  To some extent you can bolt an extruder onto your existing CNC mill. That is my "rep-strapping" plan. Lots of details at this link.
  Most of the time and money is in the 3-d robot part that does all the positioning. An extruder is actually pretty cheap.
  http://reprap.org/wiki/EMCRepStrap
  The other issue, as a machinist, I can verify that accessories that a mill requires are about twice the cost of the mill, and the accessories a lathe requires are about the cost of a lathe. So, I bolt my $350 rotary table to my $500 mill, stick the $50 7/8 inch gearcutting arbor in the spindle, clamp a $50 expanding arbor into my $125 chuck attached to the rotab, supported on the other side by my semi-homemade tailstock that cost about $100, then stick a $25 involute gear cutter in the arbor, I'm not gonna add it up, but just to cut a simple gear out of a blank machined on my lathe, is gonna cost almost as much in accessories as the mill itself. Then add a bunch of clamps, a decent vise, a much of endmill holders unless you're one of those collet people, it adds up, man.
  At least theoretically a "utilimaker" thing only requires the additional purchase of a power cord.
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
2. Re:3D printers suck by Bodhammer · 2012-01-30 11:16 · Score: 2
  
  http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/stationary-milling-drilling.html
  
  --
  "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
3. Re:3D printers suck by smellsofbikes · 2012-01-30 11:20 · Score: 2
  
  *I* certainly have never seen a mill/drill under $1500 that's useful for anything other than a boat anchor. A coworker got a Smithy Granite 1224 that he thought was fairly useful, but it sure wasn't $1500. (And of course that's a pure manual machine, so you still have to add at *least* $500 of electronics to get CNC -- and for that same $500 you can buy a complete 3D printer kit and be printing stuff in two hours, they claim, whereas it took me about 20 hours to convert my manual mill to CNC.)
  
  --
  Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
4. Re:3D printers suck by somersault · 2012-01-30 11:33 · Score: 2
  
  Okay.. so how do you create a single-piece hollow sphere on your combo lathe/mill? It seems to me that there are absolutely things that you can do with a 3D printer that you couldn't do with a lathe/mill..
  It doesn't necessarily mean that it's "better", but it is different. And as one of those "non-mechanically minded" folks you mention, it does seem simpler to me from both a hardware and software perspective.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
5. Re:3D printers suck by Fallon · 2012-01-30 11:35 · Score: 2
  
  http://www.mini-lathe.com/
  
  All the info you need to get you started. All those 7x10, 7x12, 7x16, etc. lathes come out of the Sieg factory in China then resold as Harbor Freight, Grizzle, Jet, and many other brand names. Slightly different motors & trim levels, but the same basic machine. Great starter machines that are pretty capable. Not as robust as industrial machines, but very capable none the less.
  
  Sieg also makes some mills and lathe mill combo units. Good little starter equipment with a robust community around them.
  
  Personally I'm restoring a Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 lathe that is older than I am... Half the fun is getting the machine restored as actually using it. You can get some pretty nice old lathes & mills for under $1k that work great after a little TLC.
6. Re:3D printers suck by smellsofbikes · 2012-01-30 11:39 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  A friend who has done this tells me it's somewhat of a waste of time because the 3D printer wants to move an order of magnitude faster than the max speeds most mills are capable of driving. (Since it's adding toothpaste, rather than cutting away metal, maybe that's not so surprising.) He ended up buying a Thing-o-Matic (and doing a *lot* of re-engineering to get it working reliably) but now he's thrilled with it. It doesn't replace his mills and lathes, but it sure is a convenient addition. He's all oh the thumbwheel broke off my micrometer: I'll print a new thumbwheel bracket. The windshield mount on my recumbent broke, so I'll print a new one. He's printed plumbing parts, cookie cutters, centering adapters for optics, replacement bar handle clamps, you name it, and there's no setup or clamping or accessories or anything like that -- not even alignment. He just emails the completed gcode to the machine and goes in twenty minutes later and takes his new item off the stage. I'm dead envious.
  That might be different if you're using a servo-based mill with fast ballscrews, but for steppers with fine-pitch threads, well, my CNC is pretty rattly and jiggly when it's driving around at 10ipm and his Thing-o-Matic can run at 500ipm.
  
