How to assemble a steel frame 3D printer at home

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

IT specialist Ivan Zarubin shared detailed instructions for assembling a 3D printer at home. The cost of components will not exceed 20 thousand rubles, and in terms of quality, such a device will not be inferior to expensive branded models.

I will not describe all the benefits and all the possibilities of 3D printing, I will simply say that this is a very useful thing in everyday life. Sometimes it's nice to realize that you yourself can create various objects and repair equipment that uses plastic mechanisms, various gears, fasteners …

I would like to make it clear right away - why you shouldn't buy a Deshman Chinese printer for 15 thousand rubles.

As a rule, they come with acrylic or plywood cases, printing parts with such a printer will turn into a constant struggle with case stiffness, calibrations and other events that will overshadow the beauty of owning a printer.

Acrylic and wood frames are very flexible and lightweight, when printed at high speeds, they are seriously sausage, due to which the quality of the final parts leaves much to be desired.

The owners of such frames often collective farms with various amplifiers / seals and constantly make changes to the design, thereby killing their time and mood to deal with printing, and not finalizing the printer.

The steel frame will give you the opportunity to enjoy precisely the creation of parts, and not the struggle with the printer.

By following my little guide, you won't over-order and burn your first electronics kit like I did. Although this is not so scary: the cost of parts and spare parts for this printer is cheap.

The guide is intended mainly for beginners, 3D printing gurus, most likely, will not find anything new for themselves here. But those who would like to join, after assembling such a kit, will clearly understand what's what. In this case, no special skills and tools are required, a soldering iron, a set of screwdrivers and hexagons are enough.

The cost of components is current for January 2017.

We order parts

1. The basis for the printer is the frame, the stronger and heavier it is, the better. The heavy and sturdy frame will not get bogged down when printing at higher speeds, and the quality of the parts will remain acceptable.

My choice fell on a steel frame from a Russian manufacturer.

The frame comes with all the necessary hardware. The guys put screws and nuts with a margin.

2. Guide shafts and studs M5. Threaded rods and guide shafts are not included with the frame, although they are in the picture.

Polished shafts come in a set of 6

Perhaps you will find it cheaper. If you are looking, then always choose polished ones, otherwise all the jambs of the shafts will affect the details and overall quality.

M5 studs must be purchased in pairs

These are, in fact, ordinary studs that can be purchased at a hardware store. The main thing is that they are as even as possible. It's easy to check: you need to put the hairpin on the glass and roll it on the glass, the better it rides, the smoother the hairpin. The shafts are checked in an appropriate way.

In general, we don't need anything else from this store, because there is a wild markup for the same that can be purchased from the Chinese.

3. RAMPS 1.4 kit + Arduino Mega 2560 R3 + stepper drivers A4988.

RAMPS 1.4 is an expansion board for Arduino. It is to it that all the electronics are connected, the motor drivers are inserted into it. She is responsible for the entire power section of the printer. There are no brains in it, there is nothing to burn and break in it, you can not take a spare one.

Arduino Mega 2560 R3 is the brain of our printer, into which we will upload the firmware. I advise you to take a spare one: due to inexperience it is easy to burn it, for example, by inserting the wrong stepper motor driver or by reversing the polarity when connecting the limit switch. Many people are faced with this, including myself. So that you do not have to wait for a new one for weeks, take at least one more at once.

A4988 stepper drivers are responsible for the operation of the motors, it is advisable to purchase another set of spare ones. They have a tuning resistor, do not twist it, perhaps it is already set to the required current!

Spare Arduino MEGA R3

Spare stepper motor drivers A4988. I advise you to additionally take another spare set of 4 pieces

4. Step-down voltage regulator.

It is needed to protect our Arduino. It has its own buck regulator from 12 V to 5 V, but it is extremely moody, gets very hot and dies quickly.

5. Stepper motor kit.

There are 5 pieces in a set, we only need 4. You can look for a set of four, but I took the whole set, let there be one spare. It can be upgraded and made a second extruder to print supports with a second extruder or two-color parts.

6. A set of belts, bearings and couplings.

This kit contains everything you need for this printer.

7. Mechanical stops - 3 pieces required.

Take 4 pieces just in case, let one be a spare. The cost is penny, and without such a small detail, printing will not work (suddenly a defective one will come).

8. Display with built-in card reader.

In its back there is a card reader, into which you will later insert a memory card with models for printing. You can take one spare: if you connect some element incorrectly, then, most likely, the display will die very first.

