If you’re a tinkerer and are looking to build yourself a unique 3D printer, check out this project from the folks at Tropical Labs. The company turned an old Norelco 12 coffee maker into a working 3D printer. Here’s the project description on Hackaday:
“While there are dozens of [DIY 3D printer] designs out there, almost all of them require precision rails/bearings. Most printers require two precision rails and at least three linear bearings per axis, for a total of 6 rails and 9-12 bearings. Even so called ‘delta’ printers tend to actually be linear-delta machines, requiring just as many rails/bearings. It’s these precision components that really drive the trade between price and precision in a DIY printer-.”
Tropical Labs avoided using linear rails/bearings entirely by using a true Clavel or delta positioning system. It used three steppers for motion and another to feed the printing media. An Arduino Mega serves as the brains of the operation along with a popular RAMPS 1.4 shield.
Tropical Labs is still in the process of releasing full details of the build, but the company’s Joe Church says in a Hackaday comment “the coffee maker itself did not need to be modified, so you can actually slide the delta assembly off and make a pot of coffee!” Tropical Labs used the following 11 components to build the 3D printer:
Norelco 12 coffee maker (note: any coffee maker with a hot plate should work)
Arduino Mega 2560
RAMPS 1.4
A4988 Stepper Motor Driver Carrier
Nema 17 stepper motors (Tropical Labs used 0.9 degree)
Home switches, optical or otherwise
3D printer hot end/extruder
12V power supply
Solid state relay – Fotek SSR-40 or similar
Ball joints
4-40 threaded rod
[Source] Hackaday [Via] Arduino Blog