  --
  Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
7. Re:3D printers suck by Brietech · 2012-01-30 11:58 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I have a Makerbot Thing-o-Matic, and have also used smaller CNC milling machines before. There really are some crucial differences:
  1) There's an actual fundamental difference in the types of objects that can be created with an additive process like the ToM uses, and a reductive process like a CNC milling machine uses. Creating lightweight, hollow objects is basically impossible with a mill but trivial with my ToM (I frequently print out multi-layer gear objects for mechanical widgets I'm building).
  2) I can operate a small 3D printer in my apartment. It's roughly as loud as my laser printer, and doesn't produce any mess/dust-clouds/bad smells. I would never use a CNC mill in my living room. At best it is way louder, produces way more mess, and basically requires a shop-vac to be running the whole time.
  3) Finally - having used a range of both cheap 3D printers and cheap (and not-so-cheap) CNC milling machines - I can get a low-end 3D printer like a makerbot that actually produces useful parts for under $2000. Ever CNC mill I've seen for under $3000 has been crap. If you can spend $5000 (and have at least some background in machining) you can get a pretty good small CNC milling machine and maintain it.
  
  --
  I'm perfect in every way, except for my humility.
8. Re:3D printers suck by dbc · 2012-01-30 12:02 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Well, I see you have been modded +5 insightful. Yet, you don't seem to have any experience wither either mills or 3D printers, at least you don't claim to have any.
  I own one of each, and have access to other CNC mills and 3D printers.
  Guess what? They both have their place. They both have their limits. Use a machine tool within it's limits, and you will be happy. Try to push beyond its maximum work envelope, and you will be frustrated. I have done a lot of good stuff with both. My clunky Makerbot Cupcake has printed a lot of robot parts and other stuff. It is quick to draw something up and bang it out. And it lives in my living room. Guess what, my mill doesn't live in my living room. So I'm very happy with the clunky state of at-home 3D printing. Do I want more resolution and a bigger work envelope? Yup. But I've still done a lot of good stuff with it.
  CNC mills are great, but it also is a whole heck of a lot more work to go from a drawing to a part. And more expensive, too, by a lot. I could buy several Cupcakes for what I have invested in cutters, collets, measuring tools, vises, clamps, etc, etc., not counting the mill itself. And there is no comparison between the learning curve. You will be a 3D printing expert long before you have mastered creating G-code for CNC milling.
  As to your cost comparison, there is no $1500 CNC mill worth having. I've seen the output. I've talked with owners. I've done the math and understand the work envelope. $1500 spent on a RepRap style machine can do a lot of good stuff. $1500 spent on a CNC mill.... is a sloppy, weak columned, backlash-plagued wimp with a work envelope so small you can't produce parts as big as you can on a cupcake, and you *still* haven't bought any tools. The $1500 CNC mill can work in aluminum and free-machining brass. The RepRap can work in ABS and PLA. Well designed ABS or PLA parts can be pretty strong, and can be glued up into strong large parts.
  Face it, all you have said is: "Grapes are awful, they don't taste like chicken."
  PS. In case anyone is wondering "Well, what *is* the cheapest CNC mill worth owning?" I would say choose between a Tormach PCNC 1100 or a Mikini 1610L. This is what Sherline owners move up to after they have figured out that the Sherline can't do what they wanted to do. This is not because Sherline is bad, or that Sherline lies in their spec sheet. It is because beginners don't understand what the Sherline spec sheet is trying to tell them, and so they don't realize it can't come close to doing what they think it will. The other thing to remember is that when you go to buy a dial indicator or a carbide cutter or some other widget, it costs you exactly the same amount of money whether you are going to use it on a Sherline or an Akira-Sieki. CNC machining is a spendy hobby, that's just life.
9. Re:3D printers suck by asdf7890 · 2012-01-30 12:04 · Score: 2
  
