The Anatomy of a Reclaimed Printer – 11/23 Update

Back in July I posted about my 3D printer project, and now, after working on it on and off, it is technically “printing”, but still needs some hardware and software refinements to start producing more accurate objects – the idea is to keep making the printer more accurate and precise by making its own parts needed to do so.  Since the project is now almost complete (although, being an engineer, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say it’s 100% complete), here’s a photographic summary of what I used and how I built it.

Overall layout

X-Y translator, inspired by SLS Wax Printer at http://reprap.org/wiki/SLS_wax_printer

The X-Y translator consists of two rods salvaged off an old lawn mower, two old skateboard wheels with bearings, an aluminum plate, a hose clamp, some scrap steel, and a fancy E3D all-metal hotend.  The design was inspired by the SLS Wax Printer on the RepRap website.  The two rods are held down with a loop of fishing line (from a spool of fishing line found on a beach), and the rods are currently coupled to the motors via tape, zip ties, and some plastic notebook cover material.

X-Y translator

Fishing line holding onto translator rods

Y-axis motor coupling

I am having some issues with the couplings (who would have thought?), so I have some other quick-fix ideas to try out.

The X and Y motors rest and slide on PVC (scrap from a previous project).

Two nuts held down with tape work as the endstops for the X and Y axes – when the metal rod rolls into them, the circuit is completed, letting the program know the axis is home.

Nut endstop

Z-axis

The Z-axis is an inkjet printer slide salvaged off a printer that was going to be thrown out. It’s stabilized with wood shims, fishing line, and turnbuckles.  All wood (shims and structural) was salvaged scrap wood.

Z-axis side view showing turnbuckles

Bowden extruder

A 3D-printed Bowden extruder purchased off eBay is used as the filament extruder.

Electronics

I tried to design the electronics as much from scratch as possible to get a better understanding of everything and get better at soldering.

Here’s the wiring diagram: WiringRev1

The Repetier firmware and software are used for programming and control.

Overall, this has been a fun and educational project that’s challenged my abilities to make use of what I have.  All the parts, including shipping, filament, and parts that I bought and then didn’t use cost about $430 (this also excludes parts that I already had or had salvaged).  I’ll try to post more updates as I work to get the print quality improved.

Organic and Fair Trade – Same Principles, Different Applications

Another chunk of time, gone. I felt like I wasn’t productive at all, just floundering around in Google’s sea of information, but getting nowhere. After hopping back and forth between options a few times, I reluctantly entered my credit card information, as if I was admitting defeat. You see, I just purchased an electric stepper motor for my project for $20. You probably think I’m paranoid. You’re right. But let me explain why.

                I am obsessed with trying to be a responsible consumer – don’t get me wrong, I’m quite far from perfect. But I try to buy local, support vendors and manufacturers doing the right thing, and don’t mind paying a little more for that.

                Now, one thing I learned from this printer project – it’s hard to find information on electronic component manufacturers. The vendors I’ve dealt with so far have been great – Adafruit, MakerFarm, Home Depot, etc. But man, trying to learn about the products themselves and how they’re made is tough. The electronic components industry, I’ve learned, seems to use a lot of cool, yet sketchy, materials and chemicals in the manufacturing process. Thankfully we’ve got things like RoHS certification and California Proposition 65 to help support responsible suppliers (these things basically let us know how safe materials are) – but the trick is to find those suppliers at the general consumer level!

                All that time I spent searching, I was looking for manufacturer information – I wanted to verify that at least the manufacturer tried to show they cared about social and environmental responsibility, and also that there were no toxic chemicals like lead in the motor. (If you think that’s ridiculous – I just purchased polyethylene tube that had a “lead-free” claim on it. Am I missing something here? Is there leaded polyethylene somewhere out there? I was confused.) I ended up just finding two motors that really qualified for what I needed in terms of size, voltage, and current, and, despite the lack of information and other options, chose the more “local” supplier (who is in Colorado, rather than the other in New York).

                What do you think – is there a market and opportunity for responsibly-sourced and environmentally-friendly electrical components like the market for organic and non-GMO foods? Is this already being done somewhere? (If so, please let me know!)

3D Printer

7/28/14:

Okay, so I just started this blog and I didn’t just start this project.  So let me rewind a bit and get you up to speed…

Back in March, I decided I was going to build a 3D printer.  Not from a kit – from scratch.  If this sounds totally random and like a waste of time to essentially “reinvent the wheel”, let me assure you, it isn’t – I wanted to get more experience in engineering design and robotics, but couldn’t justify any robots to spend time and money building.  Then I learned how much potential a 3D printer could have – prototyping new ideas, opening business opportunities, and creating parts for various domestic items (you know, like maybe some of those little plastic hooks or some replacements for broken plastic parts of things).  And then there was the indirect potential – not only the learning experience value that prompted the venture, but also the opportunity to teach others others, maybe even to write a book about it…

I’ll be honest – the final selling point for me was that it could probably be done for less than $500.  That seemed like a worthwhile investment for the opportunity that would follow.

So, after much research on different types of printers, how they work, and how they’re built (thank you, RepRap community), I put together a concept design in SketchUp, a great free 3D modeling tool:

The printer concept I settled on.

My actual printer is varying a little bit from the design, but for the most part, the principles behind it and functionality are the same.

Here are the constraints I set in place to help me refine the design:

1. <$500 in costs
2. Must be able to build using non-precision, common household tools (drills, saws, hand tools)
3. Cartesian coordinate frame design for simplicity (see this link to understand what I mean)
4. Try to use reclaimed/scrap materials
5. Use an Arduino microcontroller for control (this is basically the “brain” of the printer)

Okay, now let’s speed up to today.  Here’s where I’m at:

7/28 status

All wood is reclaimed scrap from my parent’s garage.  PVC was leftover from some planters I had built.  Fishing line was found on the beach.  Most hardware was also leftover/reused.  Some wiring was reclaimed from old electronics.

I just successfully got the X-axis and Y-axis motors moving with the printer program (called Repetier-Host, an unbelievably free open-source program).

Cost so far: ~$215 (which includes the costs of some mistakes educational expenses)

Keep stopping by for more updates and please be sure to post your comments and questions!