★★★★George Graves★★★★ Project Blog for e30 Gizmos and Gadgets - 2025 UPDATE

[mach schnell]

Any word on these things yet??

[JinormusJ]

I'd really like to buy one... Any word on when the next batch will be open for orders?
(assuming the first one ships soon :-P)

[R3Z3N]

bump

[diegom6]

Startimg to get a bit impacient

[mach schnell]

....?

(Crickets)

[ninjaotter]

I hope George is alright.

And I'm working on an open source version of this, anyone who paid George already can PM me, we can work something out.

[george graves]

All gauges have shipped months ago.....everyone ended up being happy ;) I'm considering making another batch of Si Voltmeters. If you are interested, please PM me.

In the mean time I'm working on two new projects....I am afraid I can't show you either one just yet. ;) First one is finished and I've been really enjoying it in my car - what a difference - it's awesome. Second project is prototyped - but not road tested yet.

-----------------------------------

As a side project, I thought I would dip my toes into the 3d printer world. Well, not so much as a toe dip as a cannon ball. I believe one or two people on here have or have access to a 3d printer (euro2fast4u, and a few others), and a few have access to them at work. I wanted to build my own.

Anyways...You can follow along, and see if it's something you might be interested in building yourself. I going to put all the documentation here. I know there are a few hundred people that subscribe to this thread - sorry if this doesn't interest you - I'll get back to some BMW stuff in about a week - so tune in.

Several years ago, I checked out DIY 3d printers. The resolution and quality was a joke. The test of the quality of a printer was measured by printing out a Yoda figurine and if someone could pick it up and say "oh, it's Yoda!" - it was a good printer. Back then, very few could - the prints were messy, ugly, and stringy. A lot has changed since then.

A few months ago, I went to a 3D printer meet up in Seattle, and I was really impressed with what I saw. And I got to see about just about all the current models printing - side by side.. It was very insightful. And I was amazed at the quality of the prints that the reprap machines were producing. They were out doing $2000 makerbots - on a $500 machine! Outstanding. So I decided it was time to jump in.

So the machine I've decided to go with is called a Prusa i3. It's the latest generation of reprap printers. Reprap printers, for those that don't know - are 100% open source hardware. Also - as with the original reprap, it's a "printer that can print itself". That's a little miss-leading....can print all it's own (plastic, custom) parts that aren't available via a hardware store/McMasters. For the most part.

So why build a 3d printer and not buy something like a Makerbot Replicator? Well the price tag for a Replicator 2 is ~$2500 with support. My budget is going to be somewhere between $500-$700 - and support is free. The Makerbot is a good machine, but it's far from plug it in and start printing. And when it breaks - it's really hard to repair - with a reprap you build it - so you'll know how to fix it. A Makerbot also isn't upgradable. When a new model comes out, you're kinda hosed. With reprap, when a new upgrade comes out....you just print out your own parts and upgrade what you want to. The makerbot actually grew from the reprap project - but over time they made it more and more propriety. The quality and build volume is almost identical - with I think the Prusa i3 a bit ahead. Plus, I'll be able to print not just PLA plastic, but also ABS, and others. Something you can't even do with a Makerbot.

So here's what I'm building:

Anyways....lets start with some some pics and some comments.

Aluminum frame and build platform. CNC water jet cut.




The water jet leaves some artifacts when the cutting starts and stops. A siple hand file will fix that.


None of the hole are tapped. That reminds me, and need to order some metric m3-0.5 taps from McMaster in my next order.


This is the threaded and smooth rod. The smooth rod acts is what the 3 axis travels along to make linear motion. The threaded rod acts as part of the frame, and the gearing for the Z axis.


The threaded rod comes pre-cut - I could have done this myself, but the price difference wasn't worth the effort.


I'm not supper happy with the smooth rod. I think I may upgrade it in the future. For now - it's more than fine.






I was going to source all the hardware myself. But it's such a PITA to do - it's like 2-3 hours on McMasters to get it right. Not worth the time for the price difference - so I bought a "kit" from the same guy that supplied the frame and rod.