  It doesn't replace his mills and lathes, but it sure is a convenient addition.
  Ah, the sign of someone who knows their trade, rather than a boy playing with toys: knowing the right tool for the job.
10. Re:3D printers suck by smellsofbikes · 2012-01-30 13:59 · Score: 2
  
  I've used 7x10's. I've used my Atlas -- same model as yours. I'm sticking with the Atlas, and my coworkers who have 7x10's come over and look at the finishes I can get and sigh with envy. I consider most of the 7xwhatevers to be parts kits that could be turned into a reasonable lathe if you replace all the plastic changegears with steel ones (at $40 each) and likewise the plastic gibs and don't mind that you still can't get the compound to feel solid, and spend a bunch of time scraping away at little bits that the ways hang up on when traversing.
  With that said, it is a drag that I can't order a new leadscrew from Harbor Freight and have it delivered a few days later, like the 7x10 guys can: I have to scour ebay for that damned acme stub thread leadscrew Atlas saw fit to use, since Clausing has run out of them. Equipment that hasn't been in production for 40 years means some serious scrounging for parts, so there's a big plus side to new-ish.
  (also by the way join the atlas618 group on yahoo -- a wealth of info.)
  Basically, the way I see it is: people who want to learn machining don't want an old machine that they have to fix, because they have to understand machining to figure out what's wrong. I don't think they do much better with Chinese imports for pretty much exactly the same reasons. I learned on one of those crap AA/Sears 612's, and beat the daylights out of it learning; I'd feel terrible if I abused my Atlas that way.
  And all that gets you a decent manual machine, and you still have to wade through turning that into a CNC, which is, as I could talk your ear off about, its own huge complicated set of problems to wade through, where there are even fewer people who know enough about what you're doing to offer relevant advice.
  I dunno. All the options are bad. But you should totally take a look at that yahoo group.
  
  --
  Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
11. Re:3D printers suck by Charliemopps · 2012-01-30 14:10 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The beauty of a Mill is that it's a self improving tool. One of a machinists favorite things to work on is his mill. There are entire forums dedicated to buying these cheap harbor freight mills and then using them to make new, better quality parts to improve them with. The real trouble is finding the material relatively cheaply to make the parts with. Buying new steel or aluminum is expensive. If you work somewhere that has scrap, or know someone that can get it, you can do it pretty cheaply. A buddy of mine built his own smelter and melts down aluminum rims and engine blocks to pour his own ingots.
  
  If you are REALLY hardcore, you can 'almost' build a mill entirely from scratch. First you need to build a smelter, which is not very difficult, then make some parts out of wood... cast them, pour them, sand... sand... sand... then there are tricks for making parts that are totally smooth that again involve a lot of sanding. In the end you have to buy bearings, the chuck, some other odds and ends. You can make the motor, but you're really trying to do it the hard way if you do. Once you have all of that done, you have a mostly aluminum mill. Which you quickly use to make steel parts for your next mill, because it sucks. But it can be done. The point is, once you have a mill, you can make nearly anything given enough time.
12. Re:3D printers suck by dbc · 2012-01-30 16:24 · Score: 2
  
