Building my own 3D printer

Hi Guys,

Having been keeping an eye on the market for a 3D printer that meets my requirements, I'm thinking of building my own (how hard can it be? ;) ).

Anyway I have a rough frame/gantry design in Sketchup (will post the skp and pics when I have finished), but I'm also thinking about what steppers to use.

From other machines I'm thinking Nema 17's should be sufficient, as I'm interested in speed rather than torque? Also what pitch/diameter ballscrews to use?

Oh and whilst I remember I'm looking at a build volume of roughly 500x500x500mm.

Cheers

Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Washout

Hi Guys,

Having been keeping an eye on the market for a 3D printer that meets my requirements, I'm thinking of building my own (how hard can it be? ;) ).

Anyway I have a rough frame/gantry design in Sketchup (will post the skp and pics when I have finished), but I'm also thinking about what steppers to use.

From other machines I'm thinking Nema 17's should be sufficient, as I'm interested in speed rather than torque? Also what pitch/diameter ballscrews to use?

Oh and whilst I remember I'm looking at a build volume of roughly 500x500x500mm.

Cheers

Chris

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Nema 17's will be fine I have built two prusa repraps and two based on an idea by nophead from the reprap forum.
The second ones were built from mdf and were much more stable than the prusa.
Regarding the build volume the trouble is when you start going bigger than say 150mm x 150mm is keeping it to stick to the base as it will tend to pull away.
You will need a heated bed as well.
Mine have just been built with screwed rod and run on unsupported 10mm rails, if I was doing it again I would use supported rails and something better that screwed rod. ..Clive
Some crappy pics:-

Thanks Clive,
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I figured I could get away with a lot as its a printer rather than trying to mill ali with it :)
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I reckon I'll still go with ballscrews and probably supported rails, as the diameters I think I need are way cheaper than the router I built. The frame will be extrusion and of course I can use my existing machine to do some custom parts (mounts etc.).
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I hear you on the heated bed and I'll also probably encase the whole thing in Perspex so it stays nice and warm in there.
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At the moment I'm trying to draw and visualise a z axis that I can mount maybe 2 or more extruders to (extrusions again), so I can either print different colours or possibly synthetic rubber on one job.
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Cheers
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Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Washout

At the moment I'm trying to draw and visualise a z axis that I can mount maybe 2 or more extruders to (extrusions again), so I can either print different colours or possibly synthetic rubber on one job.

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Have a look at ​http://e3d-online.com/Kraken-Supplies/The-Kraken - a bit expensive (but no more than three hot ends) and water cooled so ok in a heated chamber.

That's a good site Freddie thanks for the link and the 4 way extruder looks like just the ticket.