May 15, 2015 | By Simon
Although we’ve seen quite the gamut of Kickstarter and other crowdfunding-based 3D printers pop up over the past few years, there are considerably more 3d printer designs that have popped up on a variety of DIY sites that are just as - if not more - capable than many of the designs being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Of course, the build require considerably more elbow grease and the need to order parts, but for many who would even consider getting a 3D printer in the first place, building things themselves oftentimes comes second-nature.
One of the more exemplary examples of a home-built 3D printer that we’ve seen in a while was built by none other than a sixteen-year-old high school from Germany who - unsurprisingly - is planning to continue his higher education to become a mechanical engineer with a focus on becoming a 3D printer design engineer.
The builder, Johannes Rostek, spent this past Easter weekend deciding that he wanted to build an open source RepRap 3D printer … however he wanted it to look professionally built with metal components and didn’t want to spend too much money on the project; about 300 Euros.
While many were coloring their Easter eggs or preparing for a giant Easter Egg Hunt, Rostek burnt the midnight oil over the holiday weekend and was able to complete what would later become what he is calling the “Vulcanus V1 3D Printer”.
Designed to be large enough to print a wide variety of objects but still compact enough to sit on a desktop (44 cm x 44 cm x 60 cm), the printer is based on the CORE-XY mechanical design - which allows for printing with high acceleration and speed without compromising the resolution.
Among other features, the Vulcanus V1 has a print speed of a tested 300mm per second and is capable of printing at a resolution of .05mm or greater inside of a build volume of 20 cm x 20 cm x 26 cm. Additionally, the Vulcanus V1 features a heated build platform to make it easier for using materials such as ABS and nylon.
While the Vulcanus V1 was built for his own use, Rostek is adamant about staying true to the RepRap’s open source values and has shared the build plans on Instructables for anybody else who might be interested in building their own sturdy and high-quality 3D printer for less than 300 Euros. Addtionally, all of the necessary 3D printable files have been uploaded to his Thingiverse project page.
To see the instructions for the build in-full, head over to the project’s Instructables page.
Posted in 3D Printers
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