With the above video above, Hobbyking announced last Saturday that they are getting into 3D printing. Since last Tuesday the products are gradually added to their site.
First item that was added was the 3D Printer Hot Plate MK2B Dual Power RepRap Mendel and RAMPS Compatible. The PCB Heatbed MK2 is a dual power “hot plate” for 3d printers, helping in adhesion and to prevent “curling” as the plastic cools down.
Next item that was added the the site is the 2A Micro-Stepping Stepper Motor Driver A4988 ( Pololu Compatible ). The A4988 micro-stepping stepper motor driver is a Pololu format compatible driver, ideal for Shield and breadboard compatibility. A little down the post I your will find 2 versions the PCB that these drivers need to be added to.
The 3D Printer RAMPS 1.4 Control Board Arduino Mega Shield is one of the 2 available control boards that can be used as the heart of your 3D printer. This PCB allows for 5 stepper motor driver boards as shown above. The bottom pins allow you to place this board on your Arduino Mega.
The product page has links to more details for this board.
The 3D Printer-Ultimaker V1.5.7 PCB Main Control Board DIY ( RAMPS compatibilitable) is your other option as a controller for a 3D printer. The Ultimaker 1.5.7 board is an Arduino Mega shield, geared for the DIY 3D printer market and has some great features not found on the RAMPS compatible boards such as higher input voltage ability and power connectivity options.
More details on how to use this board at: http://reprap.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Ultimaker%27s_v1.5.7_PCB
The 3D Printer RepRap Smart Controller ( Ramps LCD Control ) r is a graphical user interface to control your 3D printer without the need of a direct computer connection. It can be plugged into the 3D printer control board mentioned above.
See also the big brother with a better interface of this LCD below.
The bigger 3D Printer Full Graphic Smart Controller ( RAMPS RepRap ) has the same functionality as the LCD mentioned above.
In the next days we will have to find out if Hobbyking comes up with more products related to 3D printing. Personally I will wait a couple of day more before I start ordering. I understood from the video that they are not going to sell frames, but there are more items we are going to need to complete a printer. Extruders, fillament, adapters to power the electronics of your printer and more.
If any products are added to the site, I will mention them in the comments below. If you have any suggestions for frames and other products that can be used with these items, then please write the information in the comments.
Comments
Have a read of this wiki, it will give you a good understanding of the electronics involved, the mechanics of it all are quite simple.
This is interesting. Since this is Hobby King, most of us will need to wait a few months for some brave experts to buy this and tell the rest of us whats missing and how to fix it but this could be a nice way to get my first 3D printer.
The main components are:
The frame-using old scrap metal I find for free.
Linear guides-using the guides I find in free printers and scanners. 8mm guides are common, and the linear bearings from ebay are cheap.
Drive - using the drive belts from the scanners. I have a few stepper motors as well.
Heat bed from ebay, under $15.
Controller-building this myself also. "Generation 7" board. I'm building a UV exposure box to make the pcb, and am collecting some of the components from free computers and what ever else I can get my hands on.
Stepper drivers I found on Ali express. I can get them for under $20.
I already have an RPi not doing anything, so will use that as the interface.
The hot end will be bought from ebay, and the cold end will be made from brass cogs found in the printers and some mdf to hold it together.
That's about all there is to it, I've been collecting junk fir about a month and my wife hates it all, but I'm nearly there. Will hopefully have something functional for about $100, but you can get a mendel or a prusa kit for about $600 from ebay or Ali express.
Euan, check out reprap.org for a wealth of info. The main components HK seems to be missing here is the motion hardware (stepper motors, bearings, belts, etc), extruder/hot end hardware, and structural hardware..
Ok, so here's today's newb question...what components do you actually need to do 3D printing?
I like the ideal of building my own, rather than buying a completed unit. The HK components look affordable, but I suspect the bulk of the machine is still missing!
Very interesting!
Oh wait...it's HK...<recalls the support and order horrors of 2013>...never mind.
Gosh....
A 3D printer is very much on my wish list but currently in the unobtainumsphere. How many bits are missing to make a complete system and how much.
This is no doubt perfect for folks in our community.
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