How to transform a Makelangelo into a 3D Printer
Sorry for being so quiet lately. I’ve had my head down working hard to transform a Makelangelo into a 3D printer.
The Why
One of the reasons I built my first Makelangelo was to learn about stepper motors and how to make code that would move the motors. I needed to learn so that I could use that later when I made my first 3D printer. Now I’m showing people how to follow in my footsteps. Tell your friends and we’ll get there together.
Makelangelo
People are buying and making the Makelangelo. They’re learning mechanics, motors, physics, circuits, programing, and more. Students are learning why math is totally relevant to their lives. Then when they get to high school or college they’ll see their first 3D printer and already get how it works. That puts them years ahead of everyone in their class. It makes them valuable as teammates, experts, and leaders of tomorrow.
Prusa i3
I’ve been going to Maker Faires for, what, five years now? Every year there’s a new collection of college kids talking about the 3D printer they designed that’s going to take over the world, even though it’s just like every other machine. Nobody buys because it’s too risky. Are you going to spend $2000 on a printer that has no support and might not be around tomorrow? Of course not.
I picked a Prusa i3 because it’s the next generation of the very popular open source machine, the Prusa 2. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them around the world. I recycled nearly every part of the Makelangelo 3 to make a Prusa i3 3D printer.
Once I put the whole machine together I disassembled it and took pictures along the way. I counted every part. Then I put the whole thing together a second time and took another set of photos.
From assembled machine to a satisfactory #3dprint took three days. #ymmv
A photo posted by Dan Royer (@imakerobots) on
The how
The whole tutorial is now on instructables.
Final thought
I’ve made good on my claims. The things I say come true. So… I got that going for me.
Would you like me to put together a set of parts for you? Contact us.
