The Making of A 3D Printer
Ever wondered how a 3D printer actually works, or thought about building one from a kit? These step-by-step photos show how to start with a collection of parts and end with a finished printer.
A few weeks ago, we posted , with lots of photos of 3D printer manufacturer Buildatron Systems's facilities. But there was one important piece missing: the actual step by step building of a 3D printer. We plan to build one ourselves shortly and detail the experience in a separate story. (More precisely, Analyst Tony Hoffman will be working on and overseeing the building of one, while I run tests on a pre-built printer provided by Buildatron, for yet another story.) In the meantime, Buildatron provided us with a set of photos that show the process from beginning to end. If you're considering buying a kit to build your own printer, or are just wondering how a 3D printer goes about printing, you should find these steps more than a little interesting.
The object of the exercise is to start with everything that's on the left side of the image above—the parts for the case along with all the pieces in the two boxes—and wind up with the fully assembled printer shown on the right.
When you're done, you'll be able to print objects as shown here (assuming, of course, that you put all the pieces together correctly). Buildatron calls this particular object a twisted bottle, with the bottle on the left and the lid on the right. (Both pieces get printed at the same time.) The gold object just above the bottle is the extruder nozzle, which is the 3D-printer equivalent of the nozzles in an inkjet print head. Note that this nozzle is visibly different from the one in the prototype printer shown in our tour of the Buildatron facility. According to Buildatron, it's still developing the nozzle, but the company expects the final version to be similar to this one.
The first major stage is building the internal frame that holds all the working pieces, including the motors that move the extruder (the equivalent of a print head) in the X (right and left), Y (back and forth), and Z (up and down) axes. You first need to build two triangles like the one shown in the upper left; two crossbar assemblies, shown in progress in the upper right and finished in the lower left; and then put the pieces together to wind up with the basic frame shown in the lower right. Buildatron says that the components are designed for long term durability, with steel rods, nuts, and washers along with ABS plastic for the joints.
The frame isn't finished yet, but it's time to add the Z-motor assembly mounts -- the two white plastic pieces at the top of the frame. These will hold the motors for moving the extruder in the Z axis.
Coming back to working on the frame, the next step is adding the Y rods to the bottom. We've used an illustration rather than a photo here, because all the parts are a little easier to see this way.
With the frame almost finished, it's time to assemble the heated plate that the printer will use as a platform to build objects on. The fully assembled plate includes two flat pieces that serve as the building platform along with the mounts that you can see here looking up from underneath the plate. Note that the plate is heated when the printer's operating, reaching temperatures as high as 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), so the base of the object you're printing won't stick to the plate.
Before adding the plate, you attach the motor and belt, which show in the center front of the frame in this photo, and which work together to move the plate back and forth on the frame. You then add the plate itself, slipping it into place.
Next come the Z-motors, which fit on top of the Z-motor mounts, and work in tandem to move the platform up and down. The two photos at the top of this slide show a close up of one of the motors and the wiring. In the bottom photo, you can see the motors already on the mounts, and the wires leading down the back of the frame.
The final piece of the frame combines the X-assembly (which the extruder assembly will mount on so it can move left and right) with the Z-axis rods (which will raise and lower the extruder). The two photos at the top of this image show the completed X-assembly and Z-axis rods ready to be attached and being lifted into place. The bottom photo shows the fully assembled frame.
The extruder assembly gets added next. Notice that it comes out of the box fully assembled, complete with the motor already mounted on the plastic carrier. Buildatron says that the motor uses linear bearings to ensure smooth, consistent motion and long term durability.
To mount the extruder assembly, you loosen the rods on the X-assembly, slide them partially out, and slide the extruder assembly onto the rods. You then move the rods back to attach them to the frame, and tighten the screws to lock the rods into place. You can then add the belt (not shown here) that actually moves the extruder assembly back and forth during printing.
At this point the printer is nearly complete. The next steps are to put the case together as shown in the upper left and put the frame into the case as shown in the upper right. You then secure the frame to the case and mount the power supply, which is shown in the bottom photo going into the printer. Finally, you mount the controller board in the back of the case and add the wiring.
These photos, taken from the back of the printer looking down, show the controller board and its cooling fan already mounted and with wiring already added, both before and after adding the enclosure.
If you've done everything right, the printer is ready to go. Add a spool of plastic filament, and feed the plastic into the extruder motor. This step is largely equivalent to snapping cartridges into an inkjet printer, except that you can swap the spools whenever you like to change the color or type of plastic. Buildatron also points out that the case has lots of space available for upgrades, add-ons, and modifications. The company offers one upgrade, for example, that will let you print from an SD memory card without needing to connect to a computer.
That's everything. You now have a finished 3D printer. All that remains is to slide on the outer case, which is held in place by magnets. Plug in the power cord, and you're ready to print. But that's another story. Literally. Stay tuned.