If you plan to connect the printer directly to your computer and print from your computer, then the screen is not necessary at all, you can print without it. But, as practice has shown, it is more convenient to print from an SD card: the printer is in no way connected to the computer, you can put it even in another room without fear that the computer will freeze or you will accidentally shut it down in the middle of printing.

9. Power supply (12V).

This power supply unit is slightly larger in size than what it should be, but it fits in without much difficulty, and it has a margin of power.

10. Hot table.

Required for ABS printing. For printing PLA and other types of plastics that do not shrink during cooling, you can print without heating the platform, but a table is required, glass is placed on it.

11. Button and terminal (220 V).

12. Extruder.

This extruder is a direct extruder, that is, the plastic feed mechanism is located directly in front of its heating element. I advise you to take just such, it will allow you to print with all types of plastic without much stress. The kit contains everything you need.

13. Cooler for blowing parts.

Actually, it is necessary for blowing PLA and other slowly hardening types of plastic.

14. Cooler for blowing drivers.

I really need it. A larger cooler will significantly reduce printer noise.

15. Spare nozzles.

When clogged, it is easier to change the nozzles than to clean. Pay attention to the hole diameter. Alternatively, you can dial in different diameters and choose for yourself. I preferred to stop at 0.3 mm, the quality of the parts obtained with such a nozzle is enough for me. If quality is not a factor, take a wider nozzle, for example 0.4 mm. Printing will be many times faster, but the layers will be more visible. Take several at once.

16. Drill for cleaning the nozzle.

It is very easy to break it off, be careful. You don't have to take a drill: it's easier, as I wrote above, to collect spare nozzles and change them. They cost a penny, and they rarely get clogged - when using normal plastic and in the presence of a filter, which you print first.

17. Set of springs for the table.

There are 5 pieces in a set, 4 are used for the table, one spring is used for the X-axis limiter.

18. Table adjustment kit. Requires 2 sets.

We need these kits only for the sake of the long bolts with which we will further attach the extruder.

19. A set of wires for connecting stepper motors.

20. A piece of ordinary glass on the table.

Borosilicate glass is available to withstand elevated temperatures. I use ordinary window glass: it can withstand heating up to 90 degrees, but I don't need more.

That's all you need to assemble the printer.

The quality of printed parts with such a kit will be almost the same as that of printers of expensive brands. It all depends on further settings, the choice of the desired temperature and other nuances that you will get acquainted with during the printing process. The advantage of such a printer, in comparison with an expensive brand one, I consider the ability to quickly, cheaply and independently repair any part, without wasting nerves and money.

The cost of such a set is no more than 20 thousand rubles.

If you buy such a printer as a whole, its cost today is 43,900 rubles.

By ordering the tooling on AliExpress, we will save about 24 thousand rubles with the same components, and the extruder that we have selected is even better in some respects.

Assembling the printer

Well, then we begin the fascinating assembly process, following the official instructions.

Instructions →

Mirror →

The assembly process is quite exciting and is somewhat reminiscent of the assembly of a Soviet metal constructor.

We collect everything according to the instructions with the exception of the following points

In paragraph 1.1, at the very end, where the end supports are attached, we do not put 625z bearings - however, we did not order them. Leave the lead screws in "free float" in the upper position, this will save us from the so-called wobbling effect.

In paragraph 1.4, there is a black spacer in the picture. It is not included with the frame, instead of it there are plastic bushings, we use them.

In paragraph 1.6, we attach the Y-axis limit switch holder not to the back, but to the front wall of the printer. If this is not done, the parts are printed mirrored. No matter how I tried to defeat this in the firmware, I failed.

To do this, you need to solder the terminal to the back of the board:

In paragraph 2.4, we have a different extruder, but it is attached in the same way. This requires long bolts, we take them from the table adjustment kit (18th position in the list). The frame kit does not come with the long bolts found in your local shops.

In section 2.6, we start assembling our "sandwich" from Arduino and RAMPS and immediately make a very important revision, which is rarely written about in manuals, but which is nevertheless very important for the further uninterrupted operation of the printer.

We need to decouple our Arduino from the power that comes from the RAMPS board. To do this, we solder or cut off the diode from the RAMPS board.

We solder the voltage regulator to the power input, which we set in advance to 5 V, simultaneously desoldering the standard power socket. We glue the regulator to someone much more convenient, I glued it to the back wall of the Arduino itself.

