I can't express to you just how obsessed I've become. Suffice to say I have kept myself poor recently spending all of my loose money on more and more 3d printing devices, parts, and paraphernalia. It's probably not even funny anymore. I've learned SO much, and I've done so much too. I'm learning about construction, electrical wiring, engineering, 3D design, and so much more.
In about October of last year I bought my first 3D Printer. It was an M3D. It was a learning experience. I found out you had to know so many things to begin to be successful at this particular hobby. I also quickly realized that the tiny, cheap Micro3d printer could just not reach the standard of printing that I wanted. It was fun to learn on and play with, but it was too limited.
In November I purchased an original Prusa i3 mk2. It said it would have a 4 week shipping delay. It ended up being a 10 week delay. But it was so worth it. At the beginning of this year, I received the Prusa and it is an amazing machine. I bought the machine as a kit which meant I had to put it together, in a process that ended up taking me about 10 hours.
All this time, ever since I first got my micro, I had a dream of building a printer from scratch. I started doing research immediately, and after seeing a video on youtube by tech2c, I decided to make a CoreXY printer and use his hypercube design. I started printing pieces for it and ordering 2020 extrusions online. The pieces I printed on the micro were bad and very discouraging. It just couldn't produce smooth sides, and its circles were garbage. But I began cutting the aluminum extrusions and eventually bought more and more pieces every month, trying never to spend more than a couple hundred every month. But every time I bought a part, I bought two. I knew that if I was going to build one 3d printer, I was going to build two.
After putting together the Prusa and seeing what it could do, I was emboldened. I purchased all the remaining parts I could think of and began printing all the parts on this much better printer.
I'm almost done. I just have some wiring to do and I will finally have a 3D Printer that I made completely from scratch. I cut the aluminum, the steel, the wires, and I printed the parts.
It was very difficult to find all the parts needed from one site, but I've finally compiled a list of all the materials and tools needed to make a 3D Printer into one place, and when I put together the second hypercube, I am going to be making a tutorial and a build log to go along with it. For now, there is a page started which describes my process and has a bill of materials that you might be able to follow along with eventually, if you too would like to make a 3D Printer with me.
