cheap DIY 3d printers

I built a MendelMax 1.5 for about $450.  Very sturdy unit.

Dear Roy,

  I'm a mentor for a high school robotics team and as part of our off-season learning projects we are also building a MendelMax 1.5.

  Yesterday we got most of the electronics installed and ran a test print in the "air".  We have not installed the print bed yet so we just moved the z zero up a few inches and let it run.  Worked fine, amazingly enough, but I shouldn't have been suprized, my kids are pretty smart.

  In anycase, we'd love to chat with you about your experiences (since as you, ours is widely sourced and home built) about your experiences.  It would be great to understand your print platform and which up-grades (since it seems 10 come out a day) you are pursueing.

  If you're interested, I can be reached at:

docdavies2005@gmail.com

Doc

Nate,

  Thanks, I'll look into it.

  Right now, since I'm just starting....I'm going to work on the spring,

bolt, knurled nut system.

  We use the method you've mentioned to z zero our CNC machine.  The

machine has the circuit built right in.

  I'll monitor the changes in Marlin....I'm still trying to make sure I

just have MY settings right in that program.

  So much to do....but this stuff is cool.

Doc

Lol, I know how it is Docdavies.  If you have any questions feel free to send them my way.

Nate

Nate do you build your own 3d printers?

Hey Daniel

Yes I do build my own 3d printers.  I have built 5 so far. 

Nate

Can I set you a challenge build a tiny tiny one that fiits on a desk ?

Hey Daniel

I would check out this link as most printers will fit on a desk without a problem.  http://www.reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Options.

Nate

Imean stupid small

Hey Daniel

I suppose you could make it small but then what do you plan on printing with it.  Having a smaller printer means you have a smaller print area.  I always seem to run out of room with my current printers so going smaller would be questionable to me.  If you plan on printing really small objects I could see this but why limit yourself.  I would be more than happy to help you out if you would like to build one.

Nate

Smaller means cheaper and I'm on a budget of about 100GBP which means I should save but I only need to print about 5 cm high and 4 wide

iam geting http://makibox.com/details/product/A6-LT and i want to mod to link it to a notebook and 3d scaner

iam geting http://makibox.com/details/product/A6-LT and i want to mod to link it to a notebook and 3d scaner

Hey Billy

When you say mod it what exactly do you mean?  To get it to work with a notebook all you do is plug it into the usb port same goes for the 3d scanner.

Nate

i want to put the notebook on the frame of the 3d printer and expand   the 3d printer by 3ft len by3ft deep by 3ft tall and add a portable hard drive to it beside the 3d scaner it the cheaper way i can go  with the skills i have

im a noob at this

i do armor builds iam thinks about use the 3d printer for that but it use a  programm of pepakura viewer that prints on card stok

what do you plan on using the notebook and hard drive for?  I do most my modeling on my desktop then put the model on a sd card and plug into my ramps board and print from that.  As far as making the printer bigger by 2' would be nice in theory but you will lose accuracy big time trying to accomplish that.

Nate

well like i said  im a noob at this and dont no the limits let

Not a problem Billy.  If you have any questions while your doing the mod just let me know.  I will see what i can do for you.

Nate

ok do u have a old one  that i could buy from u to lean on

Hey Billy

I currently dont have any extra printers laying around.  I had one but my 3 year old son wanted it in his room.  I dont think he would like me taking it away. 

Nate

ya  my son and daughter want to see some toys  being made by one