Custom 3d printer

[jknightandkarr]

I am wanting to build my own 3d printer and while i have designs in mind. I do wish to have suggestions for parts n types. Smooth rods vs linear rails, any better then other. And belts length grows over time thinking of acme screws or is their anything better to use? How about other parts, what should i choose?

Joe

[RetireeJay]

RepRap.org has tons of discussions and tutorials about different printer types.
On this forum, there's the JonBot. Search is your friend.

[jknightandkarr]

[frankv]

I'd certainly go for rails rather than rods for the X axis.... would make for a good rigid axis, and the weight isn't critical there. Whilst lead screws rather than belts for X & Y would I guess be more precise, you then have to generate 32 times as many steps. Or maybe you'd throw away the microstepping and go back to effectively the same precision? Perhaps go for NEMA 23 (or bigger?) steppers (and a bigger power supply and heavier wiring and higher current drivers) to get more speed?

RAMPS+Arduino is the equivalent of the Printrboard. I'd skip the LCD screen... much better is to get a Raspberry Pi + Octoprint.

Look at the Jonbot Plus for a design with better mechanicals than the Printrbot.

[PxT]

mod note: moved this into the "Other Printers" sub-forum.

[Mooselake]

[MartyS]

Quick note, I'd say don't go larger than 200x200 mm for X and Y. I've never used the full dimensions of the larger printer I built, the print times get crazy long, I just don't think the thing would run for 30 hours without a hiccup...

Although I have printed long skinny parts on the diagonal, but I don't think any of them have been longer than what would fit on a 200x200 bed.

FYI, I picked up an old Velleman 8200 kit that my local Microcenter was getting rid of at 1/3 the original cost, with only a few parts printed on my simple metal I ended up with a nice 200x250x230 printer. See my Velleman Printrbot Hybrid thread a little bit down the page from this one.

[frankv]

[thawkins]

[RetireeJay]

Hmm... All I can say is that experiences differ. I have never had the slightest problem traceable to my USB interface. It works every time, all the time, as long as the Windows "driver" is in place. And I like having a GUI; I feel like I know exactly what's going on. An LCD display can't show you a graphical display of the tool paths like Repetier or Cura does. I've never used an LCD interface, but I just can't imagine that it could show me anywhere near as much information at a glance. I feel like it would be like putting on thick mittens and trying to type on my phone's touch screen.

(I don't blame the USB link for the fact that Repetier and the Printrboard can get "lost" with respect to each other if the Printrboard loses power or goes into a safety shutdown mode.)

[MartyS]

Since my 2nd printer takes up the space I had my laptop, I now print exclusively from SD card even though I don't have and LCD screen, that's one nice feature of the printrboard. When I have to make adjustments I put the laptop on a chair and use a long USB cable. Small microSD cards are dirt cheap now, and I have a multi card reader on my desktop PC. Even when I was using the laptop for printing I did the slicing on my desktop because it's many times faster.

[cacb]