I soldered the power from the power supply to the RAMPS separately to the legs to leave the terminal free for connecting other devices.

Next, we lay all the wires. You can buy a special braid, you can, as I did, use ties or electrical tape.

Before starting, we check that nothing is jamming anywhere, the carriage moves to the limiter and back without obstacles. At first, everything will move tightly, over time, the bearings will rub in and everything will go smoothly. Remember to lubricate the rails and pins. I lubricate with silicone grease.

Once again, we look that nothing is shorting anywhere, the stepper motor drivers are installed correctly according to the instructions, otherwise both the screen and the Arduino will burn out. Limiters must also be installed observing the correct polarity, otherwise the voltage regulator on the Arduino will burn out.

Preparation for operation

If everything is connected correctly, you can proceed to the next operating instructions.

Instructions →

Mirror →

Useful materials on some parameters of our firmware

• My configured and working version of the firmware for this printer and extruder. It is slightly calibrated for the parts we ordered.
• Official firmware from 3d-diy.

We fill in the firmware via the Arduino 1.0.6 IDE, select Auto Home on the printer screen, make sure that the limit switches are connected correctly and the polarity of the steps is correct. If it moves in the opposite direction, simply rotate the terminal at the motor 180 degrees. If, after the start of the movement, a nasty squeak is heard, this is the squeak of the step drivers. It is necessary to tighten the trimmer resistor on them according to the instructions.

I advise you to start printing from PLA plastic: it is not capricious and adheres well to blue tape, which is sold in hardware stores.

I use Bestfilament plastic. I took REC, but I didn't like how the layers lay. There is also a sea of different brands and types of plastics: from rubber to "wooden", from transparent to metallized … Another company that I recommend is Filamentarno. They have freaky colors and a great own kind of plastic with excellent properties.

With ABS and HIPS plastic, I print on Kapton tape smeared with regular glue stick from a stationery store. This method is good because there is no smell. There are many other different ways to improve the adhesion of a part to the table, you will learn about this yourself through trial and error. Everything is achieved empirically, and everyone chooses their own way.

Why this particular Prusa i3 based printer?

1. The printer is "omnivorous". You can print with any available plastic and flexible rods. Today the market for various types of plastic is quite developed, there is no such need to have a closed box.
2. The printer is easy to assemble, configure and maintain. Even a child can poke around with it.
3. Reliable enough.
4. Distributed, respectively, on the Web, a sea of information about its configuration and modernization.
5. Suitable for upgrade. You can order a second extruder or an extruder with two printheads, replace the linear bearings with caprolon or copper bushings, thereby increasing the print quality.
6. Available for the money.

Printed on an E3D V6 extruder mount, printed for a while with this bowden-fed extruder. But I came back to MK10.

I got such an upgrade, in the future we will print with two plastics.

I insulated the table for faster heating: a backing with a reflective foil layer and an adhesive backing. In two layers.

Made the backlight from LED strip. At some point, I got tired of turning on the light to control the print. In the future, I plan to fix the camera and connect it to the Raspberry Pi printer for remote monitoring and sending models to print without juggling the flash drive.

To reduce noise from the printer, place rubber spacers under the printer. You can print them, but for now I have managed with such silicone stops, once bought for a washing machine.

Case for phone

The printer also helps in the workshop: saw table carriage guides

Mounts for LED lamps

The case for the system of remote switching on of the convector from this post

The wife makes these cookie molds.

The cat who is tired of it all

If you have children, such a constructor will be very useful and interesting. It will not be difficult to introduce children to this direction, they themselves will be thrilled to print various toys, constructors and smart robots for themselves.

By the way, children's technoparks are actively opening across the country, where children are taught new technologies, including modeling and three-dimensional printing. Having such a printer at home will be very useful for a keen child.

If I had such a thing as a child, there would be no limit to my happiness, and if we added various motors, Arduino, sensors and modules to this, I probably would have completely floated the roof from the possibilities that would open up in front of me. Instead, we smelted plastic from old toys and lead from batteries found in a garbage dump.

To everyone who decides to repeat it, I wish you a successful assembly and a quick arrival of the ordered goods.:)

Thank you for your attention, if you have any questions, ask.

A very useful Russian-language resource where you can find any information in this area: 3dtoday.com.

Thousands of thousands of ready-to-print models for anything: thingiverse.com.