  I presume you mean manual mill, not CNC mill. Even so, I'm not sure it exists at $1500. Smithy makes some combo machines. I'm not sure I'd want a combo machine. I'd rather have a separate mill and lathe. For mills, IF (big if) you can find a well taken care of 50 year old Bridgeport or clone thereof, that is the way to go if you have room for it. But you need to know what you are buying, because if the spindle bearings are shot you are looking at an expensive repair. That largely depends on how well it was maintained and how hard it was run. Sometimes you can get a Bridgeport for "haul it away, it's yours." You need to hire a mover, but machine tool movers can easily plop a Bridgeport knee mill in your garage and they are well worth the price.
  Many sellers import Chinese made bench-top mills. Harbor Freight, Grizzly, MicroMark to name a few. In most cases, they are metric machines with a wierdo conversion so that one turn of the hand wheel gives you 0.0625 inches. Umm... yeah. Carry that around in your head all day long. MicroMark does what they call "True Inch" conversion so that one turn of the hand wheel gives you 0.050 inches. I can live with that much more easily. Frankly, I'd be OK if they left it in a metric round number. But the wacko conversion is annoying. One of the MicroMark benchtop mills has an R8 spindle. That is a winner -- not that the motor has enough torque and the column enough stiffness to use all the R8 tools out there, but because Bridgeports and their clones have R8 spindles you can pick up mountains of used tooling cheaply.
  Benchtop lathes are sort of limited in what they can do. Just not big enough. Every time I've looked at one, I've decided any machine I have room for is too small to do what I want. In any case, a CNC mill allows you to mill a lot of things that you might at first think of doing on a lathe. Maybe it isn't optimal, but at least a CNC mill can do a nice interpolated arc. On a manual mill, it's like trying to draw a circle with an Etch-a-Sketch. Except that it's harder to hold a Bridgeport over your head and shake it, and even if you do, it doesn't put any of the metal back.
  Oh... also check out Little Machine Shop -- very good place for machine tools of interest to the hobbyist.
13. Re:3D printers suck by priceslasher · 2012-01-30 23:42 · Score: 2
  
  Why not just buy a superior mill in the first place? The cost will work out to be about the same and you save a lot of time.
  My guess would be - for the experience.
Assembling the machine is the easy part by emorning · 2012-01-30 11:04 · Score: 3, Informative

I assembled a RepRap Prusa in a weekend but it took me 8 weekends to figure out... ...what software to use to drive the machine (RepSnapper). ...what driver to use on the electronics (Sprinter), and how to configure and recompile it for my machine ...what slicing software to use (Skeinforge), and how to configure it (properly configuring Skeinforge can be a fulltime job). ...what 3d design software to use (current using OPENscad)
3D printers suck FOR THE MOMENT... by jeffb+(2.718) · 2012-01-30 11:27 · Score: 2

I see your point, but I think your argument is a little bit like saying (circa 1990) "why would anybody shell out hundreds of dollars for an ink-jet printer, when for the same price you could get a really nice set of drafting tools? And you could choose whatever paper and ink you like, instead of producing a fuzzy mess that runs when you get a drop of water on it."
Re:3D printers suck (NOT) by emorning · 2012-01-30 11:27 · Score: 2

two comments....
I have built both a CNC router and a 3D printer. It is *much* harder to build a milling machine because of the mechanical stiffness that the machine requires.
Take a look at the printed parts used to build a reprap - the parts have very sophisticated shapes that are *impossible* to make on the typical sub-$1000 2.5D CNC machine.
Re:Assembling Your Own 3D Printer by jeffb+(2.718) · 2012-01-30 11:33 · Score: 2

Here's a good start:
Mindstorms Autofabrik
Re:Complicated by bennomatic · 2012-01-30 11:55 · Score: 2

I couldn't resist, with the first three comments being about how people wanted 3d printers that could print 3d printers, which accomplishment has already been achieved some time back.

--
The CB App. What's your 20?
Beam epitaxy? by tlambert · 2012-01-30 13:36 · Score: 2

You can pretty much get any tolerance you want.
-- Terry
Re:Print Escher stairs? by benthurston27 · 2012-01-30 17:31 · Score: 2

You can but they only look right from a certain perspective. One part where they look like they connect is actually forced perspective of two parts farther apart.
Re:Can't they self replicate? by jamesh · 2012-01-30 18:19 · Score: 2

Well they can print parts... you still need to assemble them. Good luck doing that with millions of them in only a few weeks.
So it's an assembler bot you need? They're a bit harder to assemble and it normally takes a woman 9 months to produce one and then lots of further work until it can actually assemble things itself, but with enough women you should be able to produce your assembler bot army in a few weeks.