3D Printing still costs a few dollars and may be out of reach of hobbiest who do not have any budget. The goal of this instructable is to construct an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printer extruder (a key component) using a $3 Hot Glue Gun. If you don't think you have seen an FDM machine, you probably have. There are many hobby versions out on the market now ... Think Up!, Makerbot, RepRap, Up!, PrintrBot, Solidoodle etc.). The least expensive being around $500 to start. These printers typically use ABS or PLA plastic and push it into a hot extruder much like a hot glue gun.
There are many parts to a FDM printer and in this instructable I am going to concentrate on the extruder. I will briefly go over the XYZ computer controlled plotter (mechanics, hardware, software). I use a home built CNC router for this. After showing you how to build the extruder and how to attach it to your XYZ Plotter or CNC router type machine I will go over the software I use along with settings (these are very important) and show some example models that I printed out with it in pictures and maybe a video or two.
Before I get any further I would like to extend a big "Thank You" to the open source community and all of the people who have contributed to the 3D printing community. Without all of their work I would have had to put in a lot more work to accomplish goal.
So let's get started shall we.
Just in case you want to see it in action before you do some reading, view the video below.
Apple Logo (the one with the bite out of it)
The apple turned out the best. Mario really was a terrible quality print job and the Pink Panther Women didn't turn out too great either. The apple was really nice. I used 0.5 mm layer height on that one. It took forever... but it came out nice.
Yay!
There are many parts to a FDM printer and in this instructable I am going to concentrate on the extruder. I will briefly go over the XYZ computer controlled plotter (mechanics, hardware, software). I use a home built CNC router for this. After showing you how to build the extruder and how to attach it to your XYZ Plotter or CNC router type machine I will go over the software I use along with settings (these are very important) and show some example models that I printed out with it in pictures and maybe a video or two.
Before I get any further I would like to extend a big "Thank You" to the open source community and all of the people who have contributed to the 3D printing community. Without all of their work I would have had to put in a lot more work to accomplish goal.
So let's get started shall we.
Just in case you want to see it in action before you do some reading, view the video below.
Apple Logo (the one with the bite out of it)
The apple turned out the best. Mario really was a terrible quality print job and the Pink Panther Women didn't turn out too great either. The apple was really nice. I used 0.5 mm layer height on that one. It took forever... but it came out nice.
Yay!
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Signing UpStep 1: Stuff You Will Need
Materials
Materials are first. The tools you can improvise. You will need the following items to build the HMA (Hot Melt Adhesive) Extruder:
* 3/8" Plywood (~6.5" x 4.5")
* NEMA17 Stepper Motor (Unipolar - match up to your driver) with Gear (8mm - 16 teeth)
* Large (46mm - 100 teeth) Nylon (or some sort of plastic gear) with teeth that fit your Stepper Motor Gear (I got mine from a Lexmark Inject Printer)
* 4 Metal Bearings - mine are 15mm outside and 6 mm inside.
* 9 to 10 - #8 1.5" Bolts and/or #6 Bolts
* #8/#6 Washers (I used about 20 in this design)
* #8/#6 Lock Washers (I used 2)
* #8/#6 Nuts (8 to 10 used)
* #6 0.5" Screws (I used 4)
* Metal L Bracket 1.5" x 1.5" with 2 holes in each side
* Mini Hot Glue Gun - Low Temperature (HiTemp is shown in picture - Do Not Get This) from Walmart ($2.97)
* Mini Hot Glue Sticks - Low Temperature - Bag of 30 from Walmart (~$3.00 or so) *** You can get colored ones and different kinds from Craft Stores such as Micheal's or Benjamin Franklin's (on the East Coast). Walmart just has 1 kind. Be careful ... some are .27" in diameter... some are .28" in diameter. You will want to just get 1 diameter and stick with it otherwise you will have to adjust your bearings again.
