3d Printer

[wllshaw]

Has anyone worked on a 3d printer using picaxe chips? I have been reading on reprap.org and they use the arduino board or combinations of them. My thought was to combine some stepper drives using Tom McWire's cnc stepper drivers and picaxe chips for the extruder controller. http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-Build-Desk-Top-3-Axis-CNC-Milling-Machine/ These may not be compatable, but I was wondering if the world had some thoughts. I have build Tom's machine and it is a blast to play with.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PS: I tried doing a search on all of these topics, but the search option wasn't working this morning so I apologize if there is a lot of info out there in the forum. I haven't been able to access it.

 

[SAborn]

I would expect the picaxe to be tiresome slow for a cnc driver, as they tend to be a very slow stepper driver/controller and after running steppers from a PC on a cnc machine i question why you would attempt using a picaxe when process speed is so easy to get from a pc.

How much memory do you think a picaxe has to store the many, many lines of code needed for an image, try loading the X,Y cords for a simple circle on a cnc machine into a picaxe, the minimum you would want is 360 lines and many go out to 5000 lines or greater even for a small circle.

What sort of extruder do you intend to use?

I am waiting for the day the liquid copper come in printer cartriages and we can print a pcb direct from out printer.

 

[wllshaw]

I agree with you in regards to running the motors from the picaxe. I was thinking of using the motor drivers from a desk top cnc mill that Tom McWire used in his instructable. I was thinking about using the picaxe to monitor the temp control and the feed rate for the extruder. Most likely they all need to be tied together and I will have to use the arduino. I was just wondering if anyone on the forums had put together a 3 d printer using a variety of sources.
In regards to the extruder the reprap.org website has plans for one. I was contemplating building my own.
Liquid copper, Count me in!! Thanks for the reply.

 

[elios]

Check out the RepRap. We run one here at home, commercially. It runs an ATMega644PU on a Sanguinololu board. Bit of reading for ya there reprap.org

 

[wllshaw]

No kidding, I have been reading different sections and navigating the different paths. Most interesting! Thanks

 

[Haku]

I'd love a 3D printer but would rather buy a pre-made setup or kit from someone who knows what they're doing, I can't see how making a Picaxe based one could do better than the various open source / small startup offerings.

I saw this when the backing had reached over half a million dollars and 5 days left, at its end it stands at over $800,000 in backers/orders, quite something when the original goal was just $25,000 - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your-first-3d-printer and I'm not surprised given the relative low cost of the printer, especially when all the hard work is done for you.