My First 3D Printer Project -- Sourcing

I love to have winter projects.  This winter (November 2012 as I write) I've decided to build a 3D-Printer.  I have been casually following 3D printers for some time, but having seen a number of kickstarter.com projects for 3D Printers I looked into them more closely, with the idea to purchase one.

I found an extremely well-healed eco-system for the open source and open hardware RepRap printers and that pushed me towards DIY...  the journey is the adventure!

One problem is there are too many choices and not one definitive answer when you look to build one of these printers; so with that in mind, here's my story so far:

Getting Started... Sourcing all the bits and pieces

I am building a Mendel Prusa printer. The iteration 2 version assembly is documented here: RepRap.Org Prusa_Mendel_Assembly_(iteration_2)

But there are plenty of video documents too: e.g Prusa Mendel Assembly, Part 1 of 13 which is a comprehensive set of videos documenting the same model I'm building.

I chose to buy everything individually to get some cheaper prices and some upgrades that I was interested in.  You may prefer one-stop-shopping!

I bought my plastic parts from this listing:  RepRap Plastic Printed Parts

After some more reading, I think I would've preferred the improved "Greg's Hinged Accessible" extruder parts instead of the original Wade's parts, which avdwege2003 will gladly send if you ask him.

Pulling together all the rods, threaded stock, nuts, washers, springs, etc. is a real pain without McMaster-Carr up here in Canada, so I bought a kit of parts from Mixshop Inc in Toronto: Mixshop Prusa Mendel Hardware with the printed plate option.

I also got their Wade's hot-end: Mixshop Wade's Extruder Kit (no plastics) and I got the linear bearings from them: Mixshop LM8UU Linear Bearings (12 required)

Mixshop has a full kit of parts too, minus the plastics: Complete Mendel Prusa Kit from Mixshop  They've got lots of other bits and pieces too.

My Mixshop order: 

Products

1 x	Complete Prusa Mendel Hardware Kit  Prusa Options: Printed Plate
12 x	Linear Bearing (LM8UU)
1 x	Complete Wade's Geared Extruder Kit  Extruder: For 1.75mm Filament with 0.34mm Nozzle

The cheapest stepper motors (5 required) I found at Phidgets.com in Calgary: 42BYGHW811 NEMA-17 Bipolar 48mm Stepper.  Their motors have the hold power required.

I decided to use RAMPS v1.4 electronics.  There are other styles available.  This Chinese ebay supplier had the best deal, which you can make even better by using the 'best offer':   RAMPS 1.4 Electronics, LCD, SD-Card and Heated Print Bed he accepted my offer after I unsuccessfully bid on others a couple of times.  His package includes the LCD display, and a SD card interface, that lets you run the printer stand-alone without connecting to a PC.  He also has the heated print bed that helps reduce 'curling' of the printed object as it cools unevenly.

I got upgraded 2.5mm timing belt and aluminum pulleys here:   Asahitoys Items for Sale but it looks like he's out of stock.  You could start with the plastic 5mm pulleys and belt that are part of the kit of parts or upgrade with Mixshop, which has the 2.5mm Aluminum Pulleys as well.

I also bought better aluminum couplers for the z-axis screws:   Premium Z-axis Couplers (2 required).

Finally, I bought a triple-spool of plastic (2 PLA and 1 ABS) from Voxel Factory in Montreal: Voxel Factory's great deal on filament  you can mix up the combination.  Voxel has a bunch of other stuff (like mixshop) you might want to do some one-stop-shopping.  In particular, Voxel Factory has the borosilicate glass sheet (aka 'Pyrex') recommended as the overlay on the heated bed, I haven't bought one myself, yet, thinking I might get away with normal <2mm glass used in cheap photo frames (If I'm careful to avoid thermal shock).

You might want to get the upgraded hobbed bolt for the extruder from them: Premium Hobbed Bolt with Nylock.  I bought mine from the guy in Europe that makes them, but it takes a while to get!

When I was in California on business I picked up a couple of surplus power supplies that provide 12V at 30A... lots of margin for heated bed, extra cooling fans, etc.  And I bought some low-cost 40mm 12V brushless DC fans... I heard you may have to cool the object you are printing and the extruder body / x-axis sled (above the hot end) for better print quality and reliability.

One business trip and a couple of weeks later, all the parts had arrived and I'm starting to assemble:

By the way, if you want to browse Ebay for other items related to the Prusa Mendel printer try this link: Prusa Mendel offerings on Ebay

Comment on your progress!
-mark.