* Popsicle Stick
* Slotted Metal Bracket ~2" Long (slot needs to be able to fit #6 or #8 screws)
* Big straw or tube of some sort ~4" long and ~3/8" inside diameter... make sure a glue stick will slide freely using gravity.
* Wire - around 4 feet long with enough conductors to wire your stepper motor to your stepper driver. My wire had 6 conductors and was 28 gauge (an ex PS2 keyboard cable I think).
* Small Zip Ties
* Piece of Glass (I got mine from scanner) to print on
* Isoproply Alcohol for cleaning the print surface (glass)
* Computer to talk to your printer's electronics.
* Software (I use Pronterface => https://github.com/kliment/Printrun )
If you do not have the 3D printer electronics already like I did not then you will need those too. I am using an Arduino Uno with Teacup firmware. I have built a custom stepper motor driver for my Extruder. I use a 3 axis stepper motor driver from HobbyCNC.com (http://www.hobbycnc.com/). It is a really nice kit and works great. Instead of using the parallel port from the computer the Teacup firmware and Arduino control the HobbyCNC stepper driver through a shield I made that basically wires some pins to a 25 pin DSub to pretend it is a printer port. The custom stepper driver I made I basically designed on my own using 2 ULN2803A chips stacked on top of eachother to give 1 amp per coil. I regulate the current with an automotive lightbulb (not sure how many watts). I then modified the Teacup firmware to control the 4th stepper motor for the extruder directly instead of using a driver with step and direction control.
and finally you will need some sort of computer controlled XYZ platform such as a CNC router or RepRap. I made my router from parts from Lowes and plans from Solsylva.com -> http://solsylva.com/cnc/13x13x5.shtml . It is their 13x13 machine and it cost roughly $100 in parts to build (without the motors and electronics). You will need the Stepper Motors and Electronics too. This is probably where most of the other money lies in a 3d printer besides the extruder cost. There are some really great Instructables that feature how to build low cost CNC machines that will work great. One of the least expensive and most popular would be the McWire CNC Mill -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-Build-Desk-Top-3-Axis-CNC-Milling-Machine/
Tools
* Hot Glue Gun - Hi Temp for gluing stuff to wood.
* Screwdrivers (Flat Head and Phillips Head)
* Drill (Hand drill is fine)
* Step Drill Bit (http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-high-speed-steel-step-drills-91616.html)
* 1/8", 9/64", and 1/4" Drill Bit and a few others ... just a set from Lowes - I have a set by Dewalt which are nice.
* Dremel Tool with Router Attachment and 1/4" router Bit
or
* Dremel Tool with some sort of wood eating bit
or
* Wood Chisel
*** This is used to recess the hot glue "Hot End" into the wood so the glue stick is even with the gear and bearings (which are right above the surface of the wood).
* Needle Nosed pliers for adjusting nuts and stuff.
* Exacto Knife
* Side Cutters
* Soldering Iron and Solder
* Electrical Tape and/or Shrink Tube
Materials are first. The tools you can improvise. You will need the following items to build the HMA (Hot Melt Adhesive) Extruder:
* 3/8" Plywood (~6.5" x 4.5")
* NEMA17 Stepper Motor (Unipolar - match up to your driver) with Gear (8mm - 16 teeth)
* Large (46mm - 100 teeth) Nylon (or some sort of plastic gear) with teeth that fit your Stepper Motor Gear (I got mine from a Lexmark Inject Printer)
* 4 Metal Bearings - mine are 15mm outside and 6 mm inside.
