How much does it cost to build your own 3D Printer? I want to use an entire room for printing... well, at least most of it. Here are the measurements for the 3D printer I want to build: 10' x 10' x 8'
The only thing that should move is the printer head though because the size of the printer just about takes up the size of the room, making a moveable printing platform impossible.
I also have it in my head to recycle the scrap left behind from printing and use it again for the next print job, provided this is possible. Can someone help me?
Let me make myself perfect clear however:
I want to know the cost to set this up before I do anything. A rough estimate is good enough so long as the cost is not too low.
Still for a room sized prototyper that uses the floor of the room as thebuild platform or a set raised platform wouldn't an oversized version of the maki box design work? The main change other than size of components would be instead of one z-axis control rod, you'd have to have several to raise the x and y-axis. For acuracy you'd also have to have x and y-axis controls on both sides of the printer for the same reason you'd have more z-axis control rods. Mounting and feeding filament would be an issue for large builds. Finding parts that would be made for the size of the room might be prohibitavely expensive.
I think you misunderstood me. I want to build a 3D printer that can printer large objects, not build a 3D printer that is a large object. Come on. Be sensible. I am not interested in purchasing a printer already built and having it trucked in, because clearly from the prices everyone has given, that must be what you think I am trying to do.
If I purchase larger linear rods and screws, but keep the actual printer head small, will I be able to print larger objects and not have to pay as much as you think I should pay? I realize the heating bed would be larger but I am willing to buy more then one to compensate.
Also, I watched several videos of people who are 3D printing and found many of their injection heads were quite wide, which I am guessing was the speed up production. I would rather have a needle thin injecton head though, for strengthing purposes. I believe if I printed objects in a lattice formation, it should theoretically strengthen the object similar to certain metal alloys.
I don't mean to be a d!ck but what the f@#$!?!? What is everyone trolling me?
I can understand the possibility that this forum is filled with industrial engineers who are only familiar with industrial size equipment but I made it very clear that I wanted to build a 3D printer myself. This should automatically rule out the possibility of purchasing a robotic arm.
The only difference should be that the heating panel at the bottom should be stationary.
If you do not know, then do not reply. I am trying to help people with this technology by printing growbeds for aquaponics, and I do not need trolls waisting my time. Please.
I just want to know if using larger linear screws or supports [I do not know the technical name] would increase the size of the objects I would be able to print. Is there anything wrong with using the same printer head as the one in the video?
I would say its definitely not a linear scale up. Ben's printer worked great for the size, but if you scale up that large, you probably can't use typical leadscrews as they won't be strong enough at the lengths you need, you'll need much faster steppers or it will take ungodly long for your head to traverse, you'd have to decrease your resolution for feasibility, maybe beyond the point that normal filament will work.
It feels like you don't have a good working knowledge of 3D printers or the feasibility of what you are trying to do. Even if someone had a realistic number, what good would it do you? Maybe you should start by looking at all the different technologies out there, look at the tradeoffs in the mechanics, belts vs leadscrews, what steppers you'd need to achieve the headspeeds you wanted, do some estimating on how long it would take to print what you want based on volume calculations of your end object, and go from there. Ask specific questions like "I need a leadscrew that is X" long, what type of diameter does it have to be to support X lbs? Does something like this exist?"
Don't blow up on people for not doing their homework if you clearly haven't either.
There are industiral people here, it's true. With that in mind it's a good idea to watch your temper when there's a good chance you are the least knowledgable person in the room. Responce #1, the man who brought us all together here, stated in no uncertian terms that this idea isn't feasable. If you don't trust the rest of us trust him.
If you do as you propose and just make a 3D printer but make it bigger, nevermind the stresses holding up the weight of an XY gantry of that size, nevermind the power requirement for a heated build plate of that size, nevermind the challenge of maintining a supply of incoming filament for the thing, nevermind all of that, you will never finish a room sized print before your children's children have children.
Re-read this thread, there are some good ideas here about an idea that could work. There are those who have done similar projects as well. But simply scaling up the build volume of a small scale 3D printer is not a good idea.
I... I know this thread is years old... but still kind of feel the need to post something anyway... So that the original post has some sort of definitive answer I guess.
The price estimate is impossible to give. There's the answer.
Why do I say that's the answer? Because NO ONE knows what sort of design is in the guy's head for how he wants to do it. He could make some sort of 'Delta' style printer where there are arms hanging from the edges of the walls (which, personally, I feel may be the cheapest way to go since you'd require WAY less parts).
Why do people keep saying it isn't feasible and such? Because why on earth would you want to 3D print something that large to begin with? I mean.. the poster said something about wanting to print grow beds for aquaponics (which, doesn't seem to be an actual word according to auto correct through chrome, and the dictionary I put the thing through). You would be able to make such things muuuch easier if you just built a smaller CNC machine that cut large pieces of plastic which you could then epoxy together for a water tight seal. You'd be able to make infinitely larger objects that way and not have to use an entire room to do so.
But in any case... Original poster, you seem to be the one having the misunderstandings here. No one is trolling you. You asked for an estimate on how much such a thing cost, and people have given you their answers. You don't like the answers? Then too bad, you asked a question and got a dang accurate response from everyone. Larger objects take an ungodly amount of time to complete at that sort of scale. The accuracy would be seriously degraded. The resolution would be horribly downgraded. The quality over all would just not be good enough. The plastic expands and contracts (mostly contracts), so when it cools, it'll shrink. if you're printing something as big as a room, then the plastic is going to cool off before the first layer is possibly even done. MEANING the second layer will NOT be sitting where it needs to be since the bottom layer could have shrunk. Now, if you took that into consideration with code, then you'd be in an even worse situation. The printer could move in a millimeter or so to compensate, but then what happens when that layer shrinks? You'll just constantly getting pushed inward more and more, until you'd eventually have a really large base but a super tiny top. The whole print would just be thrown off.
Ontop of all that... If you're printing a room sized object inside a room... how the heck would you get it OUT of the room??? It'd be stuck there. But then, you could say "oh well i'd just print it off in small parts and epoxy them together!"... Yea, but then why would you be building a room sized printer then? You could have done all that with a smaller printer or a CNC router with plastic. Or, maybe you're not wanting to make a large object, but a bunch of tiny to medium sized objects all at once. But, that still brings up "why?"... you could do the exact same thing with a smaller printer. Once one batch is done, just remove it and print another. Heck, that's safer to do anyway, because what if something screws up during the print? You could lose every object you were trying to make...
There is just too many things 'wrong' with building a 3D printer that large...
Although with all that said....... It WOULD be fun to try to build one just for the sake of being able to. After thinking about all the potential things that would be hard to do, it definitely has brought to mind some new thoughts on how to do some things. Just need a few super powerful steppers, some lightweight yet strong materials for the gantries, and technically, it could be done... just it wouldn't be all that useful for actual printing.
On the other hand, what about Legos? A machine that is as big as a room could use a tiny grabber and an optical sensor to pick up various colors and sizes, and build a rather larger structure with ease. I know its not the 'typical 3D printing' but its still building a 3D object XD
