I figured I should go ahead and start to assemble a buildlog for my 3d printer. I have a decent amount of experience building CNC's, I have already built a Buildlog 2.x Laser Cutter. You can check out my laser cutter buildlog
here. Over time I will be attempting to assemble all of the useful information on this first post because it can be difficult to navigate through the many pages of these forum posts.
MechanicsI have preordered the Hadron ORD Bot to use as the machanics platform. I have been very pleased with Bart's 2.x Laser Cutter so I figured why not get a 3d printer.
ControlFirst off as of right now I plan to make my 3d printer so that it is controlled using
Mach3. I have a couple reasons for doing this first off is the fact that I already own Mach3 (for my laser) the second reason is that I have a grudge against using arduinos (Being a computer engineer I can't justify taking to easy approach). Instead I plan on using Mach3 to drive 4 Pololu A4988 stepper drivers. I will be using some custom circuits to monitor and maintain the temperatures of the heated build platform and the extruder. Right now I plan on running an AVR with PID control algorithms and a simple character lcd for monitor temps and to act as a simple user interface.
I am currently rethinking the Mach3 approach I will probably be making a custom control board.
ExtruderI plan using the Makerbot Stepstruder MK7 as the extruder for my Hadron ORD Bot. Makerbot has been sold out for the past month but luckily I was able to get one ordered last weekend so I should receive it in a couple weeks.I decided to go with the MK7 because of how professionally it was designed and I really like how low profile it is.
SoftwareIn order to convert the gcode from the slicing programs I will develop some software to format it for Mach3. This software will be built into my laser gcode conversion software which you can read about
here. I haven't done much research into what will need to be changed but I will figure that out later.
Parts ListHere is a list of the parts that I have ordered so far:
-Hadron ORD Bot (
link FAQ queue BOM wiki)
-Makerbot Stepstruder MK7 (
link)
-Prusa PCB Heated Bed (
link info)
-Thermistor 100K (2x) (
link datasheet)
-A4988 Stepper Motor Driver (4x) (
link) (Also buy heatsinks)
-PLA 1.75mm (I bought 1 lb black and 1 lb red) (Many stores are sold out so I got what I could) (
black red)
-Diablotek 380W Micro ATX Power Supply (
link) (19A@12V, 18A@5V) (It does not have modular cables but it is cheap)
More to come later...
Last Updated 4/19/12