* 9 to 10 - #8 1.5" Bolts and/or #6 Bolts
* #8/#6 Washers (I used about 20 in this design)
* #8/#6 Lock Washers (I used 2)
* #8/#6 Nuts (8 to 10 used)
* #6 0.5" Screws (I used 4)
* Metal L Bracket 1.5" x 1.5" with 2 holes in each side
* Mini Hot Glue Gun - Low Temperature (HiTemp is shown in picture - Do Not Get This) from Walmart ($2.97)
* Mini Hot Glue Sticks - Low Temperature - Bag of 30 from Walmart (~$3.00 or so) *** You can get colored ones and different kinds from Craft Stores such as Micheal's or Benjamin Franklin's (on the East Coast). Walmart just has 1 kind. Be careful ... some are .27" in diameter... some are .28" in diameter. You will want to just get 1 diameter and stick with it otherwise you will have to adjust your bearings again.
* Popsicle Stick
* Slotted Metal Bracket ~2" Long (slot needs to be able to fit #6 or #8 screws)
* Big straw or tube of some sort ~4" long and ~3/8" inside diameter... make sure a glue stick will slide freely using gravity.
* Wire - around 4 feet long with enough conductors to wire your stepper motor to your stepper driver. My wire had 6 conductors and was 28 gauge (an ex PS2 keyboard cable I think).
* Small Zip Ties
* Piece of Glass (I got mine from scanner) to print on
* Isoproply Alcohol for cleaning the print surface (glass)
* Computer to talk to your printer's electronics.
* Software (I use Pronterface => https://github.com/kliment/Printrun )
If you do not have the 3D printer electronics already like I did not then you will need those too. I am using an Arduino Uno with Teacup firmware. I have built a custom stepper motor driver for my Extruder. I use a 3 axis stepper motor driver from HobbyCNC.com (http://www.hobbycnc.com/). It is a really nice kit and works great. Instead of using the parallel port from the computer the Teacup firmware and Arduino control the HobbyCNC stepper driver through a shield I made that basically wires some pins to a 25 pin DSub to pretend it is a printer port. The custom stepper driver I made I basically designed on my own using 2 ULN2803A chips stacked on top of eachother to give 1 amp per coil. I regulate the current with an automotive lightbulb (not sure how many watts). I then modified the Teacup firmware to control the 4th stepper motor for the extruder directly instead of using a driver with step and direction control.
and finally you will need some sort of computer controlled XYZ platform such as a CNC router or RepRap. I made my router from parts from Lowes and plans from Solsylva.com -> http://solsylva.com/cnc/13x13x5.shtml . It is their 13x13 machine and it cost roughly $100 in parts to build (without the motors and electronics). You will need the Stepper Motors and Electronics too. This is probably where most of the other money lies in a 3d printer besides the extruder cost. There are some really great Instructables that feature how to build low cost CNC machines that will work great. One of the least expensive and most popular would be the McWire CNC Mill -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-Build-Desk-Top-3-Axis-CNC-Milling-Machine/
Tools
* Hot Glue Gun - Hi Temp for gluing stuff to wood.
* Screwdrivers (Flat Head and Phillips Head)
* Drill (Hand drill is fine)
* Step Drill Bit (http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-titanium-nitride-coated-high-speed-steel-step-drills-91616.html)
* 1/8", 9/64", and 1/4" Drill Bit and a few others ... just a set from Lowes - I have a set by Dewalt which are nice.
* Dremel Tool with Router Attachment and 1/4" router Bit
or
* Dremel Tool with some sort of wood eating bit
or
* Wood Chisel
*** This is used to recess the hot glue "Hot End" into the wood so the glue stick is even with the gear and bearings (which are right above the surface of the wood).
* Needle Nosed pliers for adjusting nuts and stuff.
* Exacto Knife
* Side Cutters
* Soldering Iron and Solder
* Electrical Tape and/or Shrink Tube
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The code can be downloaded from here: http://www.fab-favreau.com/index.php/Main/HotGlueExtruder3DPrinter
I still need to make some comments on what I did. To summarize it though:
Take a look in dda.c and config.h . I modified those 2 files. The config.h file contains all of the steps per mm and extruder steps per whatever numbers. dda.c has the modified code for the extruder (E Axis). It sets up the stepping sequence pins on port d (upper nibble?) and controls the step sequence in code instead of sending the step and direction signal to a stepper controller. I did that so I could use a simple stepper driver (basically 4 transistors). It can do half stepping or full stepping. I forget which one I have in there currently.. I think half stepping. There is a teacup.ino? file in there you can open with the Arduino IDE and compile and upload the whole thing from there into your Arduino. I used Microsoft Visual Studio as an editor inorder to use full editing highlighting and searching... it is nice for that. Then use the Arduino IDE to compile and upload. Let me know if you have any questions. I will try to add more to my web site this week.
