Hi all,

I will be starting on the InMoov project as soon as I have my 3D printer up and running.  I CANNOT wait!

Before that is possible though I have been building a 3D printer using ideas from all over the web.  I have decided to build it with no pre-made 3D parts (Apart from the extruder which will be a Bowden one that I will buy) and I am challenging my self to build it as cheaply as possible.  Once it is built it can then build the 3D parts to make it print at a higher quality.

So far it has cost me £65 including £28 for a Mega2560 with RAMPS 1.4 and stepper drivers and LCD.

Anyway this is my progress so far.  I will be adding the steppers and the PSU and electronics in a couple of days time.

 

Nomadd_UK

8 years 11 months ago

So far I have obtained...

  • All the smooth 8mm rods.
  • All of the threaded rods 5mm, 8mm and 10mm.
  • All of the nuts, bolts and washers.
  • Built a frame.
  • Hand made all of the corners and mountings out of either wood or recycled HDPE (Basically milk bottles).
  • I have all of the electronics for control such as Arduino Mega2560, RAMPS 1.4, stepper drivers.
  • I have repurposed a PC PSU to provide power.

Still to obtain are:

  • 5 x NEMA17 motors - £50
  • 1 x print head - £17
  • 1 x extruder carriage - £??
  • 1 x heat bed - £20
  • 3 x end stops - £3

 

Should bring the total cost to..... ~£170ish

All of the tolerances are within 0.5mm by use of adjustable nuts on rods etc.  So it "should" work quite well.  We'll see!!

Nomadd_UK

8 years 10 months ago

Great news! I have finally completed the 3D printer after about 6 weeks work (on and off). Take a look at the pictures.

It has cost me around £160-180ish. I have done a few test prints and they have come out very well. I have done the 10mm and 20mm cubes and they are spot on in size. I did a single wall test shape that came out very well. The walls should be 0.36mm and were just over at 0.38mm.

I have one MAJOR issue though. As I have decided to put the Y end stop switch at the front and the X at the left I now have a print that is mirror printing in the Y axis. I am going crazy trying to resolve it... All ideas GREATLY appreciated. Once this is resolved I can start InMooving...

A short video of the printer creating a fan mount for the extruder... printer heal thyself :o)  Pics during build and testing... not bad for a wooden printer :o)

I previously added a picture as a link.  However, I added them in line this time.  Maybe links would have been better.  I have a video that I wanted to share with you all but alas it is about 160MB!!! And it is only about 30 seconds long.  Maybe not then.

It is a thing of beauty when it is running and makes some really nice whirring and purring noises too :o)

I just need to fix the mirrored Y axis now... Watch this space!!

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