I was thinking to make a 3d printer myself, and I never made one before. But I thought it would be nice to make something different. I came up with the idea to make a printer with a steel frame, because steel is cheaper than aluminium and I've never seen a steel printer in this size. After all it was a lot more diffecult than i thought it would be, though I learned a lot from this project.

Step 1: Cad Drawing

I started to draw the printer in Solidworks, I used the dimensions from the UM2 and calculated what the dimensions would be if I made a double bed , I also made z axis with a maximum of 30cm distance.

Step 2: Sawing the Steel Tubes

I bought 6 meters square tube (40x40x3) at a local store , it was about 20 euros. Then I sawed them the right length and I also drilled the holes to later assemble the bearing blocks.

Step 3: Welding the Frame (and Gave It a Color)

we started to weld the frame by making to sub frames and later connect them with the the short tubes (first picture) we checked multiple times if everything was perpendicular, the we welded all together. I finished the welds with a angular grinder for a smooth look. The day after I primered the frame and sprayed it blue.

Step 4: Assemble Some Parts on the Frame

I ordered these parts on ebay and when the arrived I assembled themon the frame

Step 5: Making Some More Parts

I made some parts on solidworks and I had them cut out on a cnc router (8mm Aluminium), the sheetmetal I bought at a local hardware store. A friend made the adapters for the z axis on a router, he used acrylic. I also ordered a custom hardened glass plane. (you can see the acrylic adapters on the last picture)

Step 6: Cold End

I made an adapter to mount the nema 17 on the cold end. I laser cutted it out of plywood.

Step 7: Making the Electronics...

A friend helped me to make electronic part of the project, we drilled some holes in the tubes to lead the wires from the top to the bottom. I also laser cutted the 'floor' and later mounted the 12v supply and arduino etc. This is how the printer is now , I need some time to finish it and will upload some photos again when its finished.