Ok guys after 3 weeks of reading crazy amounts of info and watching youtube video’s, I’ve come to the conclusion that I will build my first 3D printer from scratch, Its the best bang for my buck, plus a bit of fun along the way.
I figure I’ll make a make a box version. I used to work at a kitchen cabinet making company, and I have a small table saw already etc in the garage. I’ve also made a few arcade games and mame systems, so I’m ok at wiring. Just never touched or built a 3D printer. Oh yeah I used to be a Linux developer. So I should be ok with the code part If need be.
Really I think I’ve learned the most on here, Its a great group. Anyways I’m thinking it should take about 4-6 weeks do to slow china shipping and should cost around $300-$400 USD. Well I’ll let you all know how the journey goes 
Best of luck. I usually recommend starting with a kit, but if you’re up for an adventure, go for it!
If you can pull it off, good plan. I started with a kit because I got a good deal and prior to that didn’t have the knowledge of the working parts, which are all commercially available anyway. Learned a ton when trying to build it and now am designing my own. You just get so much more control over the end product.
Well Its basically the same as my first arcade game a purchased on ebay, it was completely gutted, and I never did anything that complex before but I figured why not give it a shot. I ended up having to buy install everything, PCB, wiring harness, power supply, amp&speakers, lcd, joysticks and buttons, The next one was mame cocktail cabinet, That was a real test, I made a joystick/button controller out of a old keyboard, lol Took a bit to get rid of the ghosting, but I worked it out, around a months later they came out with a plugin module.
I’m taking this on because I have an Idea what I want, Plus I like a challenge.
@Jeff_Dewe
(off topic)
I’m trying to restore an all-original Dig-Dug machine. I just have to get the monitor working, and I’ll be done.
The thing that goes on the old monitors is the capacitors, usually you can find a cap kit via the monitor make/model online. I had a asteroids cocktail that had a monitor issue, I could hear the game and see a white line on a black screen. Do some reading on the procedures on replacing them and grounding the tube. etc Also what I did with another cabinet is replaced the pcb with a 49 in one pcb, It has 49 of all the old games on one pcb, pac-man, donkey kong, space invaders, galaga, tron, frogger, dig dug, etc. The great things about these boards is that they take a 12v power supply, even a pc power supply will work, plus they have a vga output so any regular vga pc monitor will plug and play. But being a dig dug cabinet well its a hard call to gut it and updated it or keep it original. Value wise, Original is the way to go, but functionality/fun wise the 49 in one is a better way to go. Personally I would keep it original and get a cheap cabinet off ebay to modify.
@Jeff_Dewe
Tried cap kit, replaced flyback, HOT, fuses. Still no picture. Going to try a pro before I give up on the original monitor.
Good luck, same here. My incentive is that my DaVinci 1.0 is slowly eroding, and XYZPrinting seems to only want to sell replacement parts as their standard kits. I also seem to be more knowledgeable than their customer support, which is unnerving.
@Jeff_Dewe if you need something like OpenBuilds extrusions and parts, feel free to contact me and I can get you a discount. I am a distributor. Looking forward to following your build!
If you want a cabinet design. Check out the smartcore xy
I recommend the Mendel 90. Simple, easy and great.