How much does it cost and how hard is it to build your own 3D printer? I really want to get an extruded aluminum style kinda like the Anet E10 but don’t really want to pay $400 for one… Physically I can build pretty much whatever I want. I work as a mechanical engineer and have access to pretty much any material or machining process you can think of. BUT… That gets expensive real quick. Any suggestions? I’m sure I can get discounts on things like 20/20 extrusion along with free t-nuts and bolts.
Tarantula printer works great. Owned one since July 2016 works great
2020 extrusion is cheap compared to screws and wheels and ballbearings and the rest. on a 500 printer the extrusion would probably be 30-50 not more. on the other hand if you use t-nuts at $2 a piece and you may need 200 of them…
Anyone can say something about or review my building Anet A8 for $175 please?
Building a printer of your own design can be far more expensive than buying one. When you buy a printer from a company, they have already spent a lot of money and time figuring out what works and debugging the design. I built a laser engraver from scratch before I purchased my first 3d printer and spent twice what I could build it for now. However after buying and assembling a kit 3d printer, I have built another one from scratch and my total cash investment is around $350 for a machine with a 320x320x340 build area. That is roughly the same price I paid for my first printer, but is 50% larger and includes upgrades that I made for the first printer such as mosfet, silicone bed heater, bl touch, and glass bed.
I would say that the largest advantage to building your own printer from scratch is that you can buy it one piece at a time after your initial investment, instead of needing it all up front.
Yep building a printer off the cuff is definatly more expensive. Ive used all open build stuff 2040 extrustion. Im in at about 400 quid at the moment. But its definatly more fun. And this thing will last forever and take a beating.
@Jonathon_Thrumble keep at it man, your design is similar to what I built!
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@Kathryn_Miller fuck off with your spam… This is a good community, don’t ruin it with that crap… You’ve been reported…
@Joe_Walters nice. Just wanted something sturdy. Only need another 2040 for the x axis and im there.
Kevin, I can tell you that building my own 3D printer actually doesn’t save me money. Partly because I went with everything genuine and $400 just flew out really fast…
@Step_Cia that’s what I’m afraid of. Lol.