2016

3D printer - built from electrical waste

The goal of the project was to create a 3D printer using as many recycled items as possible.

A video made of the building process and the working of the printer:

The project's details:

When I started this project, 3D printing was an expensive and rare technology in hungary. I was interested in that ever since I first heard about it, but I didn't have enough money to buy a 3D printer, so I decided to build one on my own. The frame of the device is out of some MDF sheets I found around the house. The working area is a 30cm X 30cm size plywood, with a similar sized linoleum on it. For moving the work plate, there are 2 ink cartridge mechanism from traditional ink-jet printers.

The controlling of the device is done by 2 microcontrollers. One of them (an Arduino Mega) is responsible for controlling the motors, and reading the encoder, while the other one (Arduino pro mini) controls the user interface and the printing process. Two microcontrollers were needed, because Arduino Mega alone did not have enough computing power to read all optical encoders and control the user interface at the same time. The movements made by the device are not made by stepper motors, but by 12V DC motors from ink-jet printers. That's why the use of recycled optical encoders were necessary to measure the actual movements. The print head is an old, modified hot glue gun, so printing is done with it's original glue bars. I experimented with melting some PET bottle's cup, but the printer had never been upgraded to use that material.

The required files are read from a memory card (MicroSD). These files are generated by my own program, which was made using C#, layer by layer out of picture files.

Exhibitions and conferences where it were shown:

• MŰKÖDJ! 2016
• Kutatók Éjszakája a Debreceni Agora Tudományos Élményközpontban 2016
• Kutatók Éjszakája a Debreceni Agora Tudományos Élményközpontban 2017
• XVIII. Országos Közoktatási Szakértői Konferencia
• XIX. Országos Közoktatási Szakértői Konferencia

Summary of the Researcher's Night(2016) in the Agora Science Center where I presented some of my projects(from 7:28 SmartHome, and from 8:55 3D printer). The video's language is Hungarian.