How to Build Your Own 3-D Printing Machine
Guided by digital design inputs, 3-D printers form solid, three-dimensional objects by layering super-thin thermoplastic materials on a print bed inside the printer. With personal 3-D printing machine kits costing less than $1,500 in 2010, 3-D printing has moved within reach of anyone desiring to create prototypes, models and end products from a variety of plastics at home, in the office, classroom or workshop. Assembling a 3-D printer requires a basic level of mechanical and electrical skill, including knowing how to use a volt/ohm multimeter, a soldering iron and general hand tools.
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Things You'll Need
- 3-D printer kit
- 4 mm wrench
- 5.5 mm wrench
- 8 mm wrench
- 13 mm wrenches (2)
- 1.5 mm ball end Allen key
- 2.5 mm ball end Allen Key
- 4 mm ball end Allen key
- 1/16-inch Allen key
- 2 mm flat-blade screwdriver
- Tape measure
- Multimeter
- Soldering iron
- 1/2 round needle file
- Wire cutters
- Wire strippers
- Grease
- Standard 3-pin PC power lead
- Small pliers
- Superglue
- Hammer
Instructions
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1
Buy a 3-D printer kit, like the RapMan made by Bits from Bytes. MakerBot Industries sells a 3-D printer kit under the name of Thing-O-Matic. The following assembly instructions apply to the RapMan. Other machines' assembly steps will differ in detail but follow a similar sequence.
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Unpack the kit box and inventory its contents. Identify all parts listed in the manufacturer's build literature and make sure that all are intact and meet specifications. Contact the seller and remedy any shortfalls before starting assembly. Gather the tools that the instructions call for. Read the assembly instructions through from beginning to end.
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Choose an unobstructed, generously-sized work space for assembling the machine. To avoid physical strain and for easy access, assemble the machine on a sturdy tabletop or workbench, measuring at least 2-by-6 meters.
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Open the printed or interactive assembly manual and find an illustration or picture that shows the completely assembled printer. This will provide an overview and context to help you fit individual parts where they belong. Watch any videos supplied that show the assembly process and the printer at work. Be prepared to spend several days doing the assembly.
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Start with building the so-called "Cartesian robot." This is really the entire mechanical machine assembly, including the frame, print platform, motors and belts -- everything, except the extruder, the "print head" that builds the 3-D object from heated building material.
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Assemble the extruder and wire it to the controller. The extruder pulls in the plastic filament building material and feeds it into the "hot end" attached to the extruder.
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Assemble the "hot end," which will heat the plastic by means of a heating wire that wraps around it. Attach the supplied temperature probe to it and then cover it with layers of fire-proof cement.
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Open the printer's operations manual and, with the machine fully assembled, calibrate the extruder print head, update the printer software provided by the manufacturer, learn how to use the controller interface and load the design file into the machine.
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Adjust the print head and print platform as specified in the operations manual, load the print head with plastic filament building material and then hit "print" to start a test run and print your first 3-D object.
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Tips & Warnings
You will know if you did the mechanical assembly correctly if all surfaces are squared, equidistant if they are parallel, and they meet at 90 degree angles. If they are not, the printer will not work correctly.
Do not force or overtighten screws embedded in a Plexiglas component to keep it from shattering. Hand-tighten screws and do a half-turn more with a wrench.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Polka Dot Images/Polka Dot/Getty Images