Again. You can source all these parts yourself. But often it's better to buy a kit - the savings isn't that much. It a time/cost trade off.


For a nozzle, I'm one of the first people in the that will be running the new Prusa nozzle. The designer has spent about a year perfecting it - so I should be good. Several advantages to it. It's stainless steal. It can print PLA, ABS, PolyCarbonate, Nylon and more. And a few others things it can do that I'll show you later on...;)


Nozzle assembled. It does come apart. It's elegantly simple. Like the rest of the machine....




I choose a 0.4mm nozzle to start with. This picture should show you the size well.




Here is what the finished printer will more-or-less look like. I'll be adding a few bells and whistles. Such as an LCD screen, a SD card slot so that I can load up 3d files to print.


In Action:







Basic Assembly:



-----------------------


Prusa Nozzle.
Ebay USER ID: reprapdiscount
$92 + $15 shipping FexEx 2 day

Prusa i3 Single Plate Frame, Rod, Bearing and Hardware Kit
Ebay USER ID: bluskreen
X Axis;
2x 370mm M8 smooth
1x 20mm M8 smooth (for extruder idler)
Y Axis;
4x 205mm M8 threaded
2x 350mm M8 smooth
2x 380mm M10 threaded
Z Axis;
2x 320mm M8 smooth
2x 300mm M5 threaded
Bearing Kit
10 x LM8UU linear bearings
3 x 608ZZ bearings (extruder)
2 x 623ZZ bearings (X and Y belt idlers)
Fastener/Hardware Kit
12 x M10-1.50 nut, zinc
12 x M10 flat washer, zinc
24 x M8-1.25 nut, zinc
24 x M8 flat washer, zinc
4 x M5-0.8 nut, zinc
50 x M3-0.5 nut, zinc
50 x M3 flat washer, zinc
12 x M3-0.5 nyloc nut, zinc
12 x M3-0.5 x 10mm socket head cap screw, black oxide
10 x M3-0.5 x 15mm socket head cap screw, black oxide
16 x M3-0.5 x 12mm socket head cap screw, black oxide
5 x M3-0.5 x 35mm socket head cap screw, black oxide
3 x M3-0.5 x 8mm socket head set screw, black oxide
$163.96 + free shipping (USPS priority)

RepRap Prusa Mendel i3 Printed Parts Kit (arrives Monday)
Ebay USER ID: avdwege2003
OPTIONS SELECTED:
Extruder: Greg's with Groovemount
X-Carriage: Dual
Frame: Single Plate
Bearings & Rods: LM8UU w/ 623 Idlers

Z Axis Rod Holder (2)
Z Axis Motor Mount (2)
Y Motor Mount
Y Idler
Y Bearing Mount (3)
Y Corner (4)
Y Axis Bracket (Box Frame Only) (4)
Y Belt Holder
X End Motor Mount
X End Idler
X Carriage (Type depends on option selected above)
X Belt Tensioner
End Stop Holder (3)
X/Y Bearing Guide (2 sets) **
Tube Clamp (4)
Extruder Printed Parts (If option selected above)
Groovemount Adapter (If Groovemount selected above)
$52 + $9.50 shipping (USPS priority)

Costs so far. $307.96 w/ $24.5 shipping - TOTAL: 332.46

Total:

I still need:
$75 Stepper Motors
$150-$200 Electronics(Microcontroler, stepper drivers, Heated build platform, etc..)
$25-50 Misc.
--------------
~$300

Expect grand total: $632.46 (ha! We'll see how that goes)

Be sure to subscribe to this thread.

[golde30]

Sooo, could you theoretically build a 3d printer the size of a garage, and print large objects like cars/boats/airplane bodies?

[george graves]

Well, someday soon. ;)

There are a lot of people working on make huge portable 3d printers that will be able to print out a house.





NASA is already producing 3D printed rocket engine parts. And they are looking at 3d printing food for long mission to mars type trips.

Molecular biologists are experimenting with printing organs. Don't ask me how - but it's in the works. They do things like if they want an opening for a blood vessel, they print that part in sugar, and then it gets washed out later - not sure how the rest works - Jurassic Park kinda of stuff.

