Jan 26, 2015 | By Alec
Now of course assembling and 3D printing an entirely new 3D printer isn’t a new concept at all. A quick Google search will immediately bring up hundreds of attempts at RepRap printer assembly. Many of these are very impressive, and all of them aim to enable 3D printing enthusiasts to create a printer the way they like it, with whatever features, add-ons and systems you prefer. RepRap is therefore an excellent option for people looking to fully dictate their own printing experiences, though you’ll need a bit of engineering experience to complete one.
But a 3D printer doesn’t, in its bare essentials, need a giant heated print bed, Wi-fi connection or any of those other perks. That’s exactly why an interesting entry in the Dremel 3D Design Contest, which has closed two weeks ago (winners to be announced), caught our eye: the Extremely Low Cost 3D Printer / CNC machine / plotter. Developed by a 17-year-old high school student going by the username wootin24, this guide will allow to assemble a basic three axis machine that can either be customized to become a 3D printer, a plotter or a CNC machine. And all of that for just a few bucks.
As wootin24 explained, this isn’t about ‘building the best machine ever’ type of thing, but about looking at the basic essentials of desktop creation. ‘I am simply trying to dictate what is truly possible using free easy to use design software and a little time.’ This means you won’t end up with a perfect multipurpose tool (especially its small working surface limits your options), but its nonetheless a very interesting and cheap project that will let you get down to the basics of 3D printing.
And its remarkably simple to do. Aside from the many 3D printed components, for which the STL files are provided, you’ll only need a couple of components to complete your basic 3D printer. These are: a big piece of flat wood to mount everything on, three DVD drives from which you can use the drive head motors and the linear rods (to attach to the motor), a Ribbon Cable to connect the motors (can be taken out of an old pc too), and finally a Driver Board such as a RAMPS (just check on eBay, where you’ll spend no more than $30 for one). All in all, a very cheap build.
Aside from the 3D printed parts, assembling the motor and axes can be a bit difficult to do correctly, so be sure to follow all of the steps in the Instructables tutorial. If you run into problems, you can also contact wootin24 and he’ll be happy to help In a nutshell, they all should fit properly into the 3D printed components (and be glued in place), but this can require a bit of tinkering to get it right. After assembly, the whole setup can be drilled into place on a wooden slab to ensure a stable workspace.
Up until the point of attaching an extrusion head, the whole assembly process is basically the same for whatever type of machine you’re looking to create. While you could add a basic hot end to your Gantry system to turn it into a 3D printer, you can of course turn it into a basic CNC router as well (as you have a printer already). And that’s the beauty of this simple and hardly revolutionary design; it can become any basic making device.
There’s really only one problem with wootin24’s flexible design, and that’s that he’s entirely skipped the most important and potentially frustrating phase: calibration of your machine. While RAMPS boards will allow you to easily use software such as Repetier Host, you’ll still be in for a lengthy trial-and-error calibration session. For more information about that process, it’s probably best to start with this helpful page.
Aside from that one caveat, it’s nonetheless a very cool and remarkably simple build project that will let you construct a miniature 3D printer (or CNC machine) without having to go on a complete RepRap adventure. Check it out!
Posted in 3D Printers
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Gift number 10 is my attitude to this entire gifting list.
alidan wrote at 1/27/2015 8:31:21 AM:
the use of these small printers are 1) print small things and only small things 2) print parts to make/fix the big/good printer so you can print the better part. i want a low cost printer like this just so i can make all the parts to create a better bigger printer, but it fails if you need to have a printer to print in the first place.
StarManta wrote at 1/26/2015 6:52:02 PM:
Exactly how tiny is this? What's its print volume?
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