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Could you build a 3D printer from junk electronics (old printers, DVD drives, etc with stepper motors in them) for less than $100?

Former Member

Hey Ben,

I'm a broke kid who wants to get into 3D printing. I saw this instructable EWaste 60$ 3DPrinter thing and I wanted to try to do something like it, but I'm a bit new to the electronics behind 3D printing. I know there's stepper motors controlled by an Arduino, but what kind of stuff would you need? I know you said you would spend $400-500 on building a printer, but I was wondering if using old electronics would slice that cost down. I've got an HP printer I can rip apart (the controller board in it is insane, the motors all still work though) and a really old (its not even black, its biege) HP scanner I can also use. I've also got several old floppy disk drives, and CD/DVD drives, and I might be able to get a broken blu ray player. With this, could I build a 3D printer for less than $100? Could I use a PC to control the stepper motors somehow? I have several computers I could use, including a raspberry pi if you think that would work...

 

Thanks for considering! I love the show!

Hampton

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  • I'm not sure about this, but HP printer's motors are not usually steppers, but regular DC motors. They use an optical system to determine how much that motor rotates. That said, it would be very cool if Ben could use those, but I think it would be much more complicated than using steppers.

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  • I'm not sure about this, but HP printer's motors are not usually steppers, but regular DC motors. They use an optical system to determine how much that motor rotates. That said, it would be very cool if Ben could use those, but I think it would be much more complicated than using steppers.

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