3D Printers

My obsession for 3d printing was spawned by my obsession for CNC routers / mills.    While tinkering with CNC stuff, it quickly became apparent that a hand drill wasn't gonna cut it!   The CNC stuff was spawned by my interest in synthesizers and desire to drill / engrave panels and such..   Its been a vicious cycle, but I've loved every minute of it! 

I've posted a few things I've designed here: http://www.thingiverse.com/billieblaze/designs
Thats FAR from everything I've designed, but its some of the more useful things for the public..

Current Printers

AO-100 clone

The printed parts for this were made on my first prusa mendel that I bought from someone on craigslist.  I used 80/20 extrusion for the frame which is a bit bigger then the misumi extrusion used on a standard mendelmax.  It was cheap, and a few "field modifications" got it all together!   I've since upgraded the heated bed to a silicone heater, replaced the top cross braces with aluminum plates, added aluminum brackets to strenthen / square the frame better, upgraded electronics, extruder, hotend and X-Ends.   I love this thing, it prints dead silent and FAST!   

 

Heres a few recent prints from it

 

Printrbot

This little guy started out as all the scraps from upgrades to my first printer, along with some poorly printed parts.    Recently, I machined the Printrbot LC parts out of 5mm MDF (what a messy material!) and I'll probably sell it soon.  Its a great printer now, i just don't really need it

 

Prusa I3

I built this printer because I had mostly everything except the laser cut wood pieces.   I did build it with the intent to sell it and got a reasonable price from a friendly guy on craigslist.   

Prusa Mendel

This little guy was my first printer.   I was so excited to bring it home!   My wife looked at it and initially was like "you paid money... for THAT?"     It printed well for a few hours, then as i went thru the calibration steps, things went horribly wrong..  SEVERAL times!    I'm glad I had to go through it all though, I've learned so much about 3d printing and I couldn't imagine anyone getting into it without wanting a thorough understanding of the technology!