People are comparing 3d printing with the start of the computer revolution. And well, you know how that turned out. Computers can give you information, but nothing "real" - well, that's all about to change. ;)

[GaryE30]

Not that this is nearly as big as a house in regards to that question, but its a testament to what can be done. People are already printing usable gun parts and full up guns. (though they only last so long)

http://gizmodo.com/tag/3d-printed-guns

Also these are 3D printed models of me from about 3 years ago. We used a 3D scanner at work to build a point cloud and meshed what we wanted together, converted it to a file our CAD machines could use, scaled it down, and then printed it on one of our ancient 3D printers. This material is really fragile and requires an epoxy to be painted on after its finished printing. Our newer printers can produce functional PLA and ABS parts.



Here I am wearing a polo, jeans, puma shoes (notice the scan missed part of my shoe, likely due to the material), and my badge. While the scan was occurring I had to stay completely still so that duplicative points would be able to mesh together. The scan took about 30 seconds going up and down and 360 around.

[nando]

really cool George! I've been watching the 3D printer stuff - $700 almost sounds affordable!

If I had the time I'd definitely build one of these. Possibly when the kids get older, we can build one for a "school science project". at least, that's what I'll tell my wife. ;)

imagine these things mixed together: 3D printing, robotics, AI. the internet is just the tip of the computing iceberg.

the 3D printed house is pretty cool! Imagine something like that being sent to places wiped out by disasters to print up a quick shelter (even if only temporary). It's kind of crazy because we're almost at the point of the "replicator" from star trek, something that seemed like a fantasy 15 years ago.

I think one of the biggest costs here is still the printing materials, no? Like anything, that will come down, of course.

[ZekeTheSneak]

Wow the future is going to be awesome. My fallback if I ever loose my job is to go back into drafting. I got to play with a 3d printer for a little bit (usually broken first of its kind). Awesome machines and I am glad that I learned how to use cad. Good luck george! Also Our printer used glue and the bin had to be full of the powder. This setup looks to be much better.

[george graves]

UPDATE - for those of you wanting to see BMW mods - please hold......You'll get your socks knocked off soon!


Plastic parts arrived. Very nice.

As I mentioned - I was really disappointed with 3d printing a few years ago. You got a lot of really sloppy, inaccurate prints - and they would be really weak. Not any more.

There are a lot of misconceptions about 3d printing. "They are super fragile", "you have to pay a ton of money to get something accurate".....Yea, that was 2 years ago? The quality and accuracy is exploding.

As an example, here the parts that were printed for me for my 3d printer(on a lesser printer an i2).....Not only are they good looking - they are SOoooooooooo strong, accurate (0.01 of an inch), and neat perfect right off the printer. The accuracy is greater than you can ever do with wood working - and not quite the accuracy you can get with a mill - it's kinda in between.

Pics....

Bag of parts...


Yes, there is a texture to it....but this is a super close up(the white specks are dust)



Here's a better idea of the resolution, and texture.

And the obligatory quarter shot - that should give you an ida of the it

Complex parts - no problem....

The fine graduated marks are 1/64 of an inch.

All good!

Yes - the texture is the same as your finger prints....

[pandaboo911]

is it plug and play with a PC?

or totally standalone

[george graves]

It can be either. You can feed it the print from the PC - or there are a few different methods of letting it run stand alone. You can simply put in an SD card and let it print from that. Or you can have full control from a PC.

Here is the software interface for the printing.



I'm tempted to pick up a a used thinkpad tablet x61 PC - or a cheap linux touch screen tablet(PengPod 700 maybe ~$100) - then I'll have full control, and won't be tying up my laptop. There are tons of options - even a $35 raspberry pi. Not much horsepower is needed for the serial communications to the printer for printing.




I got the frame ruffly assembled. It nice to have motion on all 3 axis. ;)

I'm going to put the project away for a few days while I wait for FedEx to deliver electronics from china. I also need to order some stepper motors, and some odds and ends that wasn't in the kits I ordered, since I'm mixing and matching so many different things. I'll get a few days to work on some e30 stuff.