Multi use machine.

It can be done, however it will require a lot of tool changing unless you set it up as like having a 3 extruder head. That way you choose which tool to use 1-3 and it's like selecting a specific extruder head. I like the idea of having a separate machine for each of these cause it's less likely to complicates things.

Hi Brad, I would love to build 3 machines but I live in a small one bedroom bungalow and just do not have the room to have three of them, I have been thinking of either building a decent size shed in the garden or trying to rent a small workshop but my problem is it is hard for me to stand up or walk and i know if i moved my hobby outside of my home i would most likely seldom if ever use it at least this way with it in my kitchen i can just do a few minutes as and when I can move around, I have taken over the kitchen table plus one of the walls that i have fitted with storage boxes plus the top of the fridge,top of the dryer and the top of all the kitchen units are covered with either quads,planes or materials to build things with, when anyone has visited and have seen the kitchen they can not believe how much stuff i have crammed into it.

I suppose i could build smaller machines and make them fit into each other when not in use but then i   would need space to put them when i am using one of them, when i am working on anything i have to drag out all my tools which all the power tools are stored in the bottom or on top of my wardrobes which is a pain as that is at the furthest point from where i use them but it is the only place left to keep them.

I remember the days before i had to stop work when i had a large workshop set up in  my garage which had a three different benches one for welding one for mechanical projects and one for electronics along with all the tools i had to get rid off but that is history now so no good looking into the past it only gets me down, once i finish the machine i will try posssting a few photos of it on here if i work out where i can post them.

regards Poppy Ann.

Also, the problem with adding 3 extruder heads or tool heads is weight... You may need to make the z axis (up and down) dual, two motors and two screw drives, you basically have to wire two kysan motors together to one plug for the z slot on the printer board. This way it will be able to carry the weight of 3 tools, if you look at Printrbot's larger printers, this is how I would build it. It's difficult to calibrate dual z axis but a single z axis will sag which I found this out on my simple that I upgraded.

Hi Brad,

I was not going to mount all three heads at the same time I was going to make it so I fit the required head as needed but even if I fitted three at the same time the motor I have along with the rails should be able to manage the extra weight of all three heads the laser unit is very small and only weighs 25 grams, the extruder weighs 39 grams and the spindle motor is just over 1 KG the motors are NEMA 23 and have 30kg cm torque  so they should be able to handle anything I mount to it, i still have to fit the cable track/chain along with all the electronics which i have already bought except for the box to mount them in as i still need to set them out to work out the required box size.

i just looked at Printbot's printers and this one is a much heavier built machine.

regards Poppy Ann.

You should make some posts and pictures of your progress, sounds interesting.

One of the cool things about a 3d printer is you have an opportunity to make parts for the printer, what would be neat is to make a circle or ring that held all 3 tools and could be rotated by motor or hand.

Hi Brad re photos of the build i have almost finished the mechanical part of the build and i did not bother to take any photos mainly due to i am building it in my kitchen and when i want to do anything i have to move tools around to get to anything and most of the time the printer is covered with parts/tools as i do not have anywhere to put them unless i return them all to my bedroom wardrobes and that is to much work due to my disability it would take me a couple of days to take all the tools back as i have trouble standing up and walking for around 50% of my days i have trouble trying to just get out of bed and that is without trying to get dressed, just lately i have bought an electric bed which helps me sit up ready to get up but before i had it i would have to spend around 3 days out of 10 in bed and even the days i could get up i would have 3 or four of them not getting dressed this machine has taken me close to three months to get to where i am in the past i could have built it completely in a weekend but that is life at least i am still alive which is better than some i damaged my back whilst i was in the army in a accident but that was back in 1978 so i should be use to it by now.

I will try to get a couple of photos of it to just show where i am up to just so you get an idea.

regards Poppy Ann.

Hi Brad, I sort of got mixed up with my posts i just posted some photos of the machine but i put them in a different discussion, you can see them here:- How do you program the 3D printers

hope these give you some idea of what it looks like i may modify it as i have been thinking of making it a moving table machine and not a moving gantry machine as i have built it but i only get coverage of around half of the table the way it is but if i alter it i can get to be able to use all of the table i expect that for a 3d printer it should be ok as it still has a decent size print area.

regards Poppy Ann.