Myke's Spare Parts 3D Printer

thingiverse

I decided to go through the various 3D printer parts I've collected over the years and put together a printer from them. Using the Ender 3 as a model, I've come up with a Cartesian 3D printer with a single extruder that uses Delrin V-Slot wheels to move the heatbed, the gantry and hot end. The design shown here uses a frame built from 350mm long 20x60 V-Slot rails, 500mm long 20x40 V-Slot rails and a 390mm long 20x20 V-Slot rail. These lengths provide enough space for a printer with a build envelope of 220mm x 220mm x 220mm. By changing the length of the V-Slot rails, you can scale the size of the printer. As can be seen in the pictures, the custom and moving parts are built up from 3D printed designs for which are included here as .stl files - it seems a bit ironic requiring a 3D printer to print parts for a new 3D printer. Note that included in this Thing's files is a list of the parts used, along with sources, their approximate costs as well as tools and other pieces that would be required for building your own version of the printer. The hot end (Swiss Micro based) and controller (MKS Robin Nano V3 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002074259790.html) that I used are definitely high end and I think are the primary contributors to the surprisingly good performance of the printer as well as improved usability over most other printers. The Robin Nano V3 controller allows gcode files to be copied into a USB Thumb Drive plugged into the controller through the USB connection to the PC running the slicer. This is the first printer that I've had where I don't have to run back and forth with a (micro) SD card. The first prints from this Thing were surprisingly good as you can see in the attached images of the test models that were printed - they're at least as good as the prints I've gotten from my commercial printers and I know with some tuning of things like the Jerk parameters as well as looking at cooling, I will get best in class prints. When you look at the total cost of the printer, it may seem to be somewhat high compared to what you would pay for an Ender 3 or a clone. When listing the parts, I chose sources I trust rather than pointing you to knock offs or questionable quality and availability. Regardless, this printer probably costs the same or less than if you purchased an Ender 3 and upgraded it using the parts listed here. Finally, this is **NOT** a first printer. Obviously complicating things is the need for a 3D printer to make the parts provided here but you will have to know how a 3D printer works and how the parts go together. You will need experience and access to tools for cutting the V-Slot rails. You should be able to modify the configuration files of Marlin and build a firmware image. If you're not at all sure of your skills in any of these areas, then this is not the project for you.