I'm Spanish.
I'm Spanish.
I have a custom version of it that drives the homemade stepper motor (provides 4 phases instead of step and direction).
Currently I am working on building a smaller RepStrap like bot with a real ABS extruder. I am using a similar set of boards and the Teacup Firmware so far.
The original MakerBot was named "Cupcake" because I think it was made to frost cupcakes among other things.
I would really like to see a 3d frosting/sugar based 3d printer on a Food Network competition. That would be really exciting.
Working with Nylon, Delrin, PET, Acrylic and Polycarbonate, I've wondered about the possible applications of low temperature glues and adhesives. Seems like a good way to make unusually shaped gaskets or unusually shaped glue tabs, where a shaped tab is installed and later heated to make the bond.
These X Y Z E machines offer us a unique ability to find new printable materials that may lead to new processes. Thanks for a great Instructable!
Taulman
Not wanting to state the obvious, but one of the advantages of filament printers is the small gauge of the filament. All you need to do is use a smaller orifice tip--you are not limited to the glue gun tip. Of course, you could always take a drift pin and press it into the tip to reduce the diameter, that would give you finer detail in your models.
No matter though, great instructable!
That is a Great! idea. I am going to try that this weekend. I was going to attempt to tap the outside or just find a glue gun with a smaller or replaceable tip. I am pretty sure Ace Hardware and Lowes/Home Depot carry those.
Thanks!
Done, just gone up this page to vote...
I bet this results in a much less whimsical extruder than those Plastic and whimpy resistor outfits, that will short circuit at the first opportunity...
A question, will this also wotk on a bar of Cerrosafe? Melts at 74 °C (165 °F) a
From the Wikipedia:
"One alloy is called Cerrosafe. It is mainly used by gunsmiths for making a reference casting of the chamber of a firearm. When it solidifies it first shrinks, allowing easy removal from the chamber. When it cools it expands back to the exact size of the chamber. The casting can then be directly measured with calipers or a micrometer to determine the dimension of the weapon's chamber, which is important for safety."
It might work with Cerrosafe. You might have to reduce the temperature in the hot glue gun. You also have to get it into some sort of stick form. Also the shrinking (depending on how much) might be an issue. But I am not sure about that. I am still very much a beginner with this stuff. I have spent a lot of time reading but it really does not sink in until you go to apply it.
If you are interested in playing with 3D printing I would recommend either buying a kit if you really want to just print or if you want the full experience ... start with a CNC router, get used to how that works and then put an extruder on it. It is quite an adventure.
Cerrosafe is a very special Metal Alloy, it shrinks when it solidifies, then it expands when it cools!
Is that good, or bad for 3D Printing?
Hummm... I guess, we'll know only when sombody tries.
And a steady hand, of course...
Cool build.
I've had my EZ driver boards, stepper motors, hardware, t-slots in boxes all over the house for over a year now. So many projects, so little time.
Also learning the whole tool chain: CAD->CAM->G-Code Controller (at least finding them and figuring them out and getting them to work right) has been the hardest part so far.
I hope you are inspired to finish your CNC project!
Has someone already done this?
PLA should work in a Hi-Temp Hot Glue gun according to what I have read. The temp should be fairly well controlled though for best results.
You should try it.
Keep up the good work!
@David: I think the main problems are:
- too low temperature for the hot glue gun to melt ABS
- no build in way to control the temperature