Semi-Self-Sourced Ultimaker Build

[rigelsix 0]

Last night I successfully printed using my custom Ultimaker.

My build is composed mostly of self-sourced components available from the open source designs. Many of the parts were sourced using the documents available on the github repository. Some of the drawings and documents available were simply inadequate and I had to recreate them based on a kit-assembled Ultimaker at the school where I work.

I have created my own github repository of some of these parts to make doing what I did easier, and I'll post it soon.

The frame is made mostly out a cast Acrylic, with some mixed and matched clear and blue.

I did, of course, buy some of the parts from Ultimaker, the majority of which were in the dual extrusion kit. I'm estimating that the total cost of the machine was somewhere in the $1400 range after all the materials (I do have lots of extra parts).

This printer will live at a newly opened hackerspace at the university where I work.

Here's some photos:

 

[skint 61]

Top Job ! Looks great.

 

[drayson 75]

Great!! I like the blue/transparent combination.

Congratulation...!

[illuminarti 18]

Looks great!! Nice job.

[aviphysics 9]

Is the mix of laser cut wood in there functional or aesthetic?

 

[rigelsix 0]

Is the mix of laser cut wood in there functional or aesthetic?

My local plastics supply didn't carry a 4MM acrylic, so I used birch plywood (5/32 is essentially the same thing as 4mm), which I could buy from a local wood working shop.

With some of the wood parts, changing the thickness would change how things fit together, but others I could have easily replaced with 1/8 in acrylic, like the bearing covers on the outside. I was more concerned with getting it all together and working first.

As a note, these are the parts I had a pretty hard time sourcing or using substitutes:

1. The Z-axis lead screw and nut (found it online from a sketchy place in china)
   
2. The bearings for the X an Y axis along the 8mm rod (I'm using 2-pieces for each block, not self-lubricating)
   
3. The custom cable that runs from the hot-end and temp sensor on the gantry to the control board (soldered wire instead)
   
4. The electronics board - I found a clone on ebay, but they populated parts that were on the schematic that my actual ultimaker doesn't have installed, and that caused weird problems
   
5. Motors with long enough wires - soldered extensions and replaced the connectors
   
6. The fabric cable ducts - the pdf drawings in the Git Hib were raster drawings, so I re-drew them in illustrator - maybe the STEP file is better? no idea
   
7. The belts on my original ultimaker were mislabeled, so I bought the wrong ones initially (too short)
   

I learned a lot building the machine, and I'm already working on another one, in red. That machine will likely include a heated bed, dual extrusion, closed in left and right sides (like the Ultimaker2), and a custom modified version of the PCB that uses different connectors.

 

[Sojah2k 0]

Sir, please provide the DXF or CAD file which you utilized to build this